Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have really pulled it off. They’ve managed to quietly set themselves up away from the Windsor shambles, all while maintaining a certain position within the family. This spring, Jack and Eugenie moved out of Frogmore Cottage (which they were subletting from the Sussexes) and moved to Portugal, where Jack had been offered a glamorous real estate job. Before that, Jack had worked for years in the liquor industry, including a job with Casamigos, George Clooney and Rande Gerber’s company (before they sold it). In addition to his real estate job in Portugal, Jack maintained a wholesale liquor company, and unsurprisingly, the business is still going strong. From the Mail’s Eden Confidential column:
Prince Andrew was said in the Mail On Sunday to be ‘completely depressed’ after his hopes of returning to public life were dashed by King Charles, so perhaps his son-in-law can offer him a consoling drink? For I hear that Jack Brooksbank is toasting a remarkable set of results at his booze company.
The former barman, who’s married to Andrew’s younger daughter Princess Eugenie, is celebrating a £630,000 profit at Jack Brooksbank Ltd, the business he set up in 2016 for the ‘wholesale of wine, beer, spirit and other alcoholic beverages’.
It turned a profit of only £36,428 last year, so that’s an astonishing increase of almost £600,000, or more than 1,600 per cent.
‘He’s doing very well for himself,’ one of his friends tells me. Brooksbank, 36, is the sole director and sole shareholder in the business, whose accounts were filed at Companies House on Tuesday. There have never been any pay disclosures or turnover reported, though one member of staff has been reported as being employed.
The figures also report a £781,619 increase in assets held, from £183,072 to £964,691 as at March 2022. Earlier this year, Brooksbank moved to Portugal with Eugenie, 32, and their 21-month-old son, August, after using Prince Harry and Meghan’s Frogmore Cottage as their home.
The younger daughter of Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York is dividing her time between an exclusive golf resort near Lisbon and London. They have set up home at the Costa-Terra Golf and Ocean Club, an hour from the Portuguese capital, for Brooksbank’s new sales job with property tycoon Mike Meldman.
Eugenie will continue working as a director for London art gallery Hauser & Wirth. A source close to the Princess confirmed that the family moved ‘for the time being for Jack’s job and are splitting their time between London and Portugal’.
Reportedly, Jack and Eugenie want to have another baby, and Eugenie hoped that the more leisurely life in Portugal would help her de-stress. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was knocked up already or soon will be. In any case, everything’s coming up liquor-soaked roses for Jack and Eugenie. I’ll admit that I didn’t think Jack had that much initiative, but he’s doing really well for himself and his family. Jack has always worked too, and he’s always been adjacent to industries serving the rich and famous. I think Eugenie made a good match.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Instagram.
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- HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank, leaving St George’s Chapel after their wedding, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, UK. 12/10/2018.,Image: 534315498, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank, leaving St George’s Chapel after their wedding, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, UK. 12/10/2018.,Image: 534315571, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK. 3 June 2022. Princess Eugenie with her husband, Jack Brooksbank attend The National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral as part of Platinum Jubilee Celebrations for The Queen’s reign, part of a four day UK bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th June.,Image: 696667729, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: MALCOLM PARK / Avalon
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- 03/06/2022. London, United Kingdom. Princess Eugenie leaving a Service of Thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St.Paul’s Cathedral in London, on day two of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.,Image: 696677354, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stephen Lock / Avalon
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- Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank at the Platinum Party at Buckingham Palace on June 4, 2022 as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations.,Image: 697028398, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: James Veysey / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 11: American rapper A$AP Rocky (ASAP Rocky, Rakim Athelaston Mayers) arrives at the Fenty Beauty And Fenty Skin Celebration Hosted By Rihanna held at Goya Studios on February 11, 2022 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 661748814, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: A$AP Rocky, ASAP Rocky, Rakim Athelaston Mayers, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
Well there is nothing for them living around the other bunch but scapegoating and drama so I don’t blame them for getting away. Good that they can support themselves too.
So they’re industrious and wonderful hustlers who split their time between the UK and abroad? Got it.
Jack is from an incredibly wealthy family but still has the hustle to make his own money. Somehow that’s a bad thing?
It’s not a bad thing. It’s just notable that Eugenie seems to be able to live a life divided between the UK and Portugal, while Harry and Meghan don’t seem to have that same ability. It’s the hypocrisy.
I believe @MaryContrary is pointing out yet another example that one set of royals is able to do EXACTLY what another set was demonized for wanting to do. And forbidden to do.
Tacky: that’s my exact point. It’s not remotely a bad thing-but the British press is on constant indignation setting over Harry and Meghan doing the same thing.
Harry and Meghan can live a life divided between the California and London, but H & M need security. I am not aware of any threats against Eugenie and her family.
Omg can you imagine the deafening outcries if Meghan ran a liquor company?! A successful and profitable one, at that. The Daily Fail would never let that go. And yet, it’s fine for other royals. Charles wrote a revenge memoir, “War of the Wales,” but Harry can’t write one. Mike Tindall is on an embarrassing reality show, but how dare Meghan and Harry have a deal with Netflix. The list goes on. The double standards imposed on Harry and Meghan are heinous.
I love hearing about the Royals hustling (lol bellend Mike Tindall) and underdog married-in royals that seem well adjusted have success at their hustling. Bravo Jack. Bravo Meghan.
You miss the point entirely. Harry was 3rd in line to the throne when he was born and is currently the son of the monarch and will be brother of the future monarch. Eugenie was never anything. Her father snagged the princess title because he wanted his daughters to be ‘special’ without being working royals. Eugenie is not and has never been a working/senior royal. But Harry is still a counsellor of state, meaning he is supposed to be someone to whom “the monarch can delegate and revoke royal functions through letters patent under the Great Seal, to prevent delay or difficulty in the dispatch of public business in the case of their illness (except total incapacity) or of their intended or actual absence from the United Kingdom.”
Yes, funny how that’s now considered a plus….for some people.
ETA: this was supposed to be a reply to @Marycontrary but it ended up as a separate comment!
I got ya 😉
Now that they have managed to provide for themselves, let us see if the tabloids would respect their position as private non-working royals who are making their way in the world.
Continued success to Jack and Eugenie and their growing family.
Sometimes a little initiative and good connections are enough. People show who they are by being mean to her just because she didn’t stop talking to her first cousin. I’m glad they still have a place in London and get to live in sunny Portugal. I know friends that have gone I think I’ll go after going to Mallorca.
I’m sorry but this huge revenue growth (and pulled off supposedly alone as the sole employee) reads as super sketchy to me. He’s never struck me as notably bright or a shrewd businessman — his professional career is very ‘meh’ and easy nepotism-y jobs. These numbers say that someone or several someone’s just decided to buy a literal ton of alcohol wholesale from Jack and Eugenie, and I’d be very curious as to who and why. Did Jack get contracts to supply official events related to the queens funeral? Contracts with shady international (ie Saudi or Kazakh, looking at you Charles and Andrew…) oligarchs or other figures?
Best case scenario, it’s all above board but still deeply sketchy trading on aristo and royal connections…
This👆
THANK YOU! I was coming to post this, too. A £600K increase in ONE YEAR??? Nope…there is *definitely* something fishy going on. Money laundering perhaps? I don’t think any of it is above board.
I think it’s a given that major nepotism and string-pulling went on to help out Jack
Ordinarily I would agree but he’s in the hospitality business and the company would have taken a battering during the pandemic.
It’s been a good summer for all the usual party resorts in Europe so he would have cashed in big time.
It was pretty hard to book a holiday in Europe this year between the eye watering plane ticket prices, oversubscribed hotels and then when you did get there everything was HEAVING.
I lean towards these earnings being legitimate otherwise the Fail would be ALL OVER HIM. In any case if Jack makes it big – E&J will have bigger problems than the tax man – the other jealous Royals are more of an issue….
Flower, I agree. The pandemic hit most businesses really hard. I think he was lucky to make any profit last year. He really had to hustle in order to keep things going when everyone was shut down.
I think people might want to consider the fact that being married to a member of the brf does not automatically mean that you are doing something illegal. If there was ANYTHING shady with Jack’s business you can bet the bm would be putting it out there very loudly.
Agree one million percent.
Something’s not right.
+1 Jack set up this company in 2016 and all of a sudden this past year it started blowing up? Was there a suitcase of cash or a Saudi EFT involved? Did it send liquor to a couple Saudi contacts/parties and then it was handsomely rewarded?
There are those in the bended-knee brigade that still believe that archewell foundation has 50K to its name.
Archewell was registered in April 2020 but did not open a bank account until January 2021. And its current tax filings are either not yet public or the sums are so staggeringly high that the usual suspects dont want the bended-knee brigade to keel over.
The point is, folks who dont know the details of other people’s business will always speculate with their biases showing like the proverbial slip under their skirt.
Or he’s got the contract to import liquor to the super fancy real estate development he works for 🤷🏼♀️.
There’s usually some sort of private club at those places, he’s getting in at the ground floor and they’re probably happy to have someone with experience deal with it. Might have been part of why he was hired. Liquor distribution is a business that’s hard to break into – it’s almost impossible to get customers to switch, so the best bet is to get places that don’t already have existing relationships.
The BRF is shady as hell, and liquor distribution can be too, but I don’t think this is necessarily shady.
@IB – Was coming to say the same thing. Seems a bit shady, particularly since so many accounts by those who’ve met him say he’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed…
One doesn’t get to be the brand ambassador for a major high-end brand like Casamigos with George Clooney and Rande Gerber at the helm if you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed. All this opining on how he’s shady and stupid and merely riding on Eugenie’s coattails is pure hypothesis based on nothing more than personal bias. I ain’t believing anything until I see the truth. And I highly doubt that the Sussexes would be good friends with him if he was making shady deals with Saudis or Russians or whatever. Harry got enough exposure to that while still in the royal family to have a big instant bullshit detector.
Also, he could have had major outlays (investments in inventory for example) at the end of one year and the profits were realized the next year. That is actually not that uncommon. Particularly if he was buying a vintage of wine or something that ships/drops towards the end of his fiscal year.
When I read this I thought his company may have provided all the beverages for the numerous gatherings hosted by the royal family after the queen’s death.
That is absolutely my thought.
Nepotism through contracts and services related to the BRF. And of course the BRF’s very close friends also call on Jack….as a favor to the BRF.
I detect no outstanding qualifications with him. Not to say he doesn’t work hard to earn the money from his clients/sources.
But he was never at risk of not having enough opportunities to succeed.
it’s really not that hard to make money selling booze. certainly easier than fancy paper plates!
Very much probably.
How many bathrooms are in their house in Portugal?
In all honesty, good for them. I can’t really be too mad about these two
LOL
I wonder if any of us regular people would have had such phenomenal results in one year from a liquor business. But good for them for getting a little distance and hopefully independence for themselves.
Regular people tend not to get alcohol distributorships because they are hella lucrative, it’s a pretty closed system and when they do change hands the transaction costs are pricey. I don’t know how it works in Europe, but beer/liquor distributorships are divided into territories in the States. If you have a suite of popular brands under your control, you are the only game in town for every retail establishment in that territory, which usually number in the hundreds, if not thousands. You rarely see news of distributorships going bankrupt.
I’m guessing the wealthy and unscrutinized artistocratic friends of the BRF help the new branches thrive and become independent.
And in return those friends get to be god-mothers/fathers of royal children. They join with royals on fancy charity boards that burnish everyone’s reputation.
And the ahem questionable marriage partners (Van Cutsem, I’m looking at you) of noble daughters get public royal approval and acceptance.
Got nothing against these two.
This….
They seem legitimately happy together and quite sweet. I’ll be VERY sad if they break out.
I wonder if their trip to Montecito involved taking in a partner?
Okay Jack! Make that money. Imagine making a living without having to go onto a “reality” tv show and grope hard working woman?
Good for Eugenie, Jack and their sweet little family.
it could be down to nepo type deals but the liquor wholesale biz is HUGE in the US so no reason for it not to be in the boozy UK too. all the liquor wholesale families we know are set for generations so I hope that works out for Eug.
I wonder what his portfolio of brands includes…he’s bound to have a niche bc in the wholesale biz his earnings are very modest.
I don’t think it’s sketchy at all. I think Jack has been using his connections to secure lucrative contracts. I also suspect that cousin Harry may have been doing some mentoring. I think this is great for them and wonderful that Jack has some hustle now.
Well, there’s a lot this couple has to thank Meghan and Harry for. By living in Harry and Meghan’s tastefully fully decorated, recently renovated home, they have been able to save on housing, car, security and other living costs. Maybe that’s why Jack was able to invest in and built his business quietly for at least years.
I can´t with Edo, in the sixth picture you can see how he turned his head to face the cameras on Jack and Eugneie, he got himself a perfect angle there and did not let it go, boy is sure thirsty!
According to Eden, the Royal Foundation donated money to the Invictus Games Foundation in 2020 when it was just transferring money allocated to the Endeavour Fund when the programme was taken over by Invictus.
Reporting on Meghan and Harry tends to leave no stone unturned, but this report of the Brookbanks has gaping holes. Jack and Eugenie live between Portugal and London. The property in Portugal is it complimentary to Jack’s employer? Only a few people live in a golf course complex. When in London, where do they live since they’re no longer at Frogmore? Eugenie wants to have another baby; she needs to de-stress. Why is her life so stressful? Is the tabloid media bullying her daily, photoshopping her and August, or is something going on in the York family that goes beyond that 12 million pound payoff? Is the property Sarah purchased in London for her and Andrew or for Jack, Eugenie, and August? Too many unanswered questions in the story. Details, though most exaggerated, only come with Sussex news.
Robin Samuels, if I remember what I read when we discovered that Jack and Eugenie were moving to Portugal, Jack will be the front man to sell homes in this exclusive, golfing community. That is also where he and Eugenie live. It sounds quite pricy and secure. For some reason, I keep thinking that the cottage there were living in before moving to Frogmore may be where they will go when in England. For all we know, she/they will stay at Frogmore. I think it’s good that we don’t know their personal business. They aren’t working royals and they should have their privacy.