Princess Eugenie kept things relaxed and real during a recent outing over tea and cake.
While visiting the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury, England, on behalf of the charity Horatio’s Garden, the princess shared some candid details about her home life.
First up, her tea order: “Weak Earl Grey, no milk, and a slice of orange and almond cake,” according to The Telegraph. Eugenie, 35, requested the snack when asked as she sat down with patients at the centre to chat about their recovery.
Horatio’s Garden is an organization that works to build peaceful outdoor spaces for patients at spinal centers to visit as they recover from surgery or injury.
It’s a cause close to Eugenie’s heart, as she had back surgery at age 12 to correct her scoliosis.
She is also a patron of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) and the Teenage Cancer Trust, which she shares with her older sister, Princess Beatrice.
Additionally, as a non-working royal whose salary is not funded by taxpayers, Eugenie works full-time at the art gallery Hauser & Wirth. She’s also a mother of two – the princess and husband Jack Brooksbank share sons August, 4, and Ernest, 1.
“I think I’ve got a good balance. I’ve got an amazing husband and team and projects I’m passionate about,” she told The Telegraph. “I’d feel uneasy if I wasn’t doing my charity work, looking after my family and doing my job. I love what I do.”
“My mum always taught me that giving back to others is the most important thing in life. Bea and I feel very strongly about this,” she continued. “My grandmother’s sense of duty was also instilled from a young age; we watched my parents, my granny [Queen Elizabeth] and other family members working very hard.”
And while Brooksbank’s current work developing a luxury housing community in Portugal means that the family has been splitting their time between London and the Blue Coast, Eugenie said she tries her best to spend as many peaceful nights at home as possible.
Describing an ideal night, she said, “I get home from work and put the boys in the bath and don’t have to go anywhere else. It’s so relaxing.”
As for the perfect homebody activities? Eugenie and her husband are currently binge-watching The White Lotus, and she and August are trying their hand at gardening.
“It’s such a fun activity,” she marveled, recalling how she gave her son some seeds and a gardening belt for his last birthday. “We went outside and did some digging. That’s been the extent of it so far, although we have been growing cress in the kitchen.”
Eventually, Eugenie also hopes to introduce her boys to the important work she does outside the home.
“I really want them to come to my gallery and to come here on [charity] visits like this and see what I do,” she noted. “It must start when they’re young.”
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For now, Eugenie’s newfound experience as a mother has offered her a different perspective on having surgery as a child – as well as a new way to give back. She fields calls from young patients who are facing spinal surgeries like the one she had, offering motherly care as well as lived experience.
“A little voice comes on the phone and they don’t know what questions to ask,” she recalled. “I tell them not to feel ashamed – not just of the scar but of the whole experience; bed pans, the lot.”
“The people looking after you in this situation are literally angels; I tell them, ‘don’t feel nervous about letting them look after you,’ ” she added.