Why Princess Eugenie's children do not have titles but her sister Princess Beatrice’s do

It's all thanks to an outdated rule

Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice
(Image credit: Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images and Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

Princess Eugenie's children do not have titles while her sister Princess Beatrice’s do and it's all because royal children inherit titles from their dads, no matter what title their mothers are known by.


Princess Eugenie warmed the hearts of royal fans earlier this year as she welcomed her second child into the world, a baby boy called Ernest Brooksbank, and gave two-year-old August a little brother. 

The Princess, who is styled as 'Her Royal Highness', just like many of the late Queen's other grandchildren and some of her great-grandchildren, has been a Princess since birth and currently sits 11th in the royal line of succession. But despite the fact that August and Ernest follow right behind her in the royal linage, sitting 12th and 13th respectively, they do not have royal titles. 

Similarly, Princess Beatrice's daughter Sienna, who she shares with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, does not hold a royal title. However, Sienna, who shares a 'bossy' personality trait with Princess Charlotte and is 'just like her mum' according to grandma Sarah Ferguson, may be entitled to a different title, that has nothing to do with the The Firm, thanks to her dad.

As reported by HELLO! Magazine, when Jack Brooksbank married Princess Eugenie, he was not given a royal title. Therefore, because children take rank from their father, for example Prince William's children all hold royal titles thanks to his own and these will change when William ascends to the throne, that means that August and Ernest are both known as 'Master Brooksbank' despite their mother's titles of both Princess and HRH.

Princess Beatrice's children also currently hold no royal titles because, again, her husband was not gifted with a title when they tied the knot. However, Beatrice's husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is an Italian Count. Upon the couple's wedding, Beatrice became a Countess, or as it is often called, a 'Countessa' or 'Nobile Donna'.

The title is thanks to Edoardo's family who, according to repots in HELLO! Magazine, were part of the Italian nobility before the country became a republic back in 1946. While noble titles are therefore no longer recognised by the Italian state, they can still be used out of courtesy.

That means that Edoardo's seven-year-old son from a previous marriage, Christopher Woolf, aka Wolfie, and his one-year-old daughter, Sienna, could therefore me entitled to the titles of Count and Nobile Donna respectively.

Princess Beatrice's father-in-law, Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, pointed out the children's possible titles when the couple wed in 2020. Speaking to Mail On Sunday, he explained, "Edoardo is the only male descendent taking the family into the next generation, he is a Count—his wife will be a Countess automatically and any of their children will be Counts or Nobile Donna.

"We as a family celebrated 1,000 years in 1985 with unbroken documented archives. We are one of the only families in Italy to have all the records from that period to today."

News writer

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is a news writer for Goodtoknow, specialising in family content. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.