7 Ways Princess Eugenie's Wedding Broke Royal Tradition
Princess Eugenie married her longtime boyfriend Jack Brooksbank this morning in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in a touching and beautiful ceremony. As you might expect from a modern royal couple like Eugenie and Jack, their wedding did not conform wholly to strict expectations. Here are six ways in which this year’s second royal wedding broke royal tradition.
1. The flavor of the wedding cake.
Eugenie and Jack’s wedding cake sounds incredibly delicious, and maybe all the more so because it isn't like other royal wedding cakes. Made by London-based cake designer Sophie Cabot, the cake is a red velvet and chocolate blend inspired by the rich colors of autumn.
Royal weddings traditionally feature a layered fruit cake with white icing, similar to British Christmas cake. This type of cake was served at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Diana, and Prince William and Kate Middleton. But Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also broke tradition with their cake earlier this year, opting for a lemon elderflower flavor with buttercream.
2. Princess Eugenie didn’t wear a veil.
Eugenie’s beautiful dress was accompanied by a tiara borrowed from the Queen, and a stunning pair of diamond and emerald earrings from Jack-but no veil. Since she reportedly chose the low-backed cut of her dress because she didn’t want to hide the scars she has from scoliosis surgery at age 12, it makes sense that she would forgo a veil for the same reason. This is a major break from tradition. Every British royal bride in recent history has worn a veil on her wedding day, with just two other exceptions: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall when she married Prince Charles, and Princess Anne when she married Sir Tim Laurence, both of whom were marrying for the second time.
3. Princess Beatrice was Eugenie's maid of honor.
The announcement that Eugenie’s sister Beatrice would be her maid of honor caused some controversy leading up to the wedding, because royals have customarily not been allowed to hold this role. For instance, when Kate Middleton married Prince William, her sister Pippa was her maid of honor. But when Pippa was married last year, Kate was not allowed to be her maid of honor. The difference, according to The Express, is that Eugenie and Beatrice hold the same royal rank, and thus neither would upstage the other. Though Beatrice is technically ahead of her sister in the line of succession, this likely doesn’t represent enough of a hierarchical difference to be a problem.
4. Confetti was banned.
Hundreds of people gathered outside Windsor Castle to watch the procession, but were asked by Thames Valley Police not to throw confetti for security reasons. “Our priority in policing the Royal Wedding is to ensure the safety of all who attend,” a police spokesperson told Mirror Online. "We would ask members of the public not to throw any objects in order to assist us in doing this."
The same rule applied at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in May. This represents a break from previous royal weddings-Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 nuptials featured confetti made from real flower petals.
5. Princess Beatrice wore a headpiece.
Beatrice has earned a reputation for her taste in extraordinary headgear, and while she didn’t technically wear a hat to her sister’s nuptials, she did wear a deep purple headband. Royal tradition would dictate that she not wear a headpiece, according to expert and founder of Beaumont Etiquette, Myka Meier. "I do not expect Beatrice to wear a hat," Meier told Town & Country. "Traditionally British and royal wedding-party members do not wear hats. Often children on the wedding party wear floral crowns."
6. Princess Eugenie’s vows featured one important omission.
Following in her aunt Princes Diana’s footsteps, Eugenie promised in her vows to love, comfort, honor, and keep her husband, but not obey him. Though this has now become a popular variation on traditional vows, Diana broke precedent in a major way when she declined to promise to “obey” Charles at their 1981 wedding. When Eugenie’s mother Sarah Ferguson married into the royal family in 1986, she did promise to obey her husband Prince Andrew, but the tradition has started to fall out of favor in recent years, with both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle omitting the “obey” from their vows.
7. The ceremony wasn’t broadcast by the BBC.
The royal family has a very strong relationship with the publicly-funded British Broadcasting Corporation, and has traditionally broadcast royal weddings through the outlet. But the BBC declined to televise Eugenie’s nuptials, paving the way for rival network ITV to air the day. Reports suggested that the BBC "turned [Eugenie's wedding] down because they don’t think enough people will tune in and that there isn’t enough support for the Yorks."
('You Might Also Like',)
