There has been considerable speculation about whether Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie might assume official royal duties after appearing to support the Prince of Wales alongside Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall at a Buckingham Palace garden party last week.
This wasn’t the first time the cousins had attended such events; they have been regular attendees at garden parties over the years.
Beatrice, aged 35, and Eugenie, aged 34, have also occasionally accompanied Queen Elizabeth II to royal engagements like the annual Maundy Service. However, they have been notably more visible in the public eye over the past few weeks.
A royal insider said: “They are closer than lots of cousins might be – they have that unique shared experience and unusual life they all lead. This is an institution that they all belong to, perhaps in slightly different ways in terms of how they serve it, but they all believe in it and its future and want to do what they can to support it.”
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in 2020 their intention to start a new life outside the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II made it clear that they could not maintain a partial presence within the royal family.
As a result, it seems improbable that Beatrice and Eugenie could assume official duties without a reconsideration of that policy.
Family Ties
“They’ve always had a sense of service and duty, probably inherited from their grandmother. And they’ve shown that they can be trusted in the spotlight and I think that’s appreciated,” says a source.
“The royal family recognises that they’re very charming, quite dutiful young women who are very at ease and good in situations where they’re meeting the public and when they’re doing their charity work. Whenever they’ve done that before, they haven’t really put a foot wrong.”
A Delicate Balancing Act
Our royal insider continues: “The Princesses have been quietly getting on with supporting all these charities for some time. But they also have lives outside of the family. They’ve got families, they’ve got jobs. I’m not sure whether they would want to come fully into the fold and be full working royals. In a sense, they have a bit of the best of both worlds at the moment.”
