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Eugenie and Harry at Trooping The Colour 2015© Getty

Inside Princess Eugenie's close bond with cousin Prince Harry after family reunion in Portugal

The royal cousins have grown up together

Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
September 30, 2023
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Princess Eugenie enjoyed a reunion with Prince Harry as he and wife Meghan flew to Portugal after the Invictus Games Dusseldorf earlier this month.

It comes after Eugenie flew to the US to spend time with the Sussexes and their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, in February 2022.

Eugenie and Harry even attended the Super Bowl together, with the footage later included in the Sussexes' Netflix docuseries, released last December.

And in another sweet clip, Eugenie could be seen playing with Archie on the beach. Take a look below…

WATCH: Princess Eugenie plays with Archie on the beach in California

Royal cousins Eugenie and Harry have always been close from a young age, with only six years between them.

As the youngest children in their families, the pair have plenty in common and both have had to carve out their roles within the royal family.

While Harry stepped back from royal duties with Meghan in March 2020, Eugenie is a director at art gallery Hauser & Wirth.

HELLO! has taken a look at their sweet bond.

Close confidantes

The Princess was one of the first to know about his romance with former actress Meghan, and she and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, have spent a lot of time with the Sussexes.

Harry recalled introducing Meghan to his cousin in his memoir, Spare, released in January, writing "I remember Euge hugging Meg, as if they were sisters. I remember [Harry's friend] Charlie giving me a thumbs-up. I remember thinking: If meeting the rest of my family goes like this, we're home free."

Eugenie, Jack and Harry at the Platinum Jubilee Thanksgiving service© Getty
Eugenie was the first family member Harry introduced wife Meghan to

In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in November 2021, Meghan revealed how she and Harry went incognito with Eugenie and Jack to a post-apocalyptic themed Halloween party.

"The four of us just snuck out in Halloween costumes to just have one fun night out on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple," she said.

Prince Harry chatting with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at coronation© Getty
Harry arrived with Eugenie and Jack at the King's coronation

Royal biography Finding Freedom also claimed that Eugenie and Jack's visit to George and Amal Clooney's villa on Lake Como overlapped with Harry and Meghan's trip in 2018.

Public support

Eugenie and Jack tied the knot at the same wedding venue – St George's Chapel in Windsor – five months after Harry and Meghan in 2018. The couples were both guests at one another's nuptials, and Eugenie has been publicly supportive of her cousin.

She was quick to welcome Harry and Meghan to Instagram when the Sussexes set up their own account in April 2019, sharing a photo of the couple at their engagement photocall and writing: "Welcome cousins. @sussexroyal."

Harry and Meghan leave chapel after wedding© Getty
Harry and Meghan married in Windsor in May 2018

And after the birth of baby Archie in May 2019, Eugenie proudly posted an Instagram photo, saying: "I'm just so happy for you!! @sussexroyal."

Eugenie and Jack's son August Brooksbank is just four months older than his second cousin Lilibet, and the Princess publicly congratulated Harry and Meghan on the birth of their daughter in June 2021. 

"Congratulations dear cousins… we couldn't be happier for you all," she wrote on her Instagram Stories alongside six red love heart emojis.

Jack and Princess Eugenie on their wedding day in 2018© Getty
Jack and Princess Eugenie on their wedding day in October 2018

Harry also revealed in his book that he and Meghan pushed back their first royal tour by a few days so that they could attend the couple's wedding in Windsor in October 2018.

"Euge was getting married, to Jack, and we were deliriously happy for them and for ourselves, selfishly, since Jack was one of our favourite people. Meg and I were supposed to head off on our first official foreign tour as a married couple, but we delayed the departure several days, so we could be at the wedding," he said.

Frogmore Cottage

Before Harry and Meghan moved to Windsor, they resided at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, in close proximity to Princess Eugenie's London abode, Ivy Cottage.

And after the Sussexes relocated to the US, it was confirmed in late 2020 that Eugenie and Jack had moved into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, just months before welcoming their first child.

prince harry eugenie cycling california© Netflix
Harry and Eugenie cycling in California

While Harry and Meghan officially vacated the royal residence earlier this summer , a source close to the Sussexes told HELLO! at the time that "they are delighted to be able to open up their home to Princess Eugenie and Jack as they start their own family".

When Harry returned to the UK in April 2021 to attend the funeral of his late grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, he stayed with Eugenie and Jack in Windsor.

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