‘I Always Wanted to Be an Artist’

Princess Eugenie is the latest member of the royal family to star in a documentary about a personal passion.

Following in the recent footsteps of Prince William, Prince Harry and Queen Camilla, Princess Eugenie will be featured in the ITV1 documentary My National Gallery, set to air on the network on Dec. 30. The program will celebrate 200 years of the historic institution through the personal stories of its staff and most famous visitors, according to Tatler.

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To celebrate the London gallery, which first opened its doors in 1824, art aficionado Eugenie — who studied art history and English literature at Newcastle University and now works as a director at the London art gallery Hauser & Wirth — chose a piece of artwork that particularly resonated with her for the documentary. The piece is Antonio da Correggio’s “The Madonna of the Basket,” painted around 1524 and depicting the Virgin Mary with Christ on her lap and Joseph in the background, at work in his trade as a carpenter. The National Gallery’s description of the piece reads, “The holy family’s simple home has been built alongside grandiose ruins — a symbol of the new faith rising out of the wreckage of pagan antiquity. The picture is a soft harmony of grey-pinks and grey-blues with the gentle, smoky quality for which Correggio is famous.”

As to why Eugenie, 34, chose this particular piece of art, she said on social media earlier this year that “I see a lot of similarities with this and my life.”

Eugenie, who shares sons August, 3, and Ernest, 1, with husband Jack Brooksbank, said of the painting, per The Daily Mail, that “Correggio is painting a very domestic scene. This is a normal, domestic family. It’s something so personal and so beautiful to see them like this, rather than in opulence or really heralded as these figures that transcend history.”

“Who knows its journey it’s been on, how it got to us, but it’s here and we’re able to admire it,” Eugenie added.

“The Madonna of the Basket,” she said, “means something to be because of where I am in my life now”: “Madonna and child, it’s been painted a million times and we’ve seen it everywhere,” she continued. “This one stuck out to me because of the very relaxed and ethereal nature of this beautiful mother and child bond.”

The film will feature Princess Eugenie and other famous faces discussing their favorite paintings and why those pieces resonate with them. “We are delighted to have such a great film about the National Gallery on its 200th birthday,” ITV’s Jo Clinton-Davis said, adding it is “a real Christmas treat.”

In My National Gallery, Eugenie said she has always loved art, saying, “I did art at school. I always wanted to be an artist.”

“I remember going to National Gallery and just sitting and drawing, and now when I go around a gallery I see all the young people doing that and I’m like, ‘I used to do that.’ I wish I could find my drawings from those moments where I was a student right in the front, studying and looking and learning all about history and art.”

Neither Princess Eugenie or her older sister, Princess Beatrice, are full-time working royals, but their mother Sarah Ferguson said in September that her daughters “are out there doing the work. Eugenie does a lot with The Anti-Slavery Collective, Beatrice does an enormous amount in technology and with dyslexia and really believes in humanity in the workplace, with compassion.”

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Though they’re not working royals like their cousin Prince William, 42, or uncle King Charles, 76, the daughters of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew are close to members of the royal family because “they have that unique, shared experience and unusual life they all lead,” according to a source speaking to Hello! earlier this year. “This is an institution that they all belong to, perhaps in slightly different ways in terms of how they serve it, but they all believe in it and its future and want to do what they can to support it.”

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In addition to My National Gallery, there have been a handful of other royals speaking about passions close to their heart through documentaries lately, from the Prince of Wales’ Prince William: We Can End Homelessness in October to Queen Camilla’s Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors in November to Prince Harry’s latest Netflix offering, POLO, which premiered Dec. 10 on the streaming service.

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