Again, the innovation with this generation is the adoption of Labels which reflect the Mother's side of the family. The Succession to the Crown Act may have introduced absolute primogeniture, meaning that a younger brother no longer has priority over an elder sister for those born after October 2011, this does not (yet) have any influence on the inheritance of royal titles and heraldry.
In the previous Blog Entry about Princes William and Harry, their Labels were shown to carry the Escallop from Diana, Princess of Wales's Spencer Arms. As the daughter of an Earl who could trace not only her family's title back many generations, the Spencer family Arms have a long tradition. HRH The Prince Andrew married Miss Sarah Ferguson, officially a commoner. Her Father, Ronald, didn't have a Coat of Arms and was quickly granted one. (Much the same happened for the fathers of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and HRH The Countess of Wessex.) Mr Ronald Ferguson was not assigned Boar's Heads or Buckles, the traditional Charges for the Ferguson family, but a representation of the Crest which usually goes on top of the Shield and Helm, namely a bee on a thistle, as shown here.
Sarah, Duchess of York is known for her admiration of not only the present Queen but also HM Queen Victoria. She published the book Travels with Queen Victoria in 1995 and was an advisor on the film The Young Victoria in which her elder daughter had a role, namely as a lady-in-waiting in the scene of Victoria's Coronation. Therefore, there may be two influences on why the Yorks chose Beatrice as the first name for their first daughter. HRH The Princess Beatrice (Princess Henry of Battenberg) was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria. But when it came to assigning Princess Beatrice of York a five-pointed Label for her 18th Birthday, a bee was chosen from her Mother's Arms and also to reflect her nickname of "Bea". (See above.) Also, she was assigned not one bee but three, hence "bee thrice". In Heraldry this kind of visual joke or pun is called Canting. The only other known case of Canting Arms within the British Royal Family was with the late Queen Mother who was born a Bowes-Lyon as the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and inherited from her father a coat of arms with Long Bows and Scottish Lions on it.
When it came to the Yorks' second daughter they decided to name her, presumably, after another close descendent of Queen Victoria, this time a granddaughter. Victoria Eugenie was the name of the daughter of the same Princess Beatrice. She married HM King Alfonso XIII of Spain and will be the subject of another Blog as her heraldry is quite interesting and unusual. This time, the then Duke and Duchess of York named their second child the other way round - Eugenie Victoria - and added Helena as a third name after another of Queen Victoria's daughters.
HRH Princess Eugenie of York was assigned a five-pointed Label for her 18th Birthday. This was based on the other element of her Mother's Coat of Arms - the thistle. The Ferguson Crest usually carries just the one thistle but Mr Ronald Ferguson's Grant has three. Unfortunately "thistle thrice" doesn't work as canting Arms for someone called Eugenie, but she was assigned three thistles (with the same two blank Points as both her sister and Prince Harry). The unusual factor, though, is that Princess Eugenie was specifically assigned thistle heads. This isn't the first time that the floral emblem of Scotland has been assigned to Labels, though it is usually for a strong connection with Scotland. Firstly came the Label for HRH Princess Louise, Princess Royal (1867 - 1931) when she married the Duke of Fife in 1889. HRH The Princess Margaret Rose, Countess of Snowdon was assigned two Tudor Roses for her name and one Scottish Thistle as she was the first Member of the Royal Family to be born in Scotland, at the home of her Mother's family - Glamis Castle.
I have no idea if there is any specific reason for why Princess Eugenie was assigned thistle heads as opposed to the full plant. Maybe someone can enlighten me/us...?