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Posting on Instagram on September 24, Princess Eugenie shared details of a new project for The Anti-Slavery Collective. The organisation is a not-for-profit that she co-founded.
The campaign focuses on the exploitation of workers in the world of counterfeit fashion.
“Isn’t this ironic, talking about slavery when your own father is associated with sexual slavery ?” one social media user commented.
The timing could not have been worse for Eugenie, 35.
As she made her big appearance at the United Nations in New York City, her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, both 65, were embroiled in the headlines.
This was thanks to their links with the late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarah Ferguson was dropped as patron by several charities after a private email from April 2011 surfaced.
The offending document showed her calling Epstein her “supreme friend” following his conviction.
“It’s interesting that, at some point, all four of the Yorks have been involved in some kind of anti-trafficking charity work because it really just invites in the criticism,” Andrew Lownie tells WHO.
The biographer spent the four years digging into the private lives of the family for his new book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York.
His research found that the association between Epstein and the duke and duchess was much longer and more extensive than they’d previously admitted.
Beyond those ties, he feels that the drama surrounding the couple is just the tip of the iceberg.
“There are a lot of skeletons in the closet that are yet to come out,” Lownie says.
The latest round of headlines has seen King Charles rescind his brother and Fergie’s invitation to Sandringham for Christmas.
It is a situation that forces Eugenie and Beatrice to choose between their parents and their extended family.
Despite the scandal, the Yorks have continued to project a united front, with Sarah referring to herself and her daughters as “the tripod”, while Beatrice played a behind-the-scenes role in her father’s attempt to try to clear his name through his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview.
“Nobody wants to inflict the sins of the parents on their kids,” Lownie says. “However, I do think it’s a bit naive to think that the kids had no idea about at least some of the things that were going on.”
Married to Jack Brooksbank and raising their two sons, August, 4, and Ernest, 2, Eugenie is a director at London art gallery Hauser & Wirth.
Beatrice, who is married to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, is a mum to daughters Sienna, 4, and 8-month-old Athena, and her stepson, Wolfie, 9. She currently works as a strategic advisor at US software company Afiniti.
While neither has taken up a role as a full-time working royal, the pair have represented the Crown several times during the reign of their uncle King Charles.
They attended a Coronation Big Lunch in Buckinghamshire in May 2023, and were invited to attend a garden party hosted at Buckingham Palace by Prince William in May 2024.
“Because he can’t have a royal role, Prince Andrew has transferred all of his ambitions to his children and would love to see them step forward,” Lownie explains.
“I think Beatrice is also very keen to do that. She would say that she has grown up with a strong sense of public duty. But their associations with the charity area are
able to enhance their social statuses for private business endeavours, too.”
While Lownie feels that the events were “testing the waters”, he doesn’t see either of the York daughters being given a working royal role.
“The best thing the sisters can do to survive the scandals is keep their heads down with as low a profile as possible,” he says.
Click here to buy Entitled by Andrew Lownie.
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