Princess Eugenie of York Biography
Summary
"Princess Eugenie of York" (Eugenie Victoria Helena; ; born 23 March 1990) is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. As such, she is sixth and the second female in the line of succession to the thrones of seventeen independent states; however, after subsequent evolution of the Commonwealth, that number of states has decreased to 16.
Due to her age Eugenie does not carry out official royal duties, though she does sometimes make appearances with the Royal Family at events, such as when she and her sister, Princess Beatrice, represented their father at a service of thanksgiving for Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2007.
Early life
Princess Eugenie was born at the Portland Hospital on 23 March 1990, the second child of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York, and sixth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Baptised at the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Sandringham, by the Bishop of Norwich, on 23 December 1990, she was the first royal baby to have a public christening, and her godparents were James Ogilvy; Captain Alastair Ross; Mrs Ronald Ferguson, her step-grandmother; Mrs Julia Dodd-Noble; and Louise Blacker. As a male-line grandchild of the sovereign, Eugenie was styled "Her Royal Highness" with the title "Princess Eugenie of York". She, and her sister, are the only granddaughters of the Queen to hold the title of "princess" and the style "Her Royal Highness"; although, by Letters Patent issued by King George V, their cousin, Lady Louise Windsor, is legally a princess, she is not styled as such at the request of her parents, and their other cousin, Zara Phillips, is the Queen's granddaughter through the female-line, therefore allowing her only the title and style of her father - who has none.
Eugenie is also the first Princess since her grandmother's aunt, Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary (known as Princess Mary), to bear the name "Victoria"; Queen Victoria had requested that her female descendants bear the name Victoria somewhere in their name, however, neither Queen Elizabeth, the late Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra, Princess Anne, nor Princess Beatrice hold the name Victoria.
Princess Eugenie's parents divorced when she was 6 years old. However, when she was not at school, her time was spent with her family, as the divorce had been amicable and the Duke and Duchess of York had agreed to joint custody of the girls. Eugenie and her sister regularly travel abroad with one or both of their parents. In the April 2008 issue of "Tatler", Eugenie described her grandmother as 'one of the most amazing women ever,' and her parents, as 'the best divorced couple' she knew.
In October 2002, Eugenie, then aged twelve, underwent back surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, to correct scoliosis. She made a full recovery and is not expected to undergo any further surgery for that condition. The Queen, who was in Canada at the time of the operation, was kept well informed of her granddaughter's operation and complete recovery.
Education
As a small child, Eugenie attended Winkfield Montessori from 1992 to 1993, and then Upton House School in Windsor until 1995. She moved to Coworth Park School from 1995 to 2001, and then St George's School, near Windsor Castle until 2003. For the next five years, Eugenie boarded at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, and graduated from there with A-Level grades of "A" in art and English literature and "B" in history of art. It was reported that the Princess had been spotted dancing naked with friends around the Malborough College campus to celebrate the end of exams. She plans to take a gap year before continuing her education in the autumn of 2009.
Official duties
Princess Eugenie has been present at a number of official royal occasions, such as Trooping the Colour in London, and the Queen's 80th birthday. She and her sister were also guests at the Concert for Diana, in memory of their late aunt, and organized by their cousins, Princes William and Harry, and both attended the service of thanksgiving for Diana on 1 September 2007, representing their father, who was on an official visit to Malaysia.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
"23 March 1990": "Her Royal Highness" Princess Eugenie of York
The Princess' style and title in full: "Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena of York". As a British princess, Eugenie holds no surname; however, as with the other male-line grandchildren of Elizabeth II, she uses the name of the area over which her father holds title, i.e. "York" (as Prince William and Prince Harry use "Wales", per their father, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales). Past precedent is that such surnames are dropped from usage in adulthood, after which either title alone, or Mountbatten-Windsor is used.
External links
(Illustrated biography of Princess Eugenie)
(Fan Site)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Princess Eugenie of York.
