Princess Eugenie has spoken candidly about the physical changes she’s experienced after becoming a mother of two.
The British royal, 33, opened up about motherhood during an episode of Jessie and Lennie Ware’s podcast, Table Manners, which aired on 21 November. Her comments come after she welcomed her second son – Ernest – in May with husband Jack Brooksbank. The pair also have a two-year-old child, August.
During the podcast, Eugenie went on to discuss her eating habits, noting that she and her husband are both gluten and dairy-free. As she specified that she was encouraged to start the diet after welcoming Ernest, she also described how she has felt pressured to look a certain way while in the public eye.
“I don’t know about you, but on the post-baby body thing, it sends me mad, but I find it really hard to shake baby weight,” she said. “I guess society dictates that you have to shake your baby weight and all that stuff.”
Eugenie – who is the youngest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson – also opened up about her childhood as a member of the royal family. She acknowledged how, over the years, she felt pressured by the idea that she always had to be presented in a “certain way,” since people have been critical of the way she dresses and looks.
“It definitely has caused a couple of issues around my relationship with having to look a certain way. It’s always like: ‘Oh that was not a nice outfit,’ or ‘She looks terrible there,’” she said. “I guess everybody has that if you’re in the public eye.”
She went on to recall a specific point throughout her teens when she was scrutinised for her appearance.
“I guess within our family, it happens at that perfect age where you’re, you know, 13 years old and you’ve got that dorky bowl haircut and you’re a bit chubby and you know, all the boys are bullying you and all that kind of stuff,” she said. “You know it’s when all you need is reassurance that you’re going in the right direction, and you get the opposite.”
She noted that after growing up in the public eye, living in Portugal with her family part-time now is “a dream”.
“I can go to the supermarket in my exercise gear and my hair piled on my head and not mind, not care,” Eugenie said. “No one cares.”
Earlier this year, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter first took to Instagram to announce the arrival of her second son, who was born at the end of May.
“Jack and I wanted to share the news that we had our little boy, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank on 30th May 2023. He is named after his great great great Grandfather George, his Grandpa George and my Grandpa Ronald. Augie is loving being a big brother already,” she wrote in the caption, as she shared a sweet picture of Ernest, wearing a knitted blue and white hat, asleep in a Moses basket. She also shared a photo of August tenderly stroking his brother’s head.
Elsewhere in the Table Manners podcast, Eugenie opened up about raising her children, noting that they currently go to school in the UK. She also explained that although she went to boarding school at 13 and her husband went at age eight, she wouldn’t necessarily have her sons do the same.
“Looking at my sons now, I want to hang out with them. I like playing with them. I don’t want them to leave,” she said. “I wouldn’t send them at eight, I haven’t told Jack that.”
