As we discussed last week, Princess Beatrice has been unemployed for two months or more. She quit her fancy job with Sony Europe back in December, and since then, she’s managed to squeeze in FOUR vacations. When the media pointed this out – that a 26 year old princess and sixth in line to the throne seemed rather “work-shy” – Beatrice’s people claimed that she was considering her options and she would have another job soon enough. Well, a job has not materialized. Instead, Beatrice is now going to move to America to… “study finance.”

Princess Beatrice has shrugged off “work-shy” criticism and begun studying finance in the United States, Buckingham Palace confirmed today. The 26-year-old has enrolled onto a short course across the Atlantic, although it is not thought that it will be a permanent move for the Queen’s granddaughter. A spokeswoman said: “Princess Beatrice has started a finance course in America.”

Beatrice left her £20,000-a-year post at Sony Pictures in December, where she was among hundreds of members of staff whose salaries were revealed online in a suspected hack by North Korea. She worked as a coordinating producer at the firm’s London offices for less than a year. The sixth-in-line to the throne carried out ten Royal engagements while holding down the position.

The young Royal attracted criticism after going on three holidays – including two to the Caribbean – with boyfriend Dave Clark. She and Mr Clark, who is believed to earn a six-figure salary at Virgin Galactic, enjoyed at least another five holidays in St Barts, Spain, France and America during the course of last year. However, the palace has insisted that their travel was “entirely privately funded”.

Beatrice’s friends hit back at claims that the Princess was a “scrounger” and “work-shy”.

Earlier this year an unnamed friend told the Mail on Sunday: “This is like going back to the Tudor times when some people attacked the Yorks, and we are not going to tolerate it. Beatrice has got another two interviews next week and she is not scared of hard work. She’s in her mid-20s and is trying to build up work experience with financial companies and start-ups. She has done plenty of work experience, so she can forge a serious career with lots of skills. How dare people attack her for not working hard when she does exactly that in her office for charities and for the Royal Family?”

[From The Express]

I chose this Express story because I’m sort of obsessed with the quotes from the “unnamed friend.” It seems like Beatrice thinks someone (her cousin William, perchance?) is coming after her. While William’s team might want another royal woman to get the “work-shy” tag, I have to think that the British media could have come up with this stuff on their own. I mean, she only did 10 royal engagements in one year? Even Duchess Kate manages to do better than that. When your vacation tally outnumbers your royal engagement tally, there’s a problem.

But here’s my real question: who starts a “finance course” in America in the middle of February? Most colleges and universities have set semesters and summer courses. If Beatrice, say, started a finance course at any American university, it would have started in mid-January or maybe late January (at the latest). But Beatrice was in the midst of her third post-job holiday at that point. Plus, I think it’s fishy that the explanation last week was “she’s looking for her next job” and this week it’s “she’s already started a finance course.” It might seem picayune, but Beatrice keeps two royal apartments, you know? The taxpayers are funding at least part of her lifestyle.

Photos courtesy of WENN.