Only as an adult has Princess Eugenie come to recognise that amidst all the apprehension she felt before her eight-hour scoliosis surgery, there was also a sense of shame.
The king’s niece bravely spoke out during a visit to Salisbury Hospital. She was there to see the garden created by her patronage, Horatio’s Garden, which builds gardens in hospital spinal centres around the UK
"I felt very embarrassed about the whole thing. I don’t know why or where it came from," she told The Telegraph. "I remember being woken up really early before my surgery - I pulled my blanket over my head. I said, ‘I don’t want to see anyone and I don’t want them to see me.’" she said, adding that her parents must have been "absolutely terrified".
Princess Eugenie added, "With my own children, I panic if one of them bumps their heads in case we have to take them to A&E, or even if they just want to cut paper with art scissors."
Following her operation she couldn’t wash or dress herself and she credits her mum Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, with changing her view of herself and her scar.
"She’d ask me if she could show it to people, then she’d turn me around and say, ‘my daughter is superhuman, you’ve got to check out her scar’. All of sudden it was a badge of honour - a cool thing I had. It trained my brain that it’s ok, scars are cool," the royal explained.
She showed this to millions of people across the world at her Windsor Castle wedding in 2018 when she wore a magnificent low-back gown by Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos.
Princess Eugenie later revealed that she wanted this shape, precisely so that her scar from her surgery to correct scoliosis would be visible. She believes that "scars tell a story about your past and your future" and it was a "way of getting rid of a taboo".
The royal became Patron of Horatio’s Garden in May 2019 and the charity’s mission is to reach all the UK’s spinal injuries units.
"When you’re in a bed for as long as I was, not being able to walk to a shower, and having to be rolled around by nurses, you can’t really think past how you’re going to get out of bed. But now, having worked with Horatio’s Garden, I’ve seen how the garden is so transformative for patients. Nature is so healing; hearing the sound of the birds and running water," she declared.
Princess Eugenie is also keen to introduce her sons August (4) and Ernest Brooksbank (1) to charity work and show them what she does alongside her day job at Hauser & Wirth gallery.
"I really want them to come to my gallery and to come here on visits like this and see what I do. It must start when they’re young," she said.
The Princess thinks her remarkable late grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s "sense of duty" was "instilled" in her family members at a young age too. She also expressed her hope in a personal essay in The Spectator in 2022 that August, who was then her only child, would inherit many of his great-grandmother’s admirable qualities.
"I think of my grannie and what she has stood for, for so many people and for our family during these 70 years. I'd love Augie to have her patience, her calmness and her kindness, while always being able to laugh at himself and keep a twinkle in his eye," she wrote.
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