NEED TO KNOW

• Prince Andrew pushed for Princess Eugenie’s wedding to match the fanfare of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials
• Eugenie’s guest list of 850 surpassed Harry and Meghan’s 600, which Andrew pointed to in an interview
• A family friend tells PEOPLE that Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice are determined to maintain their royal status in the wake of their father’s latest controversies and arrest

The former Prince Andrew was determined that his daughter Princess Eugenie‘s royal wedding would be celebrated with the same grandeur as Prince Harry‘s marriage months before.

Status meant everything to the former Duke of York, and he reinforced its importance as a father, pushing for his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, to be styled as “Her Royal Highness” and receive princess titles at birth.

Ahead of Eugenie’s marriage to Jack Brooksbank in October 2018, Andrew insisted on a full-scale royal wedding at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel, complete with security and public spectacle, despite mounting questions about his own standing inside the family.

Sources tell PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story that he bristled at comparisons to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s royal wedding earlier that year, determined that his younger daughter’s ceremony not be seen as lesser.

Prince Andrew and Princess Eugenie arrive for her wedding ceremony to Jack Brooksbank at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Oct. 12, 2018.
Credit: Pool/Max Mumby/Getty

“She’s a granddaughter of the Queen — a princess of the blood,” says Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York. “He believed she should get everything.”

Prince Harry and Meghan also wed at St. George’s Chapel in May 2018, and Andrew pointedly noted in the run-up to Eugenie’s nuptials that her guest list would be larger than her cousin’s, underscoring tensions around status and scale.

“It will not be the same as the previous one that was held in May. This is not a public wedding, this is meant to be a family wedding,” Andrew said in an interview with ITV’s This Morning, which broadcast his daughter’s big day, The Mirror reported.

“There’ll be a few more people than most people have. There are a few more than Harry had, but that’s just the nature of Eugenie and Jack — they’ve got so many friends that they need a church of that size to fit them all in,” he explained.

Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie walk down the aisle following their marriage at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Oct. 12, 2018.
Credit: Danny Lawson – WPA Pool/Getty

Eugenie et son compagnon avaient une liste d’invités plus importante, avec environ 850 personnes, par rapport aux 600 invités de Prince Harry et Meghan. Cependant, on estime que 1,9 milliard de personnes ont regardé le mariage du plus jeune fils de la Princesse Diana avec sa fiancée américaine, ce qui en fait l’un des événements télésés les plus importants de l’histoire.

Un ami de la famille, PEOPLE, indique qu’Eugenie et Beatrice s’accrochent fermement à leur statut royal suite à l’arrestation de leur père le 19 février et l’ombre qu’il a jetée sur leur famille.

« Ils veulent conserver leur statut royal », dit un ami de la famille. « C’est leur identité. »

Magazine PEOPLE, 16 mars 2026.

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Lorsque Andrew a été arrêté à Sandringham, chez lui, lors de son 66e anniversaire en février, la surprise s’est rapidement répandue dans une famille longtemps à l’abri des conséquences, une institution formée pour contenir les dommages et un public qui n’était plus disposé à accepter le privilège royal comme un bouclier.

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What began as a legal crisis for Queen Elizabeth’s son — detained for 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office, linked to allegations that he improperly shared information as a trade envoy with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — became something broader: a harsh moment of exposure for the palace culture that protected him, and his family, for decades.

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Read the original article on People.