Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have reportedly been told by King Charles III that they must now fund their own lifestyles, as the monarch pushes ahead with a crackdown on non-working royals enjoying taxpayer-supported benefits.
According to royal author Robert Johnson, the King has made it clear that his nieces will need to “stand on their own two feet and pay their own way” as part of a wider review of Crown-funded housing arrangements.
Johnson, whose forthcoming book The Windsor Legacy details the King’s efforts to streamline the monarchy, said the “explicit instructions” follow growing concern about subsidised properties still occupied by extended family members.
Beatrice currently has a residence at St James’s Palace, while Eugenie uses a cottage within Kensington Palace when in London.
Johnson said both have benefited from “subsidised accommodation” provided by the Crown.
“Indeed, several members of the extended Royal Family have continued to enjoy subsidised accommodation, with some allowing their apartments to be used by their children as London pads,” Johnson told The Mail.
A friend of the King’s described some of the palace arrangements as “being run like a hotel, and not a very good one,” while another insider was more direct: “The King isn’t running a housing association for distant relatives.”
The monarch, who turns 77 next week, is reportedly considering reclaiming several royal residences, including those used by Beatrice and Eugenie, to lease them out at market rates to vetted private tenants.
The policy shift follows the eviction of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Frogmore Cottage- a Crown Estate property gifted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018 but reclaimed after Prince Harry released his bombshell memoir Spare in 2023.
“The message is clear: no freeloaders in the modern monarchy,” Johnson said.
Despite the reforms, the King is understood to remain fond of his nieces and “very keen” to protect their titles as granddaughters of the late Queen.
Although Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, are not working royals, they continue to represent charities and attend occasional royal family events.
Outside London, Beatrice lives in the Cotswolds with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, their daughters Sienna, three, and Athena, ten months, and Mozzi’s son Christopher Woolf, nine.
Eugenie lives primarily in Portugal with her husband Jack Brooksbank and their sons August, four, and Ernest, two.
Both sisters have their own careers- Beatrice as a private equity analyst and Eugenie as a director at contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth.
Speaking to Sky News Australia’s Gabriella Power, royal commentator Josh Rom said the sisters have been struggling due to their parents’ links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“Princess Beatrice and Eugenie, it must be so tough for them,” Mr Rom said.
“Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are completely innocent; they’ve had absolutely nothing to do with it.
“They have no responsibility over their parents, they’re just trying to get on with their lives, their own careers … this must be deeply embarrassing for the Princesses for their parents to be engulfed in huge scandal.”
