Princess Beatrice was mistaken for the tea girl when she started job at New York software company Afiniti, her mother Fergie reveals

• The royal, 35, works as the Vice President, Partnerships & Strategy at Afiniti 
• READ MORE:  The Royal Family ‘loves playing Scrabble’ says Sarah Ferguson, who also reveals granddaughter Sienna calls her Gee-Gee

Princess Beatrice was mistaken for the tea girl when she started her job at Afiniti  in New York.

The royal, 35, works as the Vice President, Partnerships & Strategy  at Afiniti, a multinational data and software company based in Washington, D.C.

Speaking on the Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah podcast, her mother Sarah Ferguson explained: ‘When Beatrice was in New York. They [the board] had no idea, they’d all been talking around the boardroom saying they were looking forward to meeting Princess Beatrice.

‘And the girl came in, they all say “coffee and tea please, with sugar” so she goes off and pours them all coffee and tea.

‘Then she comes back and they tell her how excited they are to meet Princess Beatrice – and of course she was pouring the coffee and tea.

Princess Beatrice was mistaken for the tea girl when she started her job at Afiniti in New York (pictured earlier this year) 

‘It always makes me laugh! It was very funny,’ she added.

The Duchess, who was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 to 1996, added that ‘the key to life is humility and humour’.

‘I’m so glad I brought my girls up with their feet on the ground,’ she went on.

Elsewhere, the royal explained how she had been ‘playing fairies’ in the garden of the Royal Lodge in Windsor with her granddaughter Sienna, who turns two in November.

It comes after Fergie praised her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie as ‘great working mothers’.

The Duchess of York, 63, was talking on her podcast Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah, where she discussed work-life balance following the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said that Beatrice – who shares daughter Sienna and stepson Wolfie with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – and Eugenie, 33, who shares sons August and Ernie with husband Jack Brooksbank – work ‘very very hard’ and that she’s ‘very proud of them’.

Fergie added the sisters, who are often pictured partying in London’s swankiest clubs and on exotic holidays,  are ‘huge advocates’ for charity and a ‘great representation of the late queen’s values’.

‘They’re both working mums, my girls are incredible,’ she explained.

‘It’s both private and public, it’s not about working or non-working. They work very very hard privately and publicly,’ she added.

The mother-of-two said the pair have an ‘extraordinary’ work-life balance.

‘I’m so proud of them,  they’re great mothers,’ she added.

Beatrice and Eugenie receive no income from the Sovereign Grant, the government-funded £82.2 million that covers Royal Household salaries as they aren’t on any official royal engagement rosters. 

The royal, 35, works as the Vice President, Partnerships & Strategy at Afiniti, a multinational data and software company based in Washington, D.C. She is pictured with Princess Eugenie and Sarah Ferguson

Princess Beatrice of York attends Barclaycard Exclusive area at Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park on July 05, 2019 in London

This means they have had jobs outside of the The Firm, but this hasn’t stopped them from having busy social schedules often getting snapped at parties and on foreign holidays.

However, they have hardly struggled, with the late Queen setting up a £1.4million trust fund for the girls after their parents divorce, while their father, the Duke of York, paid more than £400,000 for their private school education. 

The pair also have paid peppercorn rents to live at various royal palaces. 

Beatrice studied History and the History of Ideas at Goldsmith’s University before taking on roles at boutique private wealth firms. 

She also worked as an associate at Sandbridge capital, a small consumer focused private equity firm, and as a Business development associate at Sony pictures television before resigning in 2014. 

Meanwhile, sister Eugenie, works as an associate director for Mayfair-based art gallery Hauser & Wirth, although she is currently on maternity leave.

The royal, who like her sister receives no money from the Queen, graduated from Newcastle University in September 2009, after studying English Literature and the History of Art.

After completing her studies, Eugenie moved to New York to work for online auction firm Paddle8, before moving back to London in 2015 to start a career with Hauser & Wirth.

Her husband, Jack Brooksbank, previously worked as an ambassador for Casamigos, the Tequilia-brand found by George Clooney and Rand Gerber – prior to this, he worked as a manager at the upmarket London nightclub Mahiki.

He is currently working in marketing and sales for Discovery Land Company.

On top of their jobs, Beatrice and Eugenie work with various charities.

‘Beatrice goes out there and fights for dyslexia, she goes out there and talks about how she had special needs at school,’ Sarah explained.

‘Eugenie talks  publicly about her scoliosis, she talks openly about how important it is to de-stigmatise the scar [on her back], so many people wear backless dresses now.

‘They’re ambassadors for teenage cancer, so much of what they do is unseen and unheard

‘They’re on a global stage, and I always tell them”no one wants to see a grumpy princess”

‘They still hold themselves with such propriety, they’re extraordinary examples of the late queen’s values and they’re loyal to the king and the wonderful prince of wales

‘They’re huge advocates’.

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