Beatrice and Eugenie Might Be the ‘Obvious Choices’ to Add to King Charles’s ‘Slimmed Down’ Monarchy but a Commentator Says It’s ‘Better’ if They’re Not
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie becoming “working royals” may not be the “best” way to go. A commentator says it’s “better” if they don’t become part of King Charles III’s “slimmed-down” monarchy and “work quietly” as non-working royals.
Beatrice and Eugenie aren’t currently working royals
Daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Beatrice and Eugenie are not among the royal family’s working royals. That means their “job” isn’t carrying out duties on behalf of the crown.
Instead, they’re among the royal family’s non-working members with professions outside palace walls who make the occasional public appearance.
However, as their mother, the Duchess of York, explained in the June 25 episode of her Tea Talks podcast, Beatrice and Eugenie “work” despite being “non-working” royals.
“My girls are incredible,” Ferguson, who underwent surgery for a single mastectomy following a breast cancer diagnosis, said. “It’s both private and public. It’s not about working or non-working. Because they work very, very hard publicly and they work very, very hard privately.”
“They are mothers and the work-life balance they are getting is extraordinary,” the 63-year-old continued. “They just do it in a very real way and I’m so proud of them.”
“Beatrice literally goes out there and fights for dyslexia,” Ferguson added. “She publicly talks about how she had special needs at school. And then Eugenie has 12-inch metal rods down her back as she has scoliosis. She talks openly about how important it is to de-stigmatize the scar.”
Commentator says it likely ‘better’ Beatrice and Eugenie don’t join the ‘slimmed-down’ monarchy because of the Sovereign Grant
Jennie Bond, a former BBC royal correspondent, believes while Beatrice and Eugenie are “bright young women” and “obvious choices” to add to the number of working royals, it may be “best” if things continue as they are.
“Sarah is understandably extremely proud of her two daughters,” Bond said (via OK! Magazine). “They’ve had a lot to put up with over the years.”
“Both of their parents have been publicly shamed. They themselves have both been ridiculed at times for their dress sense and their lifestyles. But we have never heard them complain. And now they have turned into well-adjusted, bright young women … and now wives and mothers.”
Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, are parents to 1-year-old daughter, Sienna. Meanwhile, Eugenie is now a mother of two after welcoming a son named Ernest with her husband, Jack Brooksbank, in May 2023.
“Beatrice and Eugenie are the obvious choices if the royal family suddenly finds itself so slimmed down that there simply aren’t enough of them to go round,” Bond continued. “As their mother said in her podcast, the two women do a fair bit of charity work quietly behind the scenes.”
However, were Beatrice and Eugenie to become working royals that would mean they’d get taxpayer funding from the Sovereign Grant. With that in mind, the commentator said remaining non-working royals would be “best.”
“Perhaps this is the best way to go,” she said. “If they became full-time working royals, they would have to be supported from the Sovereign’s Grant. And this is probably not the time for any more public expenditure on the royal family.”
“Both young women have brought their own personal experience into play, and have spoken publicly about dyslexia and scoliosis,” Bond continued. “These are important subjects and all the more effective because they are speaking from the heart.”
“There’s much to admire about these two young women, but on balance, I think it is better that they do not become full-time working royals, but rather use their platforms in the way they are already doing,” Bond concluded.
Princess Anne isn’t fully on board with King Charles’s idea of a ‘slimmed-down’ monarchy
The king’s sister doesn’t fully support the idea of cutting back on the number of working royals. In an interview for the CBS News program, The National, airing just days before King Charles’s May 2023 coronation, Anne shared she doesn’t quite like the idea.
The 72-year-old revealed the king came up with his plan for a “slimmed down” monarchy when the royal family was in a different place. Namely, when there were more working royals.
In the years prior to Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 death, the royal family’s number of full-time royals decreased by three. Prince Andrew stepped down from his royal duties following sexual abuse allegations. Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left royal life for California in 2020.
“Well, I think the ‘slimmed down’ was said in a day when there were a few more people around,” Anne said. “It doesn’t sound like a good idea from where I’m standing, I would say. I’m not quite sure what else we can do.”
Anne continued, saying were King Charles’s “slimmed-down” monarchy idea put into practice, adjustments would have to be made in how royals support the monarch.
Noting her late mother “didn’t change very much,” with royals aware of the “rhythm of the year,” Anne added that “how we are part of the support for the monarchy may change slightly, who knows.”
