Could Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Emerge as the Winners of Megxit?
With the swift retreat of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle afoot, England has suddenly remembered it has a couple of spare royals sitting around to fill the void if they need them: Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice of York.
The York sisters are, of course, the only other of the Queen’s grandchildren aside from Princes William and Harry, to have been granted royal titles and status as official members of the Royal family (Prince Edward and Princess Anne having opted against such designations for their own children). Though, the extent to which they can bask in the perks of the full royal lifestyle has always been a matter of inter-family debate. While it’s long been rumored that their now disgraced father, Prince Andrew, has argued that as the only “blood princess of their generation” Bea and Genie deserve more prominent places within the royal family, future king Prince Charles has held firm that, if anything, the royal family should be slimmed down to the bare essentials.
Though, with the Sussexes planning to spend at least half their time in North America, a “royal expert” has caused a minor uproar by suggesting that the Yorks might be called upon to quell the royal drought.
“It’s quite clear that one of the consequences is that Beatrice and Eugenie will now be brought forward—if they’re willing to be brought forward,” Robert Lacey told Hello! magazine. “If two go out, two have got to come in, and those two have got to be Beatrice and Eugenie. I’m sure they will step forward and be greatly welcomed.”
Lacey, we should note, is not jut any “royal expert,” but also serves as a consultant for The Crown, the world’s most sophisticated example of fan fiction, and a well-known writer of historical biographies.
Though, he makes it all seem like a simple math problem: If the House of Windsor has X amount of duties, but Y amount of members move to Canada for Z amount of months of the year, how many blood princesses must be called upon to fill them?
The reality isn’t that simple. Beatrice and Eugenie have full-time day jobs. Beatrice is a vice president at Afiniti, data and software company (yes, there is a Princess in STEM, thank you very much), while Eugenie is a director at the London outpost of art mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth. Both are more than vanity occupations. They do have to support themselves, to a degree, anyway.
That being said, the young women do already balance their careers with a number of royal commitments and patronages.
According to her official bio, Eugenie does work on behalf of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, The Coronet Theater, Charity: Water, and The Big Cat Sanctuary, among other endeavors. Beatrice’s official bio, meanwhile, notes that she is “dyslexic and as such is interested in charities involved with dyslexia and learning difficulties.” Both sisters are also patrons of the Teenage Cancer Trust, an organization their mother Sarah Ferguson has long been involved in.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry has so far maintained that despite his new life journey, he’ll maintain his official patronages.
Of course, there are still the various and sundry duties the royals have to take on: basically showing up as a royal at events where the family deems a royal should be present. The pair may very well find themselves in higher demand at these events.
Though, given Prince Charles’s long-term plan to slim down the royal family, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be keen to open the royal purse and demand that the York sisters work full-time as royals.
In other words, they’ll probably keep their day jobs.
