Princess Eugenie moved her sister Princess Beatrice to tears after sharing a deeply personal story about her 20-year battle with scoliosis during an emotional podcast appearance. The York sisters recently appeared on Lessons From Our Mothers, a new podcast helmed by Cressida Bonas and her half-sister, Isabella Branson, that is billed as a ‘series of conversations that celebrate motherhood and mothering in all its forms’.
The royal, 35, opened up about being diagnosed with scoliosis — an abnormal curvature of the spine — at just 12 years old, as she gushed over the unwavering support of her mum, Fergie. Eugenie described how the condition led to a major operation that marked the beginning of a long journey toward self-acceptance. During her hospitalisation, she recalled how her mother never left her side. “I had scoliosis when I was younger. I have scoliosis, and I had a big operation when I was 12.
“Which my mum basically moved into the hospital with me and was there every waking hour,” she shared.
“If I was ever in pain, she was right by my bedside,” Eugenie continued, praising the Duchess of York’s total dedication throughout the ordeal.
The operation left Eugenie with a large scar down her back — something that deeply affected her as a child. “As a 12-year-old little girl, I had a big scar halfway down my back, and I was terrified of it, I was ashamed. I didn’t know what it was, I was so young,” she confessed.
But it was her mother’s pride and reassurance that gradually shifted her perspective. “And she used to be so proud of me and my scar and what I’d been through, that if people were ever talking about it, she would turn me around and she would show them my scar.”
That encouragement from Fergie also helped shaped one of the most special day of the royals’ adult life: her wedding day.
“It led to me feeling so confident that on my wedding day, I wore a dress that showed my scar to the world because I was like ‘This is the coolest thing ever’ because my mum had retrained my brain by her behaviour,” she explained.
In 2018, Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank in a gown that deliberately featured a low back to showcase her scar.
Beatrice, who listened intently throughout, became visibly emotional during the recording.
Princess Beatrice concurred that the mother’s passion for helping others has been magnified following her diagnosis with breast cancer in June 2023, with a form of skin cancer appearing soon after.
Sarah Ferguson is “taking her example and her lessons and making sure other people get the checks that they really need, and taking the time to tell her story, making sure she’s telling it in her voice, in the right way, so that other people can really learn from it,” explained Beatrice.
“She loves nothing more than meeting people and those that are also suffering with cancer, because there’s so much empathy there.”