Why does Princess Eugenie want her son to be an activist?

The furore surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has made it easy to forget about the other younger members of the Royal Family. Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, have been relatively peripheral presences on the world stage until now. Damned by association with their disgraced father, the pair have kept a relatively low profile. It’s something of a surprise then to see Eugenie not only appear at the World Economic Form in Davos, but give an interview there in which she offers trenchant views on the climate crisis. Her son August, she declares, ‘is going to be an activist from two years old.’

Some will find Eugenie’s comments refreshing; others, surprising – given that Eugenie may be best known for her marriage to a tequila brand ambassador and for working as a director for the art firm Hauser & Wirth.

Eugenie is not a ‘working Royal’, but her charitable interests have included everything from taking part in anti-slavery campaigns to helping the Salvation Army with packing food during the peak of the Covid pandemic.