Princess Eugenie makes rare public appearance to speak of cause close to her heart
PRINCESS EUGENIE opened up on meeting a modern slavery survivor and how it inspired her to
launch a charity venture with a long-time friend.
Princess Eugenie took part in a live-stream fundraiser event for the Survivor Alliance,
an international not-for-profit organisation providing survivors with a safe space to speak
about their experiences and empowering them to become leaders of their communities.
The Princess joined the charity's executive director, Minh Dang, to speak about the Alliance's
work and future project.
Princess Eugenie also touched upon how she came to work against modern slavery with her
Anti-Slavery Collective, a movement she founded in 2017 with long-time friend Julia de Boinville.
Asked by Minh what she thinks she has learned from talking to survivors, Princess Eugenie
said: "When I first looked into the trafficking world I actually could not believe that this
was even an issue, I really couldn't, I was so naive back in the day about what was going
on.
"Firstly it was the shock of it, that modern slavery was something that actually existed,
and after that, when you meet survivors and you see what they are achieving and who they
are and their characters...
"The Anti-Slavery Collective is founded because we met a survivor in a safe house and she
was so strong and powerful and impressive that we immediately were like... my God.
"You know, the idiotic thing of 'I'm stuck in traffic' or 'it's raining' or something
stupid like that that you go through on a day-to-day basis was just like 'what am I
talking about, it's complete dribble'.
"And this girl was like 'I really want to help fight the cause, it's so amazing what
you are doing' ...and I was like 'you are amazing!'
"'You have overcome this, you are now standing there looking chic as anything, wanting to
fight and continue with life.'
"So many of us, who have never been through anything like your members have, want to go
upstairs, hide under the duvet, and watch Ru Paul all day long.
"But we can't because we haven't gone through anything like you have.
"And when this girl said 'I want to fight and I want to work', I was like 'I can't really
say anything now, you are incredible'.
"And she really inspired us to set up the Collective."
Princess Eugenie also acknowledged organisations like hers, led by allies of survivors, are
good at making the voices of survivors important but need to be mindful about not continuously
asking them to re-telling their stories if they don't want to.
Princess Eugenie already spoke to Minh, who is also a PhD student and member of the Rights
Lab at the University of Nottingham, in July last year about the Survivor Alliance and
its role in informing the anti-slavery movements through sharing their expertise.
Despite being a non-working member of the Royal Family, Princess Eugenie has used her
influence and position to support several causes and organisations close to her heart
over the past few years.
On top of her work with the Anti-Slavery Collective, which aims at raising awareness on how widespread
modern slavery is, Eugenie became the patron of Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital’s
Redevelopment Appeal in 2012.
This patronage paid tribute to the same Middlesex hospital where she underwent surgery to correct
her scoliosis.
With her mother Sarah Ferguson, Eugenie is also a patron of Elephant Family, a charity
campaigning to protect Asian elephants.
Another patronage she shares with a member of her family, her sister Princess Beatrice,
is the Teenage Cancer Trust, which supports young people facing cancer.