Growing up as a princess has meant an exciting life, but that's not all there is to Eugenie
of York.
From ending up in the ICU after surgery as a child all the way to her romantic royal
engagement, this is the stunning transformation of Princess Eugenie.
Surgery scare
After being diagnosed with scoliosis, Princess Eugenie underwent corrective surgery at 12
years old.
"They put metal rods in my neck and eight-inch screws down my back, um, which have now fused
together and keep me straight."
She told UK magazine Tatler in 2008,
"What was meant to be a one-hour operation took eight.
But it worked.
[...] It was terrifying but, actually, it was more scary when they told me I needed
to have it done in the first place."
She wound up in the intensive care unit for three days after the surgery, and then spent
six days in a wheelchair before finally walking again.
Eugenie shared her x-rays with the world on Instagram in June 2018 in support of International
Scoliosis Awareness Day.
Sisterly bond
While Eugenie and her older sister, Beatrice, did get into a couple of spats when they were
growing up — Eugenie told Vogue UK that their biggest fight was over a pair of Converse
shoes — those sisterly arguments didn't damage their relationship at all.
Eugenie says of their sisterly bond,
"We're each other's rocks."
Not surprisingly, Beatrice will be Eugenie's maid of honor at her wedding, where she will
likely be forced to don a dress more to her sister's tastes than her own.
When it comes to fashion, Eugenie told Tatler the pair are like, quote, "chalk and cheese."
A royal pain?
When asked if she enjoys being a princess, Eugenie told Tatler in 2008,
"I don't like talking about it much and find it annoying.
[...] One of my best friends jokingly says, 'Hi, Princess,' and I say, 'Shut up.'
It is one of the things that bugs me most in the world."
Clearly not one to capitalize on, or try to take advantage of, her royal status, Eugenie
reportedly only goes to Buckingham Palace for big occasions, and she visits the Queen's
private estates only for Christmas and summer vacation.
Nevertheless, she clearly reveres her grandmother, calling her, quote, "Truly one of the most
amazing women ever."
Down to an art
Eugenie made art history a major focus of her education, and now works full-time in
the art world.
She explained to Harper's Bazaar in 2016,
"I've loved art since I was very little.
I knew I definitely wouldn't be a painter, but I knew this was the industry for me.
I love being able to share my passion for art with people."
After she graduated from university, she lived in New York for two years, where she worked
as an art specialist with the online auction house Paddle8.
Since returning to London in 2015, she has worked as the assistant director for the London
branch of Hauser & Wirth, a contemporary art gallery.
As she and Beatrice told Vogue UK, their role as royals who have both careers and royal
responsibilities is unprecedented.
As Beatrice put it,
"We are the first: we are young women trying to build careers and have professional lives,
and we're also princesses and doing all of this in the public eye."
Instagram noob
After joining Instagram in March 2018, Princess Eugenie has faced a bit of a learning curve,
admitting to Vogue UK that she's had to remove a pic or two:
"I recently got in trouble for posting a picture of Papa in a corridor of the palace that was
off-limits to the public."
So why, in an era of social media ubiquity, is Princess Eugenie allowed to have her own
Instagram account, while Meghan Markle had to shut hers down before getting engaged to
Prince Harry?
According to Vogue, it's because she isn't a so-called "working royal," so her full-time
job isn't being a representative of the monarchy, which gives her more social media flexibility.
Dedicated do-gooder
Among her many other philanthropic endeavors, Princess Eugenie co-founded the Anti-Slavery
Collective, which advocates for better, more open discussions about modern slavery.
She also partnered with Project Zero, an organization that seeks to greatly reduce the use of single-use
plastics.
She told Vogue UK,
"It's been eye-opening.
My whole house is anti-plastic now — and Jack and I want our wedding to be like that
as well."
Bride-to-be
Eugenie and her soon-to-be husband, Jack Brooksbank, met on a ski trip when Eugenie was just 20
years old.
After seven years of dating, Brooksbank proposed in January 2018.
The two were on vacation in Nicaragua, and just as the sun was setting, he proposed.
Eugenie told the BBC,
"It was a complete surprise.
It was the perfect moment, and we couldn't be happier."
"The light was just a special light I've never seen.
I actually said, 'This is an incredible moment.'
Brooksbank chose a special sapphire stone for Eugenie's engagement ring because, quote,
"it changes colour from every different angle that you look at it" and he considers Eugenie
just as multi-faceted.
It's clearly an extraordinary ring for an extraordinary woman, who's soon entering a
new phase of her life with her much-anticipated and surely star-studded wedding on October
12th.