PRINCESS Eugenie has released a selection of her official wedding photographs, including an extraordinary image showing her mother Fergie smiling with the Queen and Prince Philip.
The images by London-based fashion photographer Alex Bramall show the princess and her new husband, Jack Brooksbank, smiling with their families and eight little bridesmaids and pageboys.
One of the photographs taken in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle has the newlyweds standing at the centre of the image, with Queen Elizabeth, 92, and her husband Prince Philip, 97, seated next to them.
Their immediate families are also with them, meaning Sarah the Duchess of York, who was divorced from Eugenie’s father, Prince Andrew the Duke of York, 22 years ago, has appeared in an official photograph with the monarch for the first time in decades.
Even more revealing is the fact Prince Philip, who was widely reported to have continued to hold a grudge against the woman known as Fergie after a string of tabloid scandals and embarrassments through the 1990s, was prepared to be photographed with her.
While Sarah and Prince Andrew have remained good friends and even share a house together on the Windsor Estate, the photograph shows the rapprochement between Sarah and the royal family may have gone further than anyone realised.
In another of the photographs, the newlyweds are captured in a more relaxed way, having changed out of their wedding attire as they walked into their evening reception at Royal Lodge, Eugenie’s parents’ house.
The 28-year-old princess looks stunning in a floor-length blush-pink gown by American celebrity designer Zac Posen, while her handsome groom has changed into a tuxedo suit and bow tie.
According to the Duke of York’s household staff, the choice of colour for the gown “reflects the blush of an English rose’’ and Posen “took his inspiration from the white rose of York.’’
The white rose of York is subtlety embroidered on both the shoulder and back which hold together the cape of the heavily-draped gown, which is made of silk from the British mill Biddle Sawyer Silk.
Princess Eugenie is wearing the same diamond and emerald drop earrings she wore for her wedding service, which were a gift from the groom.
She was also wearing the “wheatear brooches’’ owned by the Queen in her hair.
Queen Victoria’s Wheat-Ear Brooches were originally commissioned by William IV in 1830 for Queen Adelaide.
They were passed down to Queen Victoria in 1837, and eventually to Queen Elizabeth in 1952, who has worn them both as brooches and as hair slides.
In another of the pictures, taken in black and white, Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank share a kiss inside the Scottish State Coach, as they returned to Windsor Castle following their carriage-ride through the streets of Windsor at the end of their wedding ceremony.