Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie on having full-time jobs, ‘horrible’ article mocking them

Being a princess and having a day job isn’t easy, just ask Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. In a rare interview, the Yorks admitted that they get hurt from criticisms they receive, including the “horrible article” about their outfits at Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding.

Like most of the Royal family, the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, are normally tight-lipped about their personal lives. It’s a rare treat when they reveal even just a little in an interview. And that’s what the princesses did recently with Vogue UK.

Contrary to what others believe, Beatrice and Eugenie have full-time non-royal jobs. Eugenie has a director position at contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth, while Beatrice works as the vice president of partnerships and strategy at tech company Afiniti.

“It’s hard to navigate situations like these because there is no precedent, there is no protocol,” Beatrice, who turns 30 next week, told the magazine about being a working royal. “We are the first: We are young women trying to build careers and have personal lives, and we’re also princesses and doing all of this in the public eye.”

Their father previously said he would like his daughters to be “modern working young women who happen to be members of the Royal Family.” And they currently are.

Being royals also mean they are front and centre for public scrutiny. Their mother was recently forced to defend Eugenie from a demeaning article that questioned her upcoming wedding to Jack Brooksbank. In the Daily Mail article, writer Jan Moir called Eugenie as “constitutionally important as one of the Queen’s corgis.”

That was just one of the criticisms they receive from the public. There was one that they admitted was “horrible” and had affected them a bit.

It was when their cousin William married Kate in 2011 in what was deemed the royal wedding of the century. The princesses’ headwear was panned heavily in the media, with some even creating memes of them and comparing them to Cinderella’s evil stepsisters. What got to them was one unnamed article about their outfit.

“We were just about to step out and she had a bit of a wobble and cried. I was looking after her,” Eugenie said. “And then about an hour later, I had a wobble and started crying and Bea was there for me.”

The sisters said their rock was each other. They are exceptionally close, with one of their biggest fights was just over a pair of Converse trainers.

“We have the same size feet and both of us had identical pairs,” Beatrice said. “One pair got trashed and the other sister may have swapped them.”

Beatrice will be her younger sister’s maid of honour when she weds Brooksbank in October. Eugenie said her wedding would be plastic-free, just like her whole house now.

Their full interview with British Vogue is in the September 2018 issue.