Despite being royal, Princess Beatrice suffered from insecurities as a child due to her dyslexia. The British royal, who is now a royal patron of the children’s book award, Oscar’s Book Prize, revealed in an interview with The Evening Standard that her parents, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson helped her overcome the challenges that her learning disorder created. "Reading was really hard work, even trying to get through the pages of some of the simple school reading books," the 28-year-old said. "I could not understand why I was still reading behind my classmates. It was at this point that stories became one of the key things which inspired me."
Beatrice learned how to read thanks to her parents
However her parents, who divorced in 1996, made an effort to get Beatrice excited about books by reading together. Prince William’s cousin shared, “I was lucky my mother, with her great imagination, took the time to work on these with me. By the time I read Harry Potter, aged 11, I tore through the pages." Beatrice noted, "Taking the time to read together as a family became a ritual for us and I treasure the memories created whilst poring over the pages of the books my mother would collect for us, many of which I treasure to this day.”
The royal's mother created stories for her when she was little
Sarah, who has written children’s book series, created stories for her daughter when she was young to help her feel close to her father, who spent a lot of time at sea as a royal navy helicopter pilot. Beatrice said, "To help us feel close to him, my mother was inspired to create the Budgie The Little Helicopter series. To this day, these stories make me think back, with the fondest memories, to a time when books would take me into the best adventures.”
Even when Sarah and the Duke of York were away, Beatrice revealed that she still enjoyed story-time with her parents. “If my parents ever traveled they would take time to record some of my favorite books on tape and I would listen to their voices as I fell asleep,” she said. “[It’s] one of my favourite memories from story-time with my parents.”