How Princess Eugenie Is Being Mocked for Becoming Tied to Scandal Just Like Her Parents – With Her Controversy Linked to Vladimir Putin

OK! can reveal Princess Eugenie is facing fresh scrutiny – and mockery within royal circles – after the art gallery, where she is a director, was charged with breaching Russian sanctions, prompting comparisons with the scandals that have dogged her disgraced parents.

The 35-year-old royal became entangled in the controversy when Hauser & Wirth, the international gallery where she has worked since 2015, was charged with selling artwork to a Russian collector in breach of sanctions imposed after the nation's warmongering president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Hauser & Wirth, which has a showroom in London's Mayfair, is accused of making available a "luxury good to a person connected with Russia."

It's alleged the company sold the painting Escape from Humanity by U.S. artist George Condo to an art collector in 2022, sometime between April 14 and December 31. It was after the Department for International Trade slapped a ban on the export of luxury goods worth more than £250 ($327) to Russia after Putin started to blitz Ukraine with bombs.

Art transportation firm Artay Rauchwerger Solomons Ltd – which entered liquidation voluntarily at the end of 2024 – is facing the same charge.

Regulations introduced in April 2022 make supplying, delivering, or making available luxury goods to or for use in Russia an offence.

As well as art, the ruling covers everything from caviar to cars and musical instruments.

Companies convicted of a breach can face an unlimited fine. Eugenie does not sit on the Hauser & Wirth board, and there is no suggestion she was involved in the painting allegedly being made available to the collector.

When the art gallery case was called at Westminster Magistrates' Court, no pleas were entered, and it was adjourned for a pre-trial hearing at Southwark Crown Court on December 16. The prosecution was brought following an investigation by tax officials in Britain.

A spokesman for Hauser & Wirth declared: "We strongly contest this charge and intend to plead not guilty."

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the company has a second U.K. gallery in Somerset and exhibition spots in America, Europe and Hong Kong.

A figure close to the royal household said: "Eugenie is now caught up in a story about sanctions, Russian buyers and cross-border laws. "Palace aides are joking she's picked up her parents' knack for attracting trouble."

Eugenie's mother Sarah Ferguson, 66, and father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, have both been stripped of their royal titles by King Charles over their links to s-- trafficking pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and have been told to vacate their $40 million Royal Lodge home by Christmas, which they have shared for years despite their divorce decades ago.

The sanctions regime has already led to high-profile criminal cases. Dmitry Ovsiannikov – a former Russian official and U.K. passport holder – was recently jailed for 40 months for six breaches of sanctions and two money-laundering offenses. And Oghenochuko Ojiri, an art dealer who once appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt, was jailed for two and a half years for failing to report art sales linked to a man suspected of financing Hezbollah.

A longtime friend of Eugenie's added: "She's embarrassed by all the chatter, but she's staying focused. She knows she's done nothing wrong, even if some people are having a field day at her expense."