Princess Eugenie says a book gifted to her by her mother inspired her anti-slavery charity.
The 31-year-old royal – who is the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York – founded The Anti-Slavery Collective with her friend Julia de Boinville in 2017 and she has credited non-fiction tome ‘Half the Sky’ with helping them learn about the oppression women across the globe face.
In an interview with authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Eugenie said: “Everyone welcome today, this is such an exciting day because we are talking to Nick and Sheryl, who are a powerhouse couple that Jules and I have been inspired by from the beginning of our talks in modern slavery and wanting to fight this cause.
“And you two wrote this book, ‘Half The Sky’, which honestly – Jules, you seem to think my mum gave it to us…”
Julia added that a visit to India had helped inspire them to come up with the charitable initiative.
She said: “I think your mum gave us both a copy when we were about 21 years old and it was after we’d been to India to visit a safe house, and the first time we’d learned about human trafficking, and this book really spurred us on and inspired us to set up The Anti-Slavery Collective, so this is a big fan girl moment for Eugenie and I.”
Eugenie – who has son August, five months, with husband Jack Brooksbank – spent five years learning about modern slavery with Julia before launching the charity.
She previously said: “The Anti-Slavery Collective’s mission is to bring people together because together we are so much more powerful and we can effect serious change.”