Princess Eugenie has opened up about one of the hardest chapters of her life in a candid new Instagram post to mark Scoliosis Awareness Day.

The notoriously private Princess, 34, was diagnosed with Scoliosis at the age of 12 and underwent major surgery to correct the spinal condition.

In a new Instagram post, Eugenie praised her mother Sarah Ferguson for noticing the symptoms early and removing the stigma around the illness.

"My mum caught my scoliosis early and I was lucky enough to get the help I needed at 12 years old,” she wrote via Instagram last Wednesday.

"I thank her so much for that and also thank her for the confidence to be proud of my scar.

"She removed all the stigma around having scoliosis for me by confidently showing people what I’d been through and it took all the fear and anxiety out of being different at such a young age."

Eugenie and her elder sister Princess Beatrice are the two most senior women in the Windsor family who are not currently “working royals”.

Born sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, Eugenie has slipped down to 11th position following the births of Prince William and Prince Harry’s children, as well as her niece Sienna Mapelli.

Despite maintaining her own professional career as an art gallery director, Eugenie and Beatrice have been more present at recent royal occasions amid Princess Catherine’s public hiatus, prompting speculation they could be elevated to “working” status.

However, royal author Andrew Lownie believes Charles is reluctant to promote the York sisters because they are “slightly tainted" by Prince Andrew's sexual abuse scandal and Epstein ties, as well as Fergie's myriad of financial issues. 

The Princess, who married aristocrat Jack Brooksbank in a globally-televised wedding in 2018, is also one of the few royal family members still on speaking terms with Harry and his wife Meghan Markle.

Eugenie is understood to have taken a more neutral position in the Sussexes’ fallout with the monarchy while Beatrice is more closely aligned with her uncle King Charles.

The younger York sister even made a brief cameo in the Sussexes’ Netflix series Harry and Meghan and has travelled to California to visit her cousin.