When Princess Beatrice and Princes Eugenie attended a very rainy Buckingham Palace garden party one week ago today, it wasn’t their first time to attend such an event—but it was, perhaps, one of their most notable. 

Especially as the number of working royals has dwindled in size—their father, Prince Andrew, resigned from royal duty in 2019; their cousins, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, stepped back as working royals months later; and this year has seen King Charles and Princess Kate (and their mother, Sarah Ferguson) battle cancer—last week’s garden party only added fuel to the fire that Beatrice and Eugenie might be planning to merge into the “working royals” category.

Heretofore, both have forged careers outside of the Firm—Beatrice as vice president of strategic partnerships at U.S. tech company Afiniti, and Eugenie as a director at Hauser & Wirth, a London art gallery. 

Both are married and mothers, to two children apiece (Beatrice has stepson Woolfie and daughter Sienna with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and Eugenie shares sons August and Ernest with husband Jack Brooksbank). 

As if those obligations didn’t keep them busy enough, “they each support a range of charities and good causes and hold around a dozen patronages each, including being patrons of Teenage Cancer Trust along with their mother, Sarah, Duchess of York,” Hello reports. How would they even fit in being working royals?

Well, it’s likely that they won’t. Thanks to precedent established by Queen Elizabeth surrounding the decision of whether to allow Harry and Meghan to become part-time working royals or not (spoiler alert: she said no), it seems when it comes to the Firm, you’re either all in or you’re all out. 

And it doesn’t seem that Beatrice and Eugenie are headed for the all in path, but rather for what Her late Majesty often did with her own cousins—occasionally used them as support at occasions just like garden parties. It seems that’s where Beatrice and Eugenie will fit in going forward, as well. 

The Telegraph reports that the sisters’ appearance at the garden party and any to come aren’t symbolic of a formal shift, but, going forward, Prince William (who hosted the garden party last week) “would be keen to extend similar invitations again, in the spirit of including the wider family, as his grandmother once did.”

As for what Beatrice and Eugenie think about it all, “They’re very willing to step up and do more at this current time, to help,” a royal source told the publication. “They’re very fond of their cousin [William] and their uncle [King Charles], and they want to do everything they can to support them. And they believe in the institution they grew up in.”

After the garden party last week, Eugenie wrote on Instagram to her 1.8 million followers “Come rain or shine, I was delighted to support my family to meet some special individuals at the Buckingham Palace garden party who have gone above and beyond to support their local communities and the country.” Of the cousins—which include William, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall (the children of Princess Anne) and Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex (the children of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward and Sophie)—

they “are all very close and always have been,” a source speaking to The Telegraph said. “I think people liked seeing them being there together and supporting each other.” In addition to Beatrice and Eugenie, Peter and Zara—as well as Zara’s husband, Mike Tindall—were all on hand last Tuesday. 

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