Princess Beatrice wearing floral dress and boucle dress at gallery event

Princess Beatrice makes frank admission about self-doubt during podcast debut

Princess Beatrice opened up about her childhood struggles and how her mum Sarah has supported her

Online Royal CorrespondentLondon

October 4, 2023Oct 4, 2023, 7:00 AM GMT+1

Princess Beatrice has made a frank admission about how she combats self-doubt.

The royal, 35, made her podcast debut on Lessons in Dyslexic Thinking, released on Tuesday, to mark the start of Dyslexia Awareness Month.

In conversation with Dyslexic Thinking expert and CEO & Founder of Made By Dyslexia, Kate Griggs, Beatrice shared her personal dyslexia story and how her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, has been her biggest champion since childhood.

See what she had to say in the clip below…

WATCH: Princess Beatrice makes frank admission about self-doubt

Beatrice, who was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of seven, also praised her mum Sarah for her support, particularly when she was struggling at school.

Princess Beatrice of York (L) and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York attend The Lady Garden Gala 2022 at Claridge's Hotel — Beatrice said her mum Sarah is her champion

Speaking on the podcast, she said: "My family and I are incredibly close, so I would say that all throughout our lives, we've been able to go through everything together with humour and with joy.

"My mum really instilled that. She's been through so much in her life and I find her one of the most inspirational characters of joy and humour."

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She continued: "Even recently, with everything that she's been going through, she still finds the time to be self-deprecating and joyful about changing her life and what she needs to do.

"And for me at that time [her childhood], it was like 'Oh no, we'll just do this another way, of course we'll do it another way'. And inspiring that in me really has created that methodology for life.

"And I think champions and role models really do play such an important role to make sure that you know what you see in the world you can achieve."

Princess Beatrice in patterned dress and overcoat with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi — Beatrice and husband Edoardo both have dyslexia

Beatrice also revealed how she and husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, will navigate bringing up their children, should they have dyslexia.

"As two dyslexics, we will be figuring out as parents whether or not our children have dyslexia and how best to support them," she shared. "But I think the most important thing that I can do is hopefully if they are lucky enough to be dyslexic as well, then I feel really grateful that we can help them with resources."

How to spot if your child has dyslexia

The symptoms of dyslexia vary from child to child and can also differ according to the child's age. The NHS divides the signs of dyslexia into pre-school children, children aged 5-12 and teens:

Preschool children

Delayed speech development

Speech problems like pronunciation of long words, jumbling phrases or problems expressing themselves through speech

Finds learning the alphabet difficult and little understanding of rhyming words

Children aged 5-12

Finds learning names and sounds of letters difficult

Inconsistent spelling

Confusion over letters that look similar and the order of letters in words

Slow reading and slow writing speed

Poor handwriting and issues copying written language

Struggles to carry out a sequence of directions and to learn sequences

Has poor phonological awareness

Teenagers

In addition to the above, teens may display:

Finds planning and writing essays difficult

Attempts to avoid reading or writing

Has difficulty revising for exams, as well as taking notes or copying

Problems with spelling

Struggles to meet deadlines

The Princess, who is an ambassador for Made by Dyslexia, added: "Being a part of this community, I think has given me a bit more of a better understanding and I'd really like that for all parents."

Beatrice and Edoardo celebrated their daughter Sienna's second birthday last month. Property developer Edoardo also has a seven-year-old son Christopher Woolf from his previous relationship with Dara Huang.

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