Princess Eugenie

Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990), is a member of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, and a niece of King Charles III. At birth, Eugenie was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne and is twelfth Template:As of.

Eugenie was born at the Portland Hospital in London. She was educated at St George's School and Marlborough College before studying English Literature and History of Art at Newcastle University, graduating with a bachelor's degree. She joined the auction house Paddle8 before taking a directing position at the art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Eugenie also works privately with a number of charitable organisations, including the Anti-Slavery Collective and Anti-Slavery International.

In 2018, Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank, a British marketing executive. The couple have two sons.

Early life

Eugenie was born at 7:58Template:Nbsppm on 23 March 1990 at the Portland Hospital in London,<ref name=LondonGazetteAnnouncement>Template:London Gazette</ref> to the then Duke and Duchess of York, delivered by Caesarean section. She is the sixth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She was baptised Eugenie Victoria Helena at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, by Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich, on 23 December 1990.Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> She was the first royal baby to have a public christening and the only one of the Queen's grandchildren not to be baptised in the Lily Font.<ref name=TelegJul15>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Eugenie's parents divorced when she was six years old.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Duke and Duchess of York agreed to joint custody of their two children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the divorce, the Queen provided her parents with £1.4 million to set up a trust fund for her sister Beatrice and her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eugenie and her sister frequently travelled abroad with one or both of their parents.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In October 2002, the 12-year-old Eugenie underwent back surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London to correct scoliosis;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> two Template:Convert titanium rods were put in her back.<ref name="Hospital-Patronage">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After the operation the princess was not required to undergo any further spinal surgeries.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

Education and career

Eugenie began her education at Winkfield Montessori School, which she attended from 1992 to 1993. She then joined her sister at Upton House School in Windsor, where she studied until 1995. From 1995 to 2001, she attended Coworth Park School (now Coworth Flexlands School), followed by St George’s School near Windsor Castle until 2003. She subsequently boarded at Marlborough College in Wiltshire for five years.<ref name="TheTelegraph2014-03-29">Template:Cite news</ref> During her time at Marlborough, Eugenie completed three A-levels, earning 'A' grades in Art and English Literature, and a 'B' in History of Art. After taking a gap year, she enrolled at Newcastle University in September 2009, graduating in 2012 with a 2:1 degree in English Literature and Art History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2013, Eugenie relocated to New York City for a year to work as a benefit auctions manager at the online auction house Paddle8. In July 2015, she returned to London to join the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth as an associate director and was promoted to director in 2017.<ref name="Job">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the Channel 5 documentary Beatrice and Eugenie: Pampered Princesses, royal commentator Richard Kay stated that Eugenie received taxpayer-funded security while travelling internationally during her gap year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>In January 2022, reports emerged that Princess Eugenie lost her taxpayer-funded police security in 2011, reportedly following an intervention by her uncle, Charles III (then Prince of Wales). The decision was driven by concerns over the high cost of providing security for non-working royals. During her gap year, Eugenie’s taxpayer-funded security reportedly cost over £100,000. Charles considered the expense excessive, as Eugenie and Beatrice were unlikely to take on major royal duties. The move is said to have angered the Duke, who argued to the Queen that his daughters should be treated as full members of the royal family.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 2023, Eugenie joined the advisory board of Goals House, a community dedicated to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Marriage and family

Template:Further Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on 22 January 2018. The couple had been dating for seven years, and were introduced by friends in a ski break in Verbier, Switzerland, where Brooksbank was working.<ref name="Boyle and Furness">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> They were engaged on vacation in Nicaragua.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2018, the couple moved from St James's Palace and took up residence in Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The wedding took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 12 October 2018. The wedding dress was designed by the British fashion designer Peter Pilotto and Belgian Christopher de Vos of British-based label Peter Pilotto,<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> and was designed to display her surgical scar. Eugenie chose to show her scar to honour those that helped her, and to inspire others with the condition of scoliosis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The Brooksbanks have two sons. The first, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, was born on 9 February 2021 at the Portland Hospital in London, born by caesarean section due to his mother's childhood scoliosis operation.<ref name=birth>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> At birth, he was eleventh in line to the throne and is now thirteenth. He is named after his great-grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and two of his five-times great-grandfathers: Reverend Edward Hawke Brooksbank, and Prince Albert, whose given names included "Augustus".<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> August was christened at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor Park, on 21 November 2021, alongside his second cousin, Lucas Tindall.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eugenie gave birth to a second son, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, on 30 May 2023. He is named after his great-great-great-grandfather George V, whose third given name was Ernest, his grandfather George Brooksbank and his great-grandfather Major Ronald Ferguson.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ernest was born thirteenth in line to the throne and is now fourteenth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From November 2020 to May 2022, the couple's main residence was Frogmore Cottage, which was leased to Eugenie's cousin Prince Harry. In May 2022, it was reported they had moved to Portugal, where Brooksbank works for Michael Meldman, and that they would once again stay at Ivy Cottage while in the UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Activities

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Eugenie at her first engagement, opening Teenage Cancer Trust's unit in Leeds, October 2008

Eugenie receives no allowance from the Privy Purse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She does, however, undertake occasional public engagements, which are usually connected with the charities she supports, including the Teenage Cancer Trust and Children in Crisis. In 2018, Children in Crisis merged with Street Child, a children's charity active in multiple countries, with Eugenie still serving as an ambassador.<ref name="Standard-Essay">Template:Cite web</ref>

Eugenie and her sister represented their father at a service of thanksgiving for her aunt, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2007. In 2008, she performed her first solo public engagement, opening a Teenage Cancer Trust's unit for young cancer patients in Leeds.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 2 June 2011, Eugenie visited the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) with her father as one of her first official engagements. In April 2012 she agreed to be patron for the hospital's Redevelopment Appeal,<ref name="Hospital-Patronage"/> which was her first patronage. In 2014, Eugenie re-opened the children's unit at the RNOH.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, she partnered with Daisy London Jewellery to create a limited edition charity bracelet to benefit the RNOH's Appeal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eugenie became patron of the RNOH Charity in March 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year she was named patron of Horatio's Garden, a charity that creates gardens for patients in NHS spinal injury centres.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Princess Eugenie (left) with her sister Beatrice at Trooping the Colour in 2013

In January 2013, Eugenie and her sister promoted Britain overseas in Germany.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In 2016, Eugenie, along with her mother and sister, collaborated with British contemporary artist Teddy McDonald. The painting on canvas, titled Royal Love, was painted at Royal Lodge and exhibited in London prior to being sold with all proceeds from the sale of the painting donated by McDonald to the charity Children in Crisis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eugenie and her sister became Patrons of the Teenage Cancer Trust in June 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She is also Patron of the Coronet Theatre, the European School of Osteopathy, the Tate Young Patrons and, alongside her mother, the Elephant Family,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> of which her uncle and aunt, the King and Queen, are joint presidents.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2016, Eugenie visited a safe house run by The Salvation Army and met with victims of sexual abuse and modern slavery.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 2017, Eugenie became the ambassador for the Artemis Council of the New Museum, a by-invitation membership initiative focused solely on supporting female artists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Eugenie also became an ambassador of Project 0 in 2018, a charity which in partnership with Sky Ocean Rescue, focuses on protecting the ocean from plastic pollution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2018, in her capacity as co-founder and director of the Anti-Slavery Collective, Eugenie spoke at the NEXUS Global Summit at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss ending modern slavery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She and Julia de Boinville founded the collective in 2017 after a trip to Kolkata in 2012, where they first became familiar with the subject.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2018, she travelled to Serbia to visit ASTRA and ATINA, two grantees of the UN Trust Fund which fight against the issues of human trafficking and violence against women.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In August 2019, it was announced that she would launch a podcast, the first member of the royal family to do so. Together with Julia de Boinville, co-founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective, they highlighted and discussed issues related to modern slavery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first episode of the podcast, titled Floodlight, was released in April 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2019, Princess Eugenie, with the help of the University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute, hosted an event at Westminster Abbey to understand the scale of the plight of modern slavery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2019, Eugenie became patron of Anti-Slavery International.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2019, Eugenie accompanied her grandmother to the Royal Maundy service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2020, it was revealed that Eugenie and her husband were helping The Salvation Army with packing foods amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2020, Eugenie became patron of the Scoliosis Association UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2021, Princess Eugenie became an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation, and met with environmentalists at Somerset House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2021, Princess Eugenie visited The Salvation Army's outreach hub as part of her work with the Anti-Slavery Collective. She took part in an art therapy class alongside modern slavery survivors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2022, Eugenie launched the Ocean Advocate Series, which features conversations with ocean advocates and experts on how to preserve the seas and the environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 17 September 2022, during the period of official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, Eugenie joined her sister and six cousins to mount a 15-minute vigil around the coffin of the late Queen, as it lay in state at Westminster Hall.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 19 September, she joined other family members at the state funeral.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Titles, styles and arms

Titles and styles

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Royal monogram

As a male-line grandchild of the sovereign, Eugenie was known as "Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie of York",<ref name=photos>Template:Cite news</ref> with the territorial designation coming from her father's former title, Duke of York. Since her marriage, she has been styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank" in the Court Circular.<ref name="The Royal Family">Template:Cite news</ref>

Authored articles

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External links

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