When reports surfaced that Sarah Ferguson was eyeing up a move into Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's Portuguese hideaway, my immediate reaction was simple: what absolute cheek.
Eugenie and Jack didn't set up camp at the ultra-exclusive CostaTerra resort on Portugal's Atlantic coast purely for the sunny weather or Jack's marketing job with the Discovery Land Company. They built a life there to put ocean-wide distance between themselves and the toxic fallout surrounding her parents.
Eugenie's Relief at Distance
Eugenie hasn't even hidden how much of a relief that distance is. Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, she admitted life in Portugal was "the dream" because she could finally "go to the supermarket in my exercise gear and my hair piled on my head and not mind. Not care. No one cares."
Beyond this, royal biographer Andrew Lownie recently pointed out that Jack – alongside Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – is determined to protect his family's reputation. As Mr Lownie noted, the husbands "don't want their reputations and earnings tainted by association with Andrew and Sarah and are pushing for their daughters to distance themselves from their parents."
Fergie's Alleged Plans
So, for Fergie to allegedly view her daughter's sanctuary as her personal landing pad? That takes a special kind of nerve.
Now, Sarah's camp insists she hasn't set foot in Portugal and has been in the same mystery location for months. Fine. I understand she isn't in Portugal. But the fact that rumours of a permanent relocation took root so fast says everything about Fergie's current predicament – and the line Eugenie needs to draw.
Stripped of her royal standing and adrift alongside Andrew, Fergie naturally wants to lean on her kids. But seeking comfort is one thing – crashing your daughter's clean slate is another.
Protecting Her Own Family
Having just welcomed her third child, Adelaide, Eugenie's sole focus needs to be on her newborn, her two young boys – August, five and Ernest, three – and preserving the peaceful, cosy bubble she has built away from the spotlight.
Eugenie isn't foolish. She knows the cost of her parents' endless headlines better than anyone. She's watched her father's fall from grace and her mother's continuous cycle of PR missteps. Does she owe her mum a place to stay? Absolutely not.
Childhood loyalty ends where protecting your own children begins. Eugenie needs to keep her front door locked to long-term guests and be brutal if necessary. Protecting her own family has to come first.
