Princess Eugenie is having to push back her wedding to new fiancé Jack Brooksbank due to a slew of royal engagements, including a possible high-profile foreign tour for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
After seven years of dating, the couple are keen to walk down the aisle as soon as possible, and had indicated to the Queen and the Royal Family they would ideally like an ‘Indian Summer’ wedding at Windsor in September.
The monarch has very little in the way of public commitments that month, given that she will still be on her extended summer break at Balmoral, her Scottish residence.
But other royals plan their diaries more than six months ahead and already have commitments pencilled in.
Princess Eugenie has had to push back her wedding to Jack Brooksbank due to a shew of other royal engagements taking place in September
This includes a potential foreign tour mooted for Prince Harry and his new bride, Meghan Markle, who will also tie the knot at St George’s Chapel on May 19.
It now looks as if eighth in line to the throne Eugenie, 27, daughter of the Queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, will have to exchange her vows in October instead, Mail Online can reveal.
‘Eugenie and Jack are keen to tie the knot quite quickly, and there certainly wouldn’t be any issue as regards the booking of the chapel given who her grandmother is,’ the source said.
‘But the issue is that some members of the Royal Family already have commitments in the diary.
‘There is talk of a number of foreign tours for Prince Harry and Miss Markle this year, and September is a date that has been mooted. There is nothing concrete yet, but it looks as if Eugenie and Jack will go for October instead.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a possible foreign tour in their diary for the September
’They are fine with it. I don’t think anything will overshadow how deliriously happy they are.’
Asked on Monday when his daughter’s wedding might take place, Prince Andrew said: ‘It’s now about finding the time and the date and getting it all organised, I think probably in the autumn some time, is the time every is looking at.
‘We can’t fix a date yet, we’ve got to look at everybody’s diaries – it’s a bit more complicated than that.’
That was confirmed by Mr Brooksbank’s maternal grandmother, Joanna Newton, 91, who confirmed to the Mail that the happy couple wanted the wedding in September but were unable to, so will have it a month later.
She said: ‘It will be down in Windsor and it will be in October.
‘I do know that they’re now not going to get married in September. He (Jack) said ‘We can’t get married in September now so we will have to get married in October’.
Jack Brooksbank’s grandmother has revealed to the Mail that her grandson will marry Princess Eugenie at St George’s chapel in October
‘They ([the Royal family] have got something else going on then I think so they couldn’t. So he (Jack) just said that if they can’t get married in September they will have to get married in October.’
She added: ‘Of course I shall be going to the wedding, I’m granny. It’s very exciting because I’m a massive fan of the Royals and it will be lovely to meet them.
‘I don’t see why it should rival Meghan and Harry’s wedding.’
Mrs Newton, who had lunch with her grandson and the princess a few weeks ago, added amusingly – but very affectionately – that she never dreamed her ‘ordinary, not the most intelligent’ grandson would marry into the royal family.
She said: ‘I’m thrilled about it.
‘It’s amazing. I would never have thought it for a moment that it was going to happen and we are all very happy.
‘I never thought he would get married to a Royal. He’s a charming boy and all that but not the most intelligent and I would never have thought this would happen.
‘I just never thought it would go this far her being a member of the Royal family. But Jack has always had lovely manners and has always been a good egg.
‘I would call him ordinary, I wouldn’t say there is anything special about him, he’s a good-looking, nice chap and I think it says a lot about Eugenie that it’s him she wants and it’s lovely.’
‘I have just met her the once when I went up to London with them for lunch and she was just a very nice, ordinary girl, nothing pompous about her or even Royal about her.’
A family friend told the Mail that Mr Brooksbank’s proposal had been ‘very traditional’, despite the fact that they have been dating for so long.
‘Jack went and asked the Duke’s permission for his daughter’s hand in marriage beforehand,’ they said.
‘He was absolutely delighted as they all love Jack. He’s a good man and he and Eugenie are so happy together.’