Google “what does Princess Eugenie do for a living” and the results will show you exactly how much the princess uses her platform for championing positive causes, alongside her fulltime job at an art gallery.

After undergoing surgery to correct her scoliosis condition when she was a child, Eugenie went on to become a supporter of others who go through similar treatments and is now a patron of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. She also supports the Elephant Family, which is a charity campaigning to protect the Asian Elephant. And she is a patron of non-profit organisation Charity:water, which brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

But the cause which she is perhaps most passionate about is anti-slavery, which has led to her co-founding The Anti-Slavery Collective. The organisation aims to one day abolish modern slavery by supporting vulnerable women and children. Eugenie joined a UN Mission to Serbia with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women in September 2018. And now, she’s starting a podcast with the collective to further spread the news of the cause.

“The anti-slavery collective’s mission is to bring people together, because together we’re so much more powerful, and we can affect serious change,” she said in a teaser video on the collective’s Instagram account.

“And if we can do that, and get people working on the same thing, and sharing information and sharing what their best practice are then we can make a real difference.”

“We’re developing a podcast, with Freedom United, and we have speaker series called Tech Tackles Trafficking. We are doing this for the person who can’t scream and shout like we can, for the women, girls, men, children all over the world.”

In an accompanying ICTV video, she added: “This is a whole, much bigger, larger issue that’s a hidden crime. It’s forced labour, forced marriage, domestic servitude. It’s people not being paid correctly.”

According to The Anti-Slavery Collective’s website, there are an estimated 40.3 million people in modern slavery around the world. This includes 10 million children, 24.9 million people in forced labour, 15.4 million people in forced marriage and 4.8 million people in forced exploitation. 

Last year, Stylist investigated modern slavery and trafficking in the UK by speaking to three women who shared their experiences. 

There stories are so important because, according to official slavery figures, each victim is likely to be subjected to 388 rapes, 407 other sexual offences and 34 other violent crimes while being sexually exploited. Numerous victims suffer from depression, fear and anxiety, and they are also more likely to get STIs.

In 2017, more than 320 suspects were arrested here in the UK, according to Will Kerr, director of vulnerabilities for the National Crime Agency. And with 30% of those who request international protection in the UK thought to have been the victim of torture or serious harm, it’s an issue that continues to urgently need our attention.

You can find more information on what The Anti-Slavery Collection does to help tackle modern day slavery here. 

Images: Getty