Prince Harry may have fallen out with Prince William and King Charles, but remains “best friends” with his cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, a source claims.
The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex is said to have had little contact with the Prince and Princess of Wales over the past year.
But despite tensions with the company, the York sisters have remained loyal to Harry.
“They are still the best of friends and talk all the time,” an insider told me People.
They added that the tensions between Harry, Meghan and the Firm have been “very stressful” for Beatrice and Eugenie, and they find it “difficult to see” as they “see both sides.”
Prince Harry may have fallen out with Prince William and King Charles, but remains “best friends” with his cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, a source claims. Harry and Meghan are pictured with Eugenie
Growing up together: Prince Harry with Eugenie (center) and Beatrice (left) at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in May 2019. The pair remain close even though he lives in California
Harry has long been close with Beatrice and Eugenie.
Harry and Eugenie grew up playing together in royal parks and frolicking on the slopes on family ski holidays. Although their older siblings Prince William and Princess Beatrice were also there, it was always clear that Harry and Eugenie’s relationship was special.
Their bond is rooted not only in their shared experience as young royals and younger siblings who find their own way in life, but also as children of parents whose dirty laundry was aired in the press.
“From a young age, Eugenie had to deal with embarrassing headlines from both her father and mother,” Nigel Crawthorne, author of Prince Andrew, previously told Femail.
“Harry also had to deal with his share of headlines, and this bond between them was a great comfort to them.”
Childhood bond: Prince Harry (left) and Prince William with Princess Eugenie (left) and Princess Beatrice on a family holiday to Klosters, Switzerland, in 1995
Over the years, Eugenie has been Harry’s close friend, confidante, and even matchmaker. Now seen as one of his closest allies within the royal family, she remains steadfast in her support for him and Meghan in the wake of their move to California and a series of explosive tell-all interviews.
Despite being born five years apart, Harry and Eugenie often spent time together as children thanks to the friendship between their mothers Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson, who would pack the kids for joint family vacations.
Photos from a ski trip in 1995 show William and Harry smiling in the snow with the two young sisters from York and trudging up the slope with the girls determined to follow. Beatrice and Eugenie were also included in the last Christmas card Princess Diana sent before her death.
“Of all the Queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections,” Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote in the Sussex biography Finding Freedom. The book also describes them as the “best of friends.”
In another photo from the big night out, Meghan can be seen posing for a playful selfie with Princess Eugenie
‘Dear friends’: Eugenie has been Harry’s confidante and matchmaker over the years. Now she is seen as one of his closest allies within the royal family. Pictured is Harry sharing a joke with Eugenie (left) and Beatrice (right) during Trooping the Color in June 2012
“Like Harry, Eugenie is loyal, honest, and a lot of fun,” the book continues. “The two spent many nights out in London together, sneaking into the back doors of clubs like Mahiki, where Jack was once a manager, or Tonteria, where in one of the VIP cave areas they took down shots from Mexican skull-shaped glasses and a giant frozen margarita. (with several straws).’
The cousins also bonded over their shared difficulty in securing a role for themselves within the royal family, with Eugenie, who is not a working royal, having to find her own career path.
Harry has always confided in Eugenie and she was reportedly one of the first to know about his relationship with Meghan, whom she already knew through their mutual friend Misha Nonoo.
“Not only did he trust her unconditionally, but friends said she gives great advice and has always been ‘exceedingly wise’ all these years,” Scobie and Durant wrote.
Eugenie and Jack, who wed in October 2018, just six months after Harry and Meghan, went on double dates with the couple in Toronto and London.
Still close: Eugenie and Harry keep in touch in the wake of Megxit and the Sussexes’ interviews about the royal family. Pictured Harry and Meghan during one of their latest royal engagements in March 2020
Home sweet home: As a sign of how close they are, Eugenie and Jack now live with their son, August, in Frogmore Cottage, pictured, the house on the Windsor estate that was renovated by the Sussexes before they emigrated to North America
The princess and her then-boyfriend were at a party at Toronto’s Soho House in 2016 when the Harry and the Suits star was first spotted together. Eugenie was instrumental in keeping their relationship a secret.
In the explosive tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Harry and Meghan criticized the royal family, Eugenie was praised.
Meghan said: “Eugenie and I knew each other before I knew Harry, so that was comfortable (…) We are friends with them as a couple.”
The Sussexes, Eugenie and Jack were all guests at Misha Nonoo’s lavish wedding in Rome in the summer of 2019.
They also have mutual friends in singer Ellie Goulding and George and Amal Clooney, who were guests at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Jack is European director of Casamigos, the tequila brand co-founded by George.
Harry and Eugenie’s relationship came under strain in 2018 when he and Meghan reportedly told senior royals they were expecting their first child together at Eugenie and Jack’s wedding.
The official announcement came just days later, overshadowing any ongoing coverage of Eugenie’s big day.
However, it seems that any bad blood between the cousins was quickly washed away.
To show how close they are, Eugenie and Jack now live with their son, August, in Frogmore Cottage, the house on the Windsor estate renovated by the Sussexes before they emigrated to North America.
On both of Harry’s most recent trips back to the UK – for his grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral and the unveiling of the Princess Diana statue – he opted to stay with Eugenie, Jack and August and form a bubble with them.
Meghan also referred to the Duchess of York as “Fergie” during her tell-all Oprah interview, hinting at a friendship that would have taken many viewers by surprise.
Meghan previously revealed how she and the Duke went incognito in Halloween costumes on the town with his cousin and her partner for one last night out before their relationship was revealed on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
And in the first episode of their new £88million Harry & Meghan series today, the couple shared some photos from the big night out.
In the blink of an eye, Meghan and Harry can jostle for a photo with Eugenie and Jack, as well as another friend, Markus Anderson, Soho House’s global membership director.
Harry took aim at the Prince and Princess of Wales in his memoir, detailing an alleged incident where his older brother knocked him to the ground in a physical fight over Meghan that took place at Frogmore Cottage.
Charles and Harry’s relationship is said to still be off after the Duke launched a series of attacks on the royal family with his bombshell memoir Spare and a flurry of media interviews to promote the book.
It is believed that there is no contact between Prince William and his brother and that a reconciliation does not appear to be in the offing anytime soon.
“You can read the room on that where things are (between them),” a source said.
A rift in the royal family erupted when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK to live in California in 2020, shortly before the country went into lockdown.
Since then, the Sussexes have been somewhat at odds with other members of the family, but the Waleses continued to pay tribute to Meghan through their social media channels on her birthday.