Eden Landgrover
Staff Writer

2018 has been quite a busy year for the British royal family. This was the first year in history to hold two royal weddings in one 12 month span. The closest previous time gap to this was a five-year span. Following the wedding of her cousin Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank on October 12 at Windsor Castle. This was also the site of Prince Harry’s wedding, along with countless other royals.

Princess Eugenie is the daughter of Prince Andrew, who is the Duke of York and son of Queen Elizabeth II. She is 9th in line for the royal throne. Her new husband, Jack Brooksbank, is the second “commoner” to wed into the royal family this year, following Meghan Markle.

Though Jack is not technically royalty, his family is descended from the “Brooksbank baronets”- a title lower than a baron. Jack was sent to a private school in Buckingham, England, and he reportedly met Princess Eugenie while skiing in a Swiss town. In their seventh year of dating, the two finally tied the knot.

The wedding in its entirety could practically have its own fairytale book. The dress, the wedding, the reception- nothing short of a modern day fantasy. 

Princess Eugenie cut no corners in the assembling of her bridal look. Wearing a custom off-the-shoulder, low back, long-sleeved Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos gown, the Princess was absolutely radiant- and dripping sentimentality.

The Princess revealed that she had had surgery when she was 12 to correct her scoliosis, and she had purposely requested a low-backed dress to show this off. Her dress was also artfully adorned with discrete silk symbols such as a thistle for Scotland, a shamrock for Ireland, a York rose and ivy for her home with Jack.

For her crown, she wore a Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara, lent to her by the Queen. Princess Eugenie also made the unconventional choice to forgo wearing a veil, making her the first royal bride in recent history to walk down the aisle without one.

The wedding reception was a weekend-long event and was entirely autumnal. On Saturday, the Great Park was transformed into a no-holds-barred festival, complete with carnival games and rides. The couple’s wedding cake was a five-tiered red velvet and chocolate cake (shared via Twitter), and the wedding food was catered by a gourmet pizza truck. Per the groom’s request, Casamigos margaritas were served to all of the guests.

For her reception dress, Princess Eugenie donned an English-rose colored dress by Zac Posen that sleekly bore a resemblance to her wedding dress- long sleeves, off-the-shoulder and low back. Her jewelry for this look was reminiscent of her wedding tiara, and all of the pieces were either wedding gifts from her husband or lent to her from the Queen.

The 850 person guest list complete with celebrity friends such as Cara Delevigne, Demi Moore, Kate Moss, James Blunt, Ellie Goulding and Ricky Martin. Princess Eugenie’s maid of honor was her sister, Princess Beatrice.

Princess Charlotte and Prince George, the children of her cousin Prince William, were in the ceremony as well (placed in charge of stealing the show, as they have for three previous weddings as well). Princess Charlotte, 3 years old, was a bridesmaid, and Prince George, 5 years old, was the couples page boy.

The only thing that could possibly taint an event as immaculate as this would be a royal upstaging. This came in the form of a baby announcement from the newlyweds- Harry and Meghan are having a baby.

Though they technically broke the news to the world on Monday, 3 days after the ceremony, the senior royals were informed the day of Princess Eugenie’s wedding.

Essentially, the baby announcement was entangled in all of the weekend’s festivities.
In spite of this benign upstaging, Princess Eugenie’s wedding was uniquely regal. Any event able to incorporate the Princess’s elegant majesty with her down-to-earth loves is sure to set a new nostalgic standard in the royal wedding books.