Four continents in four weeks on Eugenie’s very grand gap year

Revealed: The round- the-world Royal jaunt that has cost taxpayers £18,000

 

The Daily Mail – 18 January 2009 - By Jonathan Petre.

FOR most students, a gap-year trip means scraping by on the tightest backpacker’s budget.

But not for Princess Eugenie, who has just enjoyed visiting four continents in as many weeks and staying in one of the world’s most luxurious hotels.

She paid thousands of pounds for her travels to India, America and South Africa – but the taxpayer has also been hit with an estimated £18,000 bill for the Royal Protection Officers who accompanied her.

The 18-year-old’s travels reportedly took her to Mumbai’s £ 300-a-night Taj Mahal Palace just days before it was seized by terrorists. She then visited the hippy paradise resort of Goa, the hotspots of Los Angeles and a celebrity party in Cape Town.

Prince Andrew’s daughter was accompanied on her 27,000-mile trip by a female friend from Marlborough College – where she took her A-levels last year – and two Scotland Yard bodyguards.

Flights, allowances and accommodation for the detective sergeants could have added to Eugenie’s annual protection bill, which is already believed to be £250,000, at a time when Scotland Yard is trying to reduce the £100million-a-year cost of protecting the Royals overseas.

The Princess started her travels in Mumbai, then flew to Goa. On November 23 she checked into the Fernandes Resort on Palolem Beach, using the alias ‘Lofty’. She and her friend stayed in a £13-a-night thatched wooden hut overlooking the beach, and were watched by the guards as they sunbathed and mingled with backpackers at a bar.

In mid-December, Eugenie and her bodyguards flew to Los Angeles for five days, where she was rumoured to be meeting 22-yearold Hugo Taylor, with whom she has been romantically linked.

Old Harrovian Hugo, nicknamed ‘Fagin’ for his similarity to the pickpockets’ leader in Oliver Twist, had reportedly moved there in November to study for a Masters degree.

But friends downplayed the romance, and the Princess kept a low profile, staying for some of the time with friends of her mother, the Duchess of York. She was, however, spotted in a Beverly Hills coffee shop near Rodeo Drive, one of the world’s most exclusive shopping streets. She is also understood to have visited several nightclubs in LA.

Eugenie returned to Britain in time for the traditional Christmas Day service with the Queen at Sandringham. Then she joined her mother and sister Princess Beatrice for an extravagant three-day trip to South Africa, including a New Year’s Eve party at the Cape Town home of hotel tycoon Sol Kerzner.

Other guests at the billionaire’s party included Richard Branson, John Cleese and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford. The Royal group was once again accompanied by Scotland Yard officers.

By last week, the Princess had returned to London and was spotted in the familiar surroundings of Boujis, the nightclub favoured by Princes William and Harry.

Eugenie is understood to have travelled economy class much of the time to keep her costs down – although she is still believed to have spent up to £4,500 on flights.

A friend who met the Princess during her trip denied that she had been pampered and said she had kept expenses and shopping to a minimum.

But Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, questioned the level of security.

‘ If individual public figures have had threats made against them then that level of protection is appropriate,’ he said. ‘But I find it difficult to believe that there has been such a threat against Princess Eugenie.

‘ The trouble with the Royal Family is that they seem to regard security officers as some kind of status symbol.’

Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night, but a Royal source said: ‘Eugenie is on a gap year just like many other teenagers. It is an unfortunate fact of life that she had protection officers with her.’