From the Telegraph:
On her interests in books & music: "...listens avidly to Radio 1 ("Always Chris Moyles in the morning, though he talks too much!") and has a passion for poetry. She watches Big Brother but also loves explaining why John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is one of her favourite novels....She likes hip indie music (Death Cab for Cutie, Stereophonics, Jamie T), reggae and "cool" art (a Jean-Michel Basquiat show in New York thrilled her). "...An avid reader (another favourite book is The Kite Runner), she is head of the Poetry Society at Marlborough - she recently escorted the poet Carol Ann Duffy around the school and gave the welcoming speech. "I hate to stand up and speak in front of everyone," she admits. "I feel terrified each time."
Her bracelets: "Nine bracelets, mainly cheap mementos from holidays abroad, line her wrists. One has "Fearlessness" written on it. "I don't know where it came from," she says. "I just thought it was quite cool." Others are bits of string, shell and plastic that she plays with as she gives her first media interview. The ninth bracelet - silver and engraved with the words "I'm with you always. Love you" - is the only clue to her royal identity; it is from her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York. She is very proud of being the younger daughter of the Duke and the Duchess of York."
Her temper: "I do have an occasional temper - I sort of inherited my dad's short fuse," she says with a self-knowing laugh. "I am definitely not as polite as Beatrice, I have to say. I tell it as it is. I am shyer at first. Like, at a party I will say to Beatrice as we go in, 'Oh, you go first.' But then, when we're actually in, I am much louder and she is far more polite and solicitous."
Family bonds: "Mummy, Bea and I call ourselves 'the Tripod' - they are my best friends in the world," says Princess Eugenie. She doubts she would have had the confidence to do this photo shoot without her tigerishly loyal mother being there. Her father calls to make sure all is well with daughter No. 2: "He is the best dad, an amazing person." Princess Beatrice is also at the shoot all day with her sister, giving her views and support. Their mother does the same but is locked in multi-phone negotiations over several continents. A fax machine and a printer are commandeered so that Sarah York Inc can keep rolling
Her sense of normalcy: "But what marks both sisters - much more so than their cousins, Princes William and Harry - is their normality and lack of a sense of royal entitlement. Informed, cultured, charming and extremely well-mannered, they are in many ways just like nice girls-next-door. But they are certainly not saccharine sweet - their sense of mischief and humour punctures that notion. Nor are they demanding; they don't expect special treatment. In fact, the opposite. "How do I play the princess thing? I don't really," says Princess Eugenie. "I don't like talking about it much and find it annoying when people say things like, "Oh, you're the princess." One of my best friends jokingly says, "Hi, Princess," and I say, "Shut up". It is one of the things that bugs me most in the world." And at this she laughs.
On her grandmother: "She is seldom at Buckingham Palace, except for big occasions. Those aside, her royal life consists of Christmas at Sandringham and part of the summer holidays at Balmoral with the Queen and her father. She is a huge fan of "Granny": "Truly one of the most amazing women ever. She is also very funny. You can tell when she is happy, having all her family round at Christmas and watching them all laugh and having so much fun on Christmas Day. It just makes her very happy." What makes her so special? "All I can say is that she has this air of magic about her. And she is incredibly wise. What doesn't she know?"
On her name: "And, by the way, her name is not pronounced you-JAY-nee. It's YOO-genny, with the stress on the "Eu". "
On her back surgery: "It was by chance that she learnt something was wrong. Her mother was going to have a massage but Princess Eugenie took it instead. "This man massaged my back and said, 'Do you know you've got a deformed back?' I went to see a specialist and was told I had half a vertebra missing." Without surgery, her neck would have ended up at an increasingly acute angle. "What was meant to be a one-hour operation took eight. But it worked. They put in two metal rods and eight one-inch screws." She was 12 at the time....When the day came, they woke me at six in the morning for the operation and I was so tired I think I told them to go away and come back later. And then I woke up and it had all been done."...Her manners came to the fore even then. As she woke from the eight-hour operation she was anxious to thank the nurses. "I think this is one time when you do not have to think about politeness," her mother said as Princess Eugenie was wheeled into intensive care for three days. That was followed by a week in a normal ward and six days in a wheelchair. And then she was walking again. "I just feel lucky that it all went well," she says. "
