It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the British Columbia Coast.

The Inside Passage ferry and shipping lane runs along its eastern flank, in Princess Royal Channel separating it from the mainland.

The plane itself flew north after the crew bailed out, crashing on Mount Kologet, east of the Nass River to the northwest of Hazelton.

The island is classified by the World Wildlife Fund as part of their system's Pacific temperate rain forest ecoregion.

Princess Royal Island is a core component of a regional preservationist campaign covering the North and Central Coast, which has been dubbed the Great Bear Rainforest by environmental groups.