Pregnant Princess Eugenie is left ‘incredibly moved’ by stories of modern day slavery survivors who have endured decades of abuse during a visit to a Salvation Army safe house
- Princess Eugenie, 30, visited a Salvation Army safe house earlier this week
- Queen’s granddaughter donned a black and blue floral dress for the occasion
- Eugenie joined fellow co-founder of the Anti Slavery Collective for the outing
- Royal was ‘incredibly moved’ by visit where she met modern slavery survivors
Princess Eugenie was ‘incredibly moved’ after meeting with modern slavery survivors during a visit to a Salvation Army safe house earlier this week.
The Queen’s granddaughter, 30, donned a black and blue floral gown and black knee length boots as she joined the co-founder of her charity The Anti-Slavery Collective Julia de Boinville for the visit.
In snaps of the appearance shared on Instagram, expectant mother Princess Eugenie could be seen wearing a white face mask and social distancing as she spoke with survivors and staff members.
Captioning the images, The Anti Slavery Collective wrote: ‘Princess Eugenie and Julia were incredibly moved by the courageous stories of the survivors who had endured sometimes decades of abuse at the hands of traffickers and slave labourers.’
Princess Eugenie, 30, was ‘incredibly moved’ after meeting with modern slavery survivors during visit to Salvation Army safe house this week (pictured, with co-founder of The Anti Slavery Collective Julia de Boinville)
In one of the photographs shared by the organisation, Princess Eugenie could be seen posing outside the safe house and holding a purple plant pot made for her by survivors.
The royal, who announced earlier this month she is expecting her first child with husband Jack Brooksbank in the new year, concealed any sign of a baby bump in a flowing black gown and smart navy coat.
Sharing the photographs online, the caption explained: ‘In honour of #AntiSlaveryDay earlier this week our co-founders HRH Princess Eugenie and Julia de Boinville visited a Salvation Army safe house for a socially distanced visit with modern slavery survivors and staff members.’
It continued: ‘These incredible individuals have the courage to remain inspired by the prospect of a brighter future, despite their difficult journey in the face of extreme adversity.’
The Queen’s granddaughter donned a mask and maintained social distance as she spoke with staff members and survivors at the safe house
‘In addition to vital safe houses such as the one we visited, Salvation Army also help adult victims get access to education opportunities, legal advice, counselling, and support in obtaining employment and housing.’
Tackling modern slavery has long been an important cause for the royal, who first became passionate about it after visiting Women’s Interlink during a 2013 trip to India with her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York.
Following her visit to the charity – which helps vulnerable women find employment opportunities – Eugenie became involved with several different organisations , such as the Salvation Army, before starting her own initiative.
Eugenie and Julia set up The Anti-Slavery Collective in 2017 – an ‘independent collective whose mission is to bring change-makers together to raise awareness for modern slavery as a global epidemic’.
The royal donned a black and blue floral gown and black knee length boots for the visit earlier this week
The pair are long-term friends who first met when they were both at school.
The visit comes days after a Channel 5 documentary into Princess Eugenie and Beatrice’s lives claimed hat their parents divorce has had a ‘long-lasting’ impact of them.
Beatrice and Eugenie: Pampered Princesses?, which aired on Saturday on Channel 5, looked at Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s split in 1992 and their subsequent divorce for years later, and how it affected their young daughters Beatrice, now 32, and Eugenie.
Royal author Tom Quinn claimed in the documentary that their parents’ split had subtle but long-lasting repercussions for the princesses, who were then four and two.
Meanwhile the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay claimed that Sarah Ferguson’s living situation after her separation from Andrew, which saw her renting a number of places after leaving Sunminghill Park, where she used to live with her husband, could have been ‘destabilising’ for her daughters.
The documentary also explored how their parents’ indiscretions have the princesses throughout the years as they tried to move on with their lives.