Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice Show Minimal Interest in Becoming Working Royals
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie cultivated their own brands while retaining their HRH statuses. Despite the two sisters being princesses, they aren't working royals and have traditional jobs, but some critics wondered if they would join The Firm one day.
Royal author Dr. Ed Owens believes Eugenie and Beatrice's lavish lives would make it difficult for King Charles to promote them to working members of the family.
“Both daughters of Andrew are more like their mother, Sarah Ferguson, and the way that she was a public figure as a member of the working royal family, rather than Princess Anne for example," Owens said during a GB News appearance. "They take lots of holidays and it's never certain who exactly is paying for those holidays."
“They don’t come across as hard-working dutiful princesses," he added.
The commentator later claimed that Eugenie and Beatrice seemed disinterested in the responsibilities that come with being senior royals.
“They haven't presented themselves, both Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice as particularly dutiful figures," the writer explained. "They've been classically accused of behaving, as royal-hangers-on have traditionally behaved, as enjoying the wealth, privilege and power of monarchy without doing the hard work."
“So they're more like their mother was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sarah Ferguson, than their aunt Anne," he noted. “That is the comparison I would make."
Charles is hoping to slim down the monarchy and avoid unnecessary controversy.
“The King is very concerned about criticism being leveled at the royal family regarding the royal indulgence of members of the family, that haven't earned the privilege because they haven't done the work," Owens shared. “And that's the classic case with Beatrice and Eugenie.”
In 2016, the Duke of York admitted that he wanted his children to have normal trajectories.
"As a father, my wish for my daughters is for them to be modern working young women, who happen to be members of the royal family, and I am delighted to see them building their careers," Andrew said in a statement.
Currently, Beatrice works as a strategist at a technology firm called Afiniti, while Eugenie is an art director at Hauser & Wirth Gallery.
Aside from Eugenie and Beatrice's professional paths, their father, Andrew, was removed from his position after being accused of assault. The Duke of York was stripped of his HRH status in 2022, but Eugenie, Beatrice and Ferguson remained in his corner.
"It’s more about them being there for him and supporting him as opposed to questioning him about the case," an insider told an outlet. "That’s not what the family is focused on – it’s about survival, protecting the family name and getting through it in one piece."
"The girls feel their father’s name is continually dragged through the mud unnecessarily, when really he is a good egg," the source added.
Sources spoke to The Mirror.