Prince Harry’s Rift with the Royal Family is Reportedly “Really Stressful” for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

Of the York sisters and Harry, “they’re still the best of friends and talk constantly.”

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Here’s some good news for your Monday: While tensions may remain high between Prince Harry and his older brother, Prince William, Harry is “still the best of friends” with cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, People reports. It seems the miles haven’t dulled the bond between the cousins, as was on display at King Charles’ Coronation last May.

“They’re still the best of friends and talk constantly,” a family source told People.

The aforementioned tensions between Harry and William—and other members of the royal family—have been “really stressful” for the York sisters, the source added. “The whole drama between him and Meghan and the rift with the rest of the family has been really stressful for the girls,” they said. “It’s hard to watch because they see both sides of it,” adding that the two princesses “understand and live the royal machine.”

Of William, the source said that the heir to the throne “knows what his end game is and where he’ll be, and it’s being King one day. William’s life revolves around his role and his family, of course. But there is a clear path for him and a future that is obviously very different from Harry’s. Inherently, they have different priorities and different perspectives.”

And, while Harry visited them in the U.K. for the Coronation, Eugenie, if you’ll remember, made the trip across the pond herself, joining Harry in February 2022 for the Super Bowl in California. She was also the only member of the royal family to appear in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, showing Eugenie playing with Harry and Meghan’s son Prince Archie at the beach.

“Eugenie had always been more than just a cousin to Harry,” authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote in their book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. “Out of all the Queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections. Like Harry, Eugenie is loyal, honest, and great fun. The two had many nights out together in London. Harry had always confided in his cousin when it came to the women in his life. Not only did he trust her implicitly, but friends say that she gives great advice and has always been ‘beyond wise’ for her years.”

Meghan, too, has a relationship with Eugenie, disclosing to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that she knew Eugenie prior to meeting Harry: “Eugenie and I had known each other before I had known Harry, so that was comfortable,” Meghan said. “We’re friends with them as a couple,” referring to Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. Meghan later told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show that Eugenie and Jack visited her in Toronto when she was dating Harry, and, just before news of their relationship broke, the two couples went to a Halloween party in disguise.

“The four of us snuck out in Halloween costumes to just have one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple,” Meghan said. The party, she added, had a post-apocalyptic theme, so they wore “very bizarre” costumes that rendered them unrecognizable. “We were able to just sort of have one final, fun night out,” she said.

Harry’s friendship with Beatrice and Eugenie extends all the way back to his younger years. Harry, born in 1984, was always close with the sisters, born in 1988 and 1990, respectively, as their mothers, Princess Diana and Sarah, Duchess of York, were close friends, and they all often holidayed together, The Mirror reports.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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