Pregnant Princess Eugenie's new chapter comes with hurdles

Princess Eugenie was only beginning to look forward to a bright new chapter in her life, following the announcement from Buckingham Palace, when a new crisis reared its ugly head.

The 36-year-old royal, who is currently pregnant with her third baby, was previously associated to an international Anti-Slavery charity, which ended up exiting following the scandals of her parents, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Charity Commission revealed that they are opening a compliance case against Eugenie’s charity which she had founded with one of her closest friends in 2017.

“We have opened a regulatory compliance case into Anti-Slavery Collective to continue assessing concerns raised with us about charitable spending,” she said. “As part of this, we will be engaging further with the charity’s trustees.”

The Commission has not shared a timeline for the enquiries which will be made. Moreover, the action will not constitute a statutory inquiry, and no findings or conclusions have yet been reached.

It was reported last year that the charity had raised £1.5m in donations but had only spent around £200,000.

The probe follows the damaging accusations against ex-prince Andrew over sex offence against minors and his friendship with paedophile Jeffery Epstein. Following the revelations in the Epstein files, Eugenie had stepped down as a patron of a separate charity, Anti-Slavery International in March this year.

A reason for her exit was not explained.

However, this new scrutiny could very well prove to be stressful for King's niece, who is going through a particularly emotional time.