There will be a second royal wedding in 2018, with Princess Eugenie set to marry her long-term boyfriend in the same chapel where Prince Harry will wed Meghan Markle.
St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle will host the wedding of Princess Eugenie, 27, to Jack Brooksbank, 31, a former nightclub manager, in the autumn of this year, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday.
The princess’s mother, the Duchess of York, said that the couple “float with laughter and love”, while her father, the Duke of York, described his future son-in-law as an “absolutely outstanding young man” yesterday.
The couple met after being introduced by mutual friends while skiing in the Swiss resort of Verbier around seven years ago.
Mr Brooksbank is a former waiter and the son of an accountant. He was previously the manager of Mahiki, a nightclub once frequented by the younger royals, including Princes William and Harry, and is now a “brand ambassador” for Casamigos tequila, promoting the liquor brand founded by George Clooney.
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The official announcement from Buckingham Palace said: “The Duke and Duchess of York are delighted to announce the engagement of Princess Eugenie to Mr Jack Brooksbank. Her Royal Highness and Mr Brooksbank became engaged in Nicaragua earlier this month. The wedding will take place in the autumn of 2018 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, with further details to be announced in due course.”
The royal family’s official Twitter feed shared the news alongside a picture of the couple embracing and smiling, while official engagement photos showed the princess wearing an Erdem dress, Jimmy Choo shoes and an engagement ring with a padparadscha sapphire surrounded by diamonds.
Sarah, the Duchess of York, tweeted yesterday: “We love Jack and I am so excited to have a son, a brother and a best friend. Eugenie is one of the finest people I know and so together it will be pure harmony.”
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, said: “I’m absolutely overjoyed. I’m thrilled. Jack is an absolutely outstanding young man and Eugenie and he have got to know each other over a number of years, and I’m really thrilled for them.”
He said attention would now turn to “getting it all organised” and said a date had not yet been fixed as “we’ve got to look at everyone’s diaries”.
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He added: “Today it’s their day. I’m just completely overjoyed for them and wish them every happiness.”
Mr Brooksbank was educated at Stowe, a private school in Buckinghamshire, and did not go to university. He worked at the Admiral Codrington pub in Chelsea and the Markham Inn in Knightsbridge, where he first met Prince Harry.
He is a descendant of the Brooksbank baronets and his ancestors include Stamp Brooksbank, a governor of the Bank of England in the 18th century, Thomas Coke, the second Earl of Leicester, and Sir John Spencer Coke, who was gentleman usher to King George VI.
His parents, Nicola and George Brooksbank, said yesterday that they were “completely over the moon” for the couple.
The couple visited Balmoral for Prince Harry’s 32nd birthday in 2016. Mr Brooksbank also attended the Chelsea Flower Show with senior members of the royal family in the same year. They have stayed together despite spells living thousands of miles apart, including when Princess Eugenie moved to New York to work for an art auctioneer. The princess also has a dog called Jack, though has said this is a “total accident”.
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Princess Eugenie is eighth in line to the throne, the younger daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, who divorced when she was six years old. Last year she became a director at the Hauser & Wirth art gallery in London.