Princess Eugenie just gave Prince Harry a gut punch - he'll be absolutely fuming
Princess Eugenie’s latest move hit Harry where it hurts, as the one bond he counted on starts to feel dangerously brittle.
Harry and Eugenie in happier days (Image: Getty)
When Britain was rocked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s surprise Megxit U-turn, many feared the Royal Family faced an existential crisis. Experts mapped out the nightmare scenario for the ongoing rift between Harry and William, potentially ‘splitting’ the family into two opposing camps – like the Yorks and Lancastrians in the War of the Roses.
In the blue corner were the loyalists supporting Prince William and similarly slighted Queen Camilla – Prince Edward and Sophie, Princess Anne and Zara and Mike Tindall. Some feared disenfranchised royals like Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie could then bolster a renegade ‘red corner’ with the Sussexes – making Harry and Meghan’s UK return a right royal headache for the Palace.
But fresh reports suggest that, although Harry may become a Cotswolds neighbour to Beatrice and try to entreat her for support on his return to UK society, Eugenie may no longer be counted on to back him.
A source claims Harry’s relationship with both of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters – reeling from the disclosures in the Epstein Files – has fractured.
If true, it would be a body blow to Harry as he was especially close to Eugenie. She was once among the closest royals to the Sussexes, featuring as the only family member in their 2022 Netflix documentary series.
Eugenie was also one of the first relatives to visit the couple in California and spent time with them during their trips back to Britain.
Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, even spent time in Frogmore Cottage, the Sussexes’ former UK base, after the birth of their first child, August, in 2021.
But in another gut punch, it is reported that in fact the Duke of Sussex has “very few friends left from before”.
The insider claimed: “Harry and Meghan are not so close to Beatrice and Eugenie anymore, and Harry did not see Eugenie over the summer in Portugal.
“Beatrice and Eugenie are not even in touch – and Eugenie was once so close to him.”
The claim is striking given that the York sisters were previously considered among the Sussexes’ closest family allies.
Eugenie and Beatrice at Peter Phillips recent wedding in Gloucestershire (Image: Getty)
The source also warned that the Sussexes will need to “make some serious social inroads and gatherings to get back in the fold.”
Both Eugenie – who earlier this month gave birth to her third child, daughter Adelaide Elizabeth Annina Brooksbank – and Harry own properties in Portugal. In fact, Adelaide was born at a hospital in Lisbon.
Yet sources have suggested Eugenie failed to meet up when Harry and Meghan recently visited Portugal.
So the Sussexes are heading back to the UK expecting to rattle a few royal cages on their return.
But they may instead find that in the six years since they have been gone, their social circle has shrunk smaller than one of Meghan’s pots of raspberry jam.