She recently opened up alongside her sister Princess Eugenie on the difficulties she’s experienced with fame and online bullying, and now Princess Beatrice has sent a powerful message to other girls going through similar troubles, telling them: “You are not alone”.
Speaking in an exclusive chat with Thomson Reuters Foundation – after appearing alongside Editor-in-Chief Belinda Goldsmith at Web Summit 2018, the annual global technology conference in Lisbon – the 30-year-old also praised her mother Sarah Ferguson for supporting her throughout her life.
“You’d like to say don’t pay attention to it [online bullying]… but the best advice is to talk about it,” she told the news outlet. “Being a young girl, but now being 30 and a woman working full-time in technology, I feel very grateful for those experiences. But at that time it was very challenging.”
Following her own difficult experiences of being targeted by bullies online, Beatrice has joined a number of campaigns and initiatives to stop cyber bullying, as well as co-founding the Big Change Charitable Trust with a group of friends in 2010, supporting young people in the public eye.
She told the news outlet she wants to help encourage youngsters to seek help, as while her own bullying was very public – other people’s may not be.
One constant source of support has been her mother, the Duchess of York who Beatrice was quick to praise, telling the news outlet: “She has been through a lot… When you see role models who are continually put in very challenging situations and can support you … (then) some of the tools that I have had from her I would like to share.”
Beatrice cut an elegant figure on day two of the Web Summit, where she spoke on a panel ahead of the interview wearing a zip-up and camel-coloured jacket-style dress with statement shoulder pads.
The thick coat fell down to her knees and she coupled it with black tights and knee-high black boots, while wearing her long hair loose and straight over her shoulders.
The princess, who has been known to speak at events like this in the past, spoke confidently as she weighed in on a discussion on how social media can prove beneficial for philanthropy.
She appeared alongside writer Cynthia Johnson, Novak Djokovic Foundation Co-Founder Jelena Djokovic and Goldsmith on the panel.
Goldsmith shared a photo of them together on Twitter shortly after, with a shout-out to Beatrice, writing: “Chatting to Princess Beatrice @yorkiebea and Jelena Djokovic @novakfoundation today @ #websummit and they have worked together in Serbia as has Princess Eugenia and the Duchess of York. One of our topics – how social media is reshaping philanthropy #philanthropy.”
It comes just weeks after Beatrice supported her sister Princess Eugenie at her wedding to new husband Jack Brooksbank in St George’s chapel in Windsor. Beatrice was maid of honour on the day and delivered a flawless reading at the ceremony.