On Friday morning, Buckingham Palace announced that Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are expecting their first child. The baby, due in early 2021, will be Queen Elizabeth’s ninth great-grandchild, and the first grandchild of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
Eugenie and Jack will raise their child at Kensington Palace, but despite being born 11th in line for the throne, their firstborn won’t have a title. The couple are said to be thrilled to be expecting their first baby two years after their wedding. Sources close to Jack and Eugenie say that the couple want their child to live an “ordinary life” and have an ordinary name.
“Even if the Queen offered them a title as a gift, it’s not Eugenie or Jack’s desire for their child to have a title,” said a family friend. “Eugenie knows that a title can be a curse as well as a blessing and she and Jack want their child to live an ordinary life and eventually work to earn a living. Titles really don’t matter to Jack and Eugenie, they just want a happy healthy child.”
They plan to raise their family in Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace, where they have been living since their October 2018 wedding. “It was intended for them as a family home, and they have no immediate plans to move,” a palace insider tells Vanity Fair.
Despite the good news, the York family is still facing a turbulent time, as Prince Andrew’s former friendship with Jeffrey Epstein continues to make headlines. Andrew stepped down from his duties as a working royal in November 2019, after Epstein’s death and a disastrous BBC interview. Family sources say that because of the media glare, the Yorks are deliberately keeping a low profile.
The July wedding of Eugenie’s sister, Princess Beatrice, to real-estate investor Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi was a low-key and private affair, after being rescheduled twice due to the pandemic. The palace’s official announcements and photographs excluded Andrew and Sarah, though the wedding reception did take place at their home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor, and Andrew did participate in the ceremony at a nearby church. In addition, Andrew will reportedly not be invited to any of the public ceremonies honoring his father, Prince Philip, on his 100th birthday next June.
The palace’s Friday statement announcing the pregnancy did, however, include Eugenie’s parents. It reads: “The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, Mr. and Mrs. George Brooksbank, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted with the news.”
Because royal children take their rank from their fathers, Eugenie’s full title is HRH Princess Eugenie of York. When the couple wed, Jack was offered a title but chose not to take it, so their child won’t automatically be eligible for one. That said, the queen has been known to make exceptions to the rule that only the sons of monarchs and their sons inherit titles. The queen offered her daughter Princess Anne titles for her children, Peter and Zara Philips, when they were born, but the Princess Royal chose not to take them.
The public events surrounding royal births have varied over the last decade. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their son, Archie, his birth was followed by an official photo-call and family portraits. While his christening was held privately, a series of official portraits were released a few days later. For the Queen’s grandchildren without titles, the affairs are much quieter. When Peter Phillips’ daughters, Savannah and Isla, are the queen’s two oldest great-grandchildren, were born in 2010 and 2012 respectively, the palace released statements, but no official photos accompanied them. Their christenings were also private, though the queen was in attendance. When another great-grandchild, Mia Tindall, was christened, the public only saw pictures of the family assembling because an ITV reporter just so happened to be visiting the Gloucestershire village where the ceremony took place.