Windsor Castle – venue for royal weddings over the decades

Windsor has been the setting for many a royal wedding.

Princess Eugenie and fiance Jack Brooksbank are following in the footsteps of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Earl of Wessex and the Queen’s eldest grandson Peter Phillips by marrying in St George’s Chapel.

Even the Prince of Wales wed in Windsor the second time around – in a civil ceremony in the town’s Guildhall, followed by a blessing in St George’s.

Here’s a look at some of the Windsor royal weddings:

– Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

Harry and Meghan’s St George’s chapel wedding on May 19 was the royal event of 2018.

The US-born former Suits star wore a simple but elegant gown by Clare Waight Keller and a five metre-long veil, held in place by Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara, which featured flowers from all Commonwealth countries.

Just a few days before the wedding Meghan’s father announced he would not be giving his daughter away due to health reasons, but Charles stepped in to perform the symbolic role.

Harry was given the title of the Duke of Sussex on his wedding day and his wife became the Duchess of Sussex.

Thousands lined the streets of Windsor to watch the newlyweds when they went on a carriage procession through the town and the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park.

The evening celebrations were staged in nearby Frogmore House where close family and friends partied the night away.

Harry drove his wife to the event in a classic British sports car – an electric E-type Jaguar.

– The Prince of Wales & Camilla Parker Bowles

Charles finally married his former mistress Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005 after a relationship which spanned decades.

The ceremony was due to take place in Windsor Castle, but they were forced to switch venues to the more modest local town hall around the corner.

It emerged that licensing the castle would have allowed the public to marry there too and the publicly announced original plan was hastily dropped.

In the end, Charles and Camilla wed in a private, civil ceremony in Windsor’s Guildhall in front of just 30 guests.

But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were not present.

The monarch’s position as Head of the Church of England made it difficult for her to attend a non-religious wedding.

However, she did join the 800 guests who witnessed Charles and Camilla’s televised, religious blessing afterwards in St George’s Chapel.

Camilla, who became an HRH and the Duchess of Cornwall on marriage, wore an oyster silk basket-weave dress and coat for her civil wedding and a porcelain blue silk coat and gold sweeping feathered head-dress for the blessing.

Both outfits were by Robinson Valentine.

The newylweds posed for photographs with the royal family afterwards on the vast west steps of St George’s, just as Eugenie and Jack are certain to do.

There was no carriage procession for Charles and Camilla because of sensitivity surrounding the public’s reaction and the nation’s affection for Charles’s first wife, the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

– Peter Phillips & Autumn Kelly

Peter Phillips – son of the Princess Royal – married Canadian Autumn Kelly in 2008 at St George’s Chapel.

The bride wore a gown by Sassi Holford and a tiara borrowed from her new mother-in-law, the Princess Royal.

Peter’s sister Zara raised eyebrows when her strapless bridesmaid’s dress showed off her distinctive tan lines.

Peter and Autumn left in a horse-drawn Balmoral Sociable carriage for a reception and dance at Frogmore House.

– Prince Edward & Sophie Rhys-Jones

In 1999, Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones in St George’s Chapel.

Edward was given the title the Earl of Wessex on the morning of his wedding and Sophie became the Countess of Wessex on marriage.

Sophie’s dress by Samantha Shaw was a V-neck, hand-dyed silk organza and silk crepe design, embellished with 325,000 pearls and crystal beads and teamed with a spotted crystal detail veil.

The wedding began at 5pm and men were asked to wear morning dress, but women evening dress without hats, to the continental-style evening service.

There was no public kiss at the televised nuptials for Edward and Sophie, whose first kiss as a married couple took place in the privacy of the Chapel’s ambulatory, where they signed the marriage register.

The reception afterwards was held in the state apartments of Windsor Castle.

Unlike Harry’s wedding, there was no military involvement. But the couple did enjoy a carriage procession through the town.

– Other Windsor royal weddings

Lady Helen Windsor, the daughter of the Queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent, married Timothy Taylor at St George’s Chapel in 1992.

There was a big royal turnout and seven-year-old Prince Harry, smartly dressed in a double-breasted blazer and tie, was a guest.

Historic weddings in Windsor have included the nuptials of King Edward VII, who as the Prince of Wales married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in St George’s on March 10 1863.

His mother Queen Victoria was a guest.

Many of Victoria’s children chose to be married at Windsor, particularly during the Queen’s reclusive widowhood.