Full circle Princess joins a surprisingly illustrious line of tattooed royals

Princess Eugenie has followed in the footsteps of her great-greatgrandfather by getting a tattoo.

The Queen’s granddaughter has had a small circle inked behind her left ear.

It was spotted as the Duke of York’s youngest daughter left yesterday’s Platinum Jubilee service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, which she attended with her husband Jack Brooksbank.

On Thursday, the couple shared footage on Instagram of their one-year-old son August’s first Trooping the Colour and watching the Red Arrows flypast from the roof of St James’s Palace.

Eugenie, who splits her time between London and Lisbon, Portugal, where her husband has just started a new job, wore a bright orange dress by designer Emilia Wickstead, a long-time favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge.

Although the royals have to follow strict dress codes, there is a surprisingly long tradition of body art in the monarchy (although it is unlikely the Queen would approve of too much inking).

In 1862, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, was one of the first royals to dabble in tattoos, when he had a Jerusalem Cross inked on his arm during a visit to the Holy Land.

Twenty years later, his son, the Queen’s grandfather, Prince George of Wales, later King George V, was tattooed during a trip to Japan.

He was just 16 when he got a dragon and a tiger on each of his arms. He and his brother, Prince Albert Victor, served as midshipmen aboard HMS Bacchante and both got tattoos as a permanent reminder of their trip.

Eugenie isn’t the first modernday royal to get a tattoo either. Lady Amelia Windsor, 26, the granddaughter of the Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, has a heartshaped tattoo on her rib cage and a tiger on her shoulder blade.