This week marked Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's third wedding anniversary, and while we were busy looking back at all the photos from their big day, we couldn't help but notice there was an empty chair in the front row. With more than 850 wedding guests in attendance, including all the usual Royal Family members as well as plenty of VIPs and celebrities too, it seemed strange that a seat with ~such~ a good view of the action would remain vacant. But, as it turns out, there's actually a very good reason for that, and it's all to do with Her Majesty the Queen.
Yep, in fact there's a rule about Royal events and seating arrangements. The Royal protocol states that the seat in front of the Queen must always be left empty, so that her view remains unobstructed.
But, that's not all. Despite having her own private row at St George's chapel (where Eugenie and Jack got married), Her Majesty prefers to sit in the second row. That's because, according to The Sun, she finds her own row "uncomfortable."
This meant that at Princess Eugenie's wedding, the Queen sat alongside her husband Prince Philip, and her son Prince Charles, in the second row. Further along the row were Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Eugenie's mum and dad, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were in the front row.
Similarly, at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding at the same venue, the Queen opted for a seat in the second row. That lead some Royal fans to suspect the seat in the front row had been left empty as a tribute to the late Princess Diana. However, now we know that's not the case.
To celebrate her third anniversary, Princess Eugenie took to Instagram to share an unseen photo from her wedding. "Happy Anniversary my love.. 3 years today!!" she wrote in a sweet post shared with her 1.5 million Instagram followers. In the photo, Eugenie and Jack embrace in a hug as they enjoy (what appears to be) their first dance as a married couple. How sweet!
Earlier this year, the pair welcomed their first child, a son named August. In a statement announcing the happy news, Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, Sarah, Duchess of York and Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank have been informed and are delighted with the news."
Jade Biggs (she/her) is Cosmopolitan UK's Features Writer, covering everything from breaking news and latest royal gossip, to the health and fitness trends taking over your TikTok feed. She also works on first-person features and investigative long-reads, taking a deep-dive into mental health, celebrity culture and women's rights. Jade has been a journalist and content writer for ten years, and has interviewed leading researchers and doctors, high-profile influencers and fitness experts. She is a cat mum to four fur babies and is obsessed with Drag Race, bottomless brunches and wearing clothes only suitable for Bratz dolls. Follow her on Instagram or Twitter.
