Princess Eugenie marries in 2nd big U.K. royal wedding of the year
Marriage of Queen's granddaughter in Windsor attracting some criticism over security costs
Celebrities joined British royalty at Windsor Castle today for the second big royal wedding of the year, with Princess Eugenie, granddaughter of the Queen, following her cousin Prince Harry down the aisle.
Eugenie, 28, younger daughter of the Queen's third child, Prince Andrew, and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, married Jack Brooksbank, 32, at the monarch's home west of London.
Guests arrived for the ceremony with many holding onto their hats in windy weather.
Windsor Castle was also the venue for the wedding of Harry and Meghan Markle in May, and Eugenie, ninth in line to the throne, has copied much of her cousin's blueprint for her big day.
The ceremony took place at the castle's 15th-century St. George's Chapel with the Dean of Windsor David Conner officiating. Charity guests and 1,200 members of the public were invited onto the grounds for the occasion.
The Royal Family provided a video feed of the ceremony from inside the chapel on Twitter.
One noticeable absentee was Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, the wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, as she was carrying out an engagement in Scotland.
While Harry's wedding featured a fiery sermon from a U.S. Episcopalian bishop and a gospel choir, Eugenie's was more traditional with a performance by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and the address given by Conner.
Watch the arrival of some of the celebrity guests, including actress Liv Tyler and model Naomi Campbell:
Her elder sister Princess Beatrice, the maid of honour, delivered one of the readings, an extract from The Great Gatsby.
Several celebrities were among the guests — including singer Robbie Williams, actress Liv Tyler, models Naomi Campbell and Cara Delevingne, actress Demi Moore, television presenter Stephen Fry, and singers James Blunt and Ellie Goulding.
Queen will host reception
Princess Charlotte, 3, and her brother, Prince George, 5 — the children of Prince William and his wife, Kate — were in the wedding party as a bridesmaid a page boy.
Watch the Queen's arrival:
After the service, the couple was to embark on an open-top carriage tour of Windsor, although shorter than the one Harry and Meghan, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, took when thousands lined the streets of the town.
The Queen was to host an afternoon reception for the couple and their guests at the castle.
Eugenie, a director at London's Hauser & Wirth art gallery, and Brooksbank, who is European brand manager for Casamigos Tequila, which was co-founded by U.S. actor George Clooney, met in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier in 2010.
As Eugenie does not carry out official royal duties, republicans and some newspapers have said it is wrong that the security bill for the event will be paid for by taxpayers because the Royal Family is only paying for the wedding itself.
But local council deputy leader Phillip Bicknell was relishing the prospect of another big royal draw.
"The monarch and her family are part of the shop window for Great Britain, and at the end of the day anything that goes on that creates people wanting to come to this part of the world — come and see what goes on in Windsor — we're very happy for that," he said.
Petition against tax money spent
"The Royal Family paid for the service itself, but the British taxpayer is expected to pick up the £2-million ($3.5 million Cdn) tab for the security and cleanup after the service," said CBC's Thomas Daigle, reporting from Windsor.
The anti-monarchy group Republic has presented to Labour MP Emma Dent Coad the results of an online petition with nearly 50,000 signatures. It calls on the U.K. government to commit no public money to the wedding and to publish a report of all costs to taxpayers.
"I support this petition, apart from those who first signed it," Coad said in an interview this week outside the U.K. Parliament.
"To me, it's unconscionable that a minor member of the Royal Family who doesn't even have a role is having her dream wedding subsidized when in the same borough which she's moving into, in Kensington, we have food banks. We have people literally starving," she said.
With files from CBC News