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Princess Eugenie loses security

Princess Eugenie had to enlist the help of a police officer when she managed to lose her two Royal Protection security guards during a night out in Newcastle, it has been reported.

The Princess, 19, who is sixth in line to the throne and a fresher at Newcastle University, had provided her guards with the route she planned to take on her night out but managed to lose them half way through.

She was forced to approach a regular policeman, who she reportedly told: "I'm Princess Eugenie and I've lost my security."

The Northumbria Police officer radioed colleagues before taking the princess to the Gate entertainment complex where her bodyguards were waiting for her.

"She was obviously concerned and needed to find them as quickly as possible," a police source told The Daily Mirror.

"She said she had told the two officers where she was going and appeared to be lost herself.

"She had obviously given them her route for the night, but she had been unable to reach them."

The princess embarked on a three-year Combined Studies degree in English literature, history of art and politics at Newcastle in September after gaining A grade A Levels in English and Art, and a B in History of Art at Marlborough College in Wiltshire.

She will live at a £96-a-week halls of residence, but the cost of providing security for her has already caused controversy.

The security for protecting her during her gap year travels around Asia was thought to have cost an estimated £110,000 on top of the annual £280,000 protection bill.

It is thought that protecting her 24 hours a day while she is at Newcastle could cost some £750,000 over three years.

The head of Scotland Yard, Sir Paul Stephenson, wrote to to the Home Secretary earlier this year to raise fears that the unit which protects VIPs, including members of the Royal family, is "overstretched".