Eight's a lucky birthday number for Princess Beatrice

Princess Beatrice backstage at a fashion show, preparing to take to the catwalk

Best wishes for a very happy twentieth birthday for Princess Beatrice of York!

Today's a big day all over the globe: the 2008 Summer Olympics are beginning in Beijing. According to those who believe in numerology, today is also a very lucky day for the world, because August 8, 2008 translates to 8/8/8. China chose the day purposely for the opening ceremonies because of its good energy, even starting the festivities at 8:08 PM.

(The Daily Mail, tabloid that it is, has a really interesting piece up today about all of the numerological and astrological ideas surrounding today's date: "Is today, 8/08/08, the luckiest day of the year?")

So, surely for Princess Beatrice, who was born at 8:18 on 8/8/88, today will be a happy and lucky day to turn twenty.

It won't be a big party; the royal granddaughter has already had her coming-of-age birthday bash, choosing to celebrate her eighteenth birthday two years ago (those eights again!) with a costume ball instead of waiting for the more traditional twenty-first birthday party.

The Duke of York, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Princess Eugenie of York celebrate Princess Beatrice's eighteenth birthday in 2006

The York girls were always going to be unconventional; their jovial father and controversial, mischievous mother were undoubtedly going to be fun but non-traditional role models for their two girls. They have managed to keep up a strong family bond even after divorcing more than ten years ago, co-parenting in an apparently cooperative and friendly environment and even living at times under the same roof. In an interview with Tatler (an excerpt can be found on the Telegraph site: "Princess Eugenie: Little Princess Sunshine") to mark her own eighteenth birthday, Princess Beatrice's sister, Princess Eugenie, called the Yorks "the best divorced couple I know ... they just always went out of their way to make us feel loved and secure."


The York princesses seem remarkably unscathed by the incredible press attention the family received when their parents' marriage was revealed to be crumbling in the early nineties. Princess Beatrice has just finished a gap year and will begin fashion studies soon at London's Goldsmiths College. She dates an American, Dave Clark, who works for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company. Her sister has been the one to attract scandal of late, romping about naked at Marlborough College to celebrate the end of exams.

Princess Beatrice listens intently to her father, The Duke of York, at a speaking engagement in January

Even though they're often photographed out at popular London nightspots, both young princesses are also demonstrating a commitment to their royal roles. It was recently revealed by the Telegraph ("Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie to take on more royal charity work") that the girls will begin a more intensive slate of royal engagements with various charities in coming years as a way to "repay" the government for the cost of their security detail.

And now, to mark Beatrice's twentieth birthday, perhaps the lucky day of eights is bringing the family even closer together. For the first time since compromising photographs of the princesses' mother were published during the royal family's summer holiday at Balmoral, Sarah, Duchess of York, has been invited back to the family's beloved Scottish estate.

The Telegraph ("Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, enjoys first Royal holiday in 16 years") reports that Sarah "will spend the weekend at the Royal retreat celebrating Beatrice's birthday," and that she arrived at Balmoral with her ex-husband and her daughters yesterday. An unnamed royal source describes the invitation as "an astonishing breakthrough."

It is yet another in a series of gestures on the part of the Queen, arguably beginning with granting permission for The Prince of Wales to marry his longtime love, Camilla Parker Bowles, that show the monarch's increasing willingness to put aside convention and tradition in order to make her family happier and more united. (Prince Philip, according to the Telegraph, is apparently less willing to make similar concessions -- he will not be at Balmoral for the birthday weekend.)

Beatrice and her royal family: (clockwise from center top): Cousin Harry, Bea, Grandfather, Granny, and Aunt Camilla at Peter Phillips's May wedding

It must be incredibly difficult for Queen Elizabeth to forgive someone like Sarah Ferguson, who caused her son a great deal of pain with her infidelities, but, as with any fractured and complicated modern family, it is a necessary act. Though she is often portrayed as distant and cool when it comes to family affection, gestures like allowing Sarah to come to Balmoral for Beatrice's birthday show that she loves her grandchildren more than probably anyone can know.

So, it's to be a happy, lucky birthday for Princess Bea. As for the celebrations themselves, the Duchess of York herself revealed yesterday, "We're having a very private party. I can't tell you what her present is – that would spoil the surprise."

But surely the young princess already has one of the best birthday presents of all: a day surrounded by the family who loves her -- even if they're less than traditional.