Andrew Mountbatten Windsor demanded Eugenie’s wedding be as grand as Prince Harry’s
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor thought Eugenie should "get everything".
When Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank in October 2018, the low-key ceremony at St George’s Chapel was widely celebrated. But behind the scenes, the former Prince Andrew believed the wedding deserved the same level of grandeur and global attention as the event earlier that year when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle.
Reports state ahead of Eugenie's marriage to Jack Brooksbank, Andrew insisted on a full-scale royal wedding at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel. On the day, Princess Eugenie looked regal in a striking wedding dress by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos.
Royal author, Andrew Lownie, told People Magazine: "She’s a granddaughter of the Queen — a princess of the blood. He believed she should get everything."
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Prince Harry and Meghan also wed at St. George's Chapel in May 2018, and Andrew mentioned Eugenie's guest list would be larger than her cousin's, underscoring tensions around status and scale.
"It will not be the same as the previous one that was held in May. This is not a public wedding, this is meant to be a family wedding," Andrew said in an interview with ITV's This Morning, The Mirror reported.
"There'll be a few more people than most people have. There are a few more than Harry had, but that's just the nature of Eugenie and Jack — they've got so many friends that they need a church of that size to fit them all in."
Eugenie and Jack had a larger guest list with about 850 people, compared to Prince Harry and Meghan's 600 guests.
Harry and Meghan’s May 2018 ceremony became a worldwide spectacle. Broadcast to millions, it featured celebrity guests, large public celebrations in the town of Windsor, and extensive international media coverage.
The wedding was held at the historic chapel within Windsor Castle and was widely seen as one of the most high-profile royal events in years.
Just five months later, Eugenie and Brooksbank exchanged vows in the very same chapel. Despite the elegance of the event, some commentators noted that it did not receive quite the same scale of international attention or ceremonial emphasis as Harry’s earlier wedding.
However, Harry, as the younger son of King Charles (then the Prince of Wales), occupies a higher place in the line of succession than Eugenie.
