Beatrice & Eugenie’s ‘tough’ life
Despite their lavish lifestyle, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie feel hard done by, let down and misunderstood!
MOST ordinary people find it impossible to imagine what it must be like living a life of such jaw-dropping luxury and privilege. Picture waking up every morning in a palace or having so much free time you’re able to take 18 holidays a year. Or being so rich you think nothing of blowing R6 000 on a bottle of champagne while out on the town with friends.
Yes, when it came to life’s lottery, Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie really lucked out. But instead of just shutting up and counting their blessings the duo – who, as the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson are seventh and eighth in line to the British throne – want everyone to feel sorry for them.
In a recent interview with fashion magazine Vogue, which has many people rolling their eyes, the queen’s granddaughters opened up, lamenting that royal life can be a bit of a drag. Seriously? It seems what’s really bugging them is that in the slimmed-down modern monarchy they’ve been deemed to be a bit surplus to requirements. So while their pampered cousins, Prince William and Prince Harry, and their wives, Kate and Meghan, get to enjoy the status of fully fledged royals, Beatrice and Eugenie were told to stop loafing and go out and get “proper” jobs.
Beatrice, who turned 30 earlier this month, is vice-president of partnerships and strategy for US-based tech company Afiniti, while Eugenie (28) is an associate director at London art gallery Hauser & Wirth. But judging from the tone of their heart-to-heart with Vogue – their first joint interview – working life is really cramping their style.
“We’re the first: we’re young women trying to build careers and have personal lives, and we’re also princesses, and doing all of this in the public eye,” Beatrice complains. “It’s hard to navigate situations like these because there’s no precedent, there’s no protocol.”
But it seems the thing that really grates is that instead of being applauded for their huge sacrifice in joining the working masses, they’re facing constant mockery and criticism.
The sad truth is that neither they nor their work-shy parents, who’ve been dubbed “Airmiles Andy” and “Freebie Fergie”, are too popular in Britain. Beatrice and Eugenie admit that some of the things written about them in the media are so mean it sometimes reduces them to tears.
Eugenie revealed that they once got so upset about a story about Beatrice that they both started sobbing while attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
“We were just about to step out and she [Beatrice] had a bit of a wobble and cried. I was looking after her.
“And then about an hour later, I had a wobble and started crying and Bea was there for me.”
But Eugenie insists they’ve accepted there’s “no point being angry with any-
‘I had a wobble and started crying. Bea was there for me’
one for beating us up”.
“We just need to shine light and love in the world.”
EARLIER this year Eugenie became the first modern-day royal to have her own personal, public Instagram account. The princess, who lives in a cottage at Kensington Palace in London, with princes William and Harry as her neighbours, says she’s on social media because she wants to “keep it real”.
While Beatrice doesn’t seem to be in any rush to follow suit, she does have a LinkedIn profile in which she refers to herself as “Bea York”.
When she’s not in New York in the USA, she lives in St James’s Palace in an apartment which in 2009 was refurbished for her to live in while studying – at a cost of £250 000 (about R3 million at the time) to taxpayers.
The media-savvy sisters would’ve been aware that with their Vogue feature they were following in big footsteps – their aunt, Princess Diana, and cousin William’s wife, Kate, both did interviews with the glossy magazine. But while Di and Kate both graced the cover, Beatrice and Eugenie were relegated to the inside pages.
The sisters pulled out all the stops for the interview, throwing open the doors of their childhood home, the Royal Lodge in Windsor, which is the residence of their father, Andrew, the Duke of York.
Pictures showed them posing on a bench on the posh estate with their pet Norfolk terriers.
Eugenie has chosen the royal lodge as the venue for her wedding reception when she marries wine merchant Jack Brooksbank (32) in October.
They met six years ago while on holiday in the Swiss resort town of Verbier.
In her Vogue interview Eugenie revealed that on her big day her big sister will be supporting her as her “chief bridesmaid”.
Although they’re close, describing themselves as “each other’s rock”, like all sisters they have occasional arguments. They confided that one of the biggest fights they ever had was a dispute over a pair of Converse sneakers.
“We have the same size feet and both of us had identical pairs,” Eugenie says. “One pair got trashed and the other sister may have swopped them.”
Heated words were exchanged but they managed to patch things up. And a good thing too – because as bad as things get, at least they know they have
each other.