The British royal family welcomed a new member on August 3 as Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank confirmed the birth of their third child, a baby daughter.
Eugenie gave birth at a hospital in Lisbon, Portugal; the family began spending half of the year in Portugal in 2022 after Jack received a new role, working with property developer Mike Meldman, a business partner of George Clooney, and Discovery Land Company.
© Princess EugenieThe royal had welcomed her first two children, sons August and Ernest in London's Portland Hospital, the very same hospital where both she and her sister Princess Beatrice were born.
However, with her third being born in Portugal, royal watchers have been left wondering if the newborn baby will have Portuguese citizenship as well as British.
Will the baby have dual citizenship?
© InstagramAs both Eugenie and Jack are British citizens, their newborn automatically qualifies for British citizenship by descent, regardless of being born overseas.
But the newborn baby will not automatically receive Portuguese citizenship because Portugal does not grant birthright citizenship to children of foreign nationals.
Instead, to qualify for citizenship, a newborn must have at least one parent who has met the legal residency duration requirement of five years at the time of the baby's birth.
© Instagram/Princess EugenieEugenie and Jack only moved to the country in 2022 so have not met the five-year requirement for their daughter to be a citizen.
Had Princess Eugenie’s daughter been born prior to May 19, 2026, the pathway to Portuguese citizenship was significantly shorter as under previous nationality laws, foreign parents needed only one year of legal residency.
However, new requirements came into effect on May 19, 2026 after major legislative reforms, extending the residency requirement for foreign parents to five years at the time of the child's birth.
Pathway to citizenship
© InstagramIf Eugenie and Jack did want their children to get Portuguese citizenship, however, they could apply once the children have finished a designated level of schooling in the country, as the Portuguese government recognizes the completion of primary education (usually ages six - 10) as one of five legal pathways.
Both the UK and Portugal fully permit dual citizenship if the family so chooses.
Eugenie's A-list neighbors
© NetflixEugenie, Jack, and their three children live in one of the more luxurious complexes along the Alentejan coastal strip, where prices start at £3.6 million.
Their neighbors include the likes of Christian Louboutin and Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, and they have also hosted A-list friends such as Robbie and Ayda Williams, as well as Eugenie's cousin Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex.
A private life
The pair have enjoyed a quieter and more private life there; Eugenie once admitted she could go grocery shopping in gym clothes and "no-one would care."
In 2024, the Princess spoke to HELLO! about the new life they were building for their family, sharing that her boys "love swimming" and that living so close to the water had encouraged the family to learn more about the ecosystem. Eugenie is an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation, dedicated to protecting and restoring 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.
© Instagram"The sea in Portugal's a little bit rougher," she shared, "so we've got our feet in, but Augie is a fish. He literally loves it and we have whales and dolphins all across the walls."
"We've got a book called The World's Wildest Waters, which is backed by Blue Marine Foundation - I see it every morning when Augie's eating breakfast, and he's like, 'Mama!' and then we go through it," she said.
"The children have to find the creatures in the pictures and the next page is all the facts about the cuttlefish, or the Great White shark or the seal. And Augie loves it."
