It is certainly a busy year of celebrations for the younger generation of the British royal family.
On Friday, Oct. 12, the wedding of the Queen’s granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, and liquor company executive, Jack Brooksbank, will take place. This wedding will be the second to take place in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, this year after the much-reported wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Merkle on May 19.
The 28-year-old second daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson (Fergie), the Duke and Duchess of York, was born on March 23, 1990, and was christened Eugenie Victoria Helena Windsor. Her older sister, the 30-year-old Princess Beatrice, is still single, and Eugenie’s parents separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
However, Prince Andrew and Fergie have remained close, still share a house and rumors persist that they are still together. As Eugenie put it, "They are the best divorced couple I know.” Fueling speculation that they are still in love, Fergie told a radio station in 2016, "We've never really left each other."
This week’s royal bride is currently ninth in the line of succession to the British throne. Princess Eugenie is likely to be pushed further down the line of succession if Prince Harry and Meghan have children and if her older sister has a family, but she is reported to have no aspirations to reign.
The happy couple announced their engagement at the beginning of the year, and the ring created a lot of interest among the gem trade and collectors of rare stones because – unlike other royal engagement rings which have traditionally included diamonds, sapphires and rubies – theirs is an extremely rare variety of sapphire known as padparadscha.
The name comes from the Sinhalese word for lotus flower and is pronounced pad-par-ad-shah. The color is not deep blue, like most sapphires, but instead a gorgeous cocktail of pink and orange like the flower itself. Every stone is unique, and it is certainly the rarest variety of sapphire.
It is reported that husband to be, Jack Brooksbank, felt it was appropriate for Eugenie as it reminded him of a special moment together at sunset on the side of a volcano in Nicaragua when the sky was full of pink and orange. How romantic!
The British media is full of predictions about this second royal wedding of the year, including:
• Her father, Prince Andrew, will walk her down the aisle and Princess Charlotte will be one of the bridesmaids
• There will be military trumpet fanfare and the service will feature Scottish pipers, a performance by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli and a prayer written by Archbishop of York John Sentamu.
• More than 850 guests have been invited – 250 more than the 600 people in attendance at Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding earlier this year.
• Red velvet cake (one of the bride’s favorite treats) will be served.
• Eugenie and Brooksbank are also allegedly planning a lavish after-party, which will be held the day after the wedding with a festival theme, rides, food stalls and cocktails.
There is lots more about this royal event at www.bbc.co.uk
I say goodbye this week with the famous quote from King George VI (father of our current Queen Elizabeth II), immortalized in both the book “Destiny Called to Them” and also in the popular movie The Queen’s Speech: “We're not a family, we're a firm”.
God bless America and the British royal family!
Lesley grew up in London, England, and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@francis.com or at www.lesleyfrancispr.com.
