There are few weddings that don’t have a little drama in the lead-up, and royal weddings are no exception. In May the world watched with fascination as the lead-up to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding was marked by Meghan’s father Thomas Markle flip-flopping over whether he’d be walking his daughter down the aisle.
In the end he had to undergo heart surgery and was unable to travel to England for the wedding. Prince Harry’s father Prince Charles nobly stepped in to do the honour.
Similarly, the final few days before Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s October 12 nuptials have not been without controversy.
First, there was news that the BBC declined to broadcast the big day. Prince Andrew stepped in to argue his daughter’s case and there has since been an announcement that ITV will televise it.
And now an online petition is doing the rounds, demanding that no public money be spent on Eugenie and Jack’s wedding.
The petition has been organised by anti-monarchist group Republic and has so far gathered 35,000 signatures.
It urges the House of Commons to urge the Government to “commit no public money to the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank”.
It reasons that, based on polls about Meghan and Harry’s wedding, two thirds of the British public are not interested and an even higher percentage would not want to contribute their taxes towards it. Princess Eugenie “carries out no royal duties”, it continues, and a royal wedding that should be a “private, personal event” has been “dressed up as a national event” and is “shaping up to look more like a £35 million extravaganza than a wedding fit for a minor royal.”
The palace has said they’ll be paying for the big day, but Republic claim that royal funding “blurs the lines” between private income and public money.
So what do we know about Eugenie and Jack’s big day?
We know it will be plastic-free, according to a rare interview given by Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice for British Vogue magazine .
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank will be marrying at the same venue as Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and they’re also expecting the same number of guests. The Beckhams and the Clooneys, who attended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, are expected to be there.
A source told the Daily Mail, “The wedding itself is going to be huge and they are hoping quite a few of the people they’ve invited won’t be able to come because of the capacity issue.
“There are rumours Ellie Goulding and Robbie Williams will sing.”
Princess Eugenie and Jack will follow the same procession around Windsor that Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan did in May, which will require tight security and policing.
Bridebook has tipped Stella McCartney – who designed Duchess Meghan’s reception gown – as Eugenie’s dress designer.
Meanwhile, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have two days of extravagant after wedding parties planned.
Put it this way, it’s not going to be cheap!
