Happy Birthday Your Royal Highness

The youngest daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, turns 20 today; as with the births of Princes William and Harry and Princess Beatrice before her, I was on high alert waiting to hear the news - from London's Portland Hospital - that she'd been born...

Her Royal Highness - having completed a gap year after graduating from Marlborough College that included a high-profile mugging in Cambodia - keeps a low profile as is usually the case with young royals (her cousins William and Harry being glaring exceptions) who generally wait until after university to decide if they're going to carry out royal duties or not. Princess Eugenie has, however, been quietly carrying out royal duties since October 2008, when she opened a cancer ward for teenagers in Leeds; when not on duty, though, she's been known to use public transportation. Since September 2009 she's been reading a Combined Studies BA at Newcastle University.

Currently sixth in line to the British throne, she is named for a famous granddaughter of Queen Victoria, namely Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, the consort of Alfonso XIII.
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