It seems like it was only yesterday that news broke of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s storybook-worthy wedding ceremony in Windsor. The couple, who tied the knot on 12 October 2018, followed in the footsteps of previous royal brides – and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who had only walked down the aisle a few months prior – by holding the grand affair in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. But when it came to Princess Eugenie’s wedding dress, it was anything but traditional. Below, we take a closer look at the bridal gown that broke royal protocol.

Looking Back At Princess Eugenie’s Wedding Dress

It had been just five months since crowds had gathered along the streets of Windsor and outside St George’s Chapel, but the enthusiasm for a royal wedding had yet to dwindle. Princess Eugenie walked down the aisle in front of 800 guests – and a further few million who tuned in on television – to marry her long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank.

The couple reportedly met back in 2010 while skiing in Verbier, Switzerland. Introduced by mutual friends while settling in at the resort town, the two are said to have immediately hit it off – calling their connection love at first sight.

Flash forward to January 2018, and the couple are engaged. Brooksbank popped the question while he and the princess were on a holiday trip in Nicaragua, opting to get down on one knee during a sunset stroll in front of a lake.

That left just under 10 months for the royal couple to get everything ready for their big day – including the princess’s wedding dress, which she filled with plenty of sentimental value. And seven years on from Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding, it still serves as stunning sartorial inspiration for modern brides.

Who Designed Princess Eugenie’s Wedding Dress?

Following royal tradition, Princess Eugenie opted for a British designer (or should we say designers) when it came to her wedding dress. The royal’s gown was designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos of British-based label Peter Pilotto.

It’s said that the two designers carried out extensive archive research into previous dresses worn by members of the royal family, before choosing the final design. 

What Did The Dress Look Like?

Princess Eugenie’s wedding dress featured long sleeves and a full A-line skirt, as well as a neckline that folded at the shoulders and flowed into a full-length train. The back of the dress remained open, folded into a sharp V shape to show the royal’s back.

Personal touches were also woven into the fabric of the dress: a shamrock to represent the princess’ roots, a thistle to symbolise the Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s links to Balmoral and the White Rose of York, interwoven with ivy, as a nod to the couple’s home.

Did The Princess Break Royal Protocol?

When looking back at other recent royal wedding dresses, Princess Eugenie’s does stand out – largely because of its low back and lack of veil. It’s uncommon for royal brides to wear anything low cut or that shows off skin, but the princess revealed that it was all for a good reason: to show the scar from surgery she underwent aged 12 to correct scoliosis.

‘I had always wanted a low back, part of it was showing my scar. I believe scars tell a story about your past and your future and it’s a way of getting rid of a taboo,’ the princess later said of her dress, when it went on show for an exhibition at Windsor Castle in 2019. ‘For me it’s a way of communicating with people who are going through either similar situations with scoliosis or having a scar of their own they are trying to deal with.

‘We started getting a lot of letters from people who were happy that I had stood up and showed my scar,’ she continued. ‘People with scoliosis, letters from girls that are going through the same thing, and I definitely was very touched by everyone’s support.’

What Was Her ‘Something Blue’?

Royal brides are no stranger to the wedding rhyme tradition – Princess Eugenie included. But unlike Kate Middleton, who had a blue ribbon sneakily sewed into her dress, or Meghan Markle, who wore a piece of her blue dress from her first date with Prince Harry, the princess instead chose to keep her something blue separate from her gown. Instead, she held on to a handful of blue thistle flowers in her bouquet.

Her ‘Something Borrowed’?

A quick dip into the family vault secured Princess Beatrice’s ‘something borrowed’. To balance out her lack of veil, the royal opted for an ornate tiara – specifically, the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, which was lent to her by her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. 

The tiara was originally made for Dame Margaret Greville in 1919 by Parisian jewellery house Boucheron, and gets its name from the ‘kokoshnik’ style that was popularised by the Russian Imperial Court. Greville famously bequeathed the tiara in 1942 to Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI, and it’s remained part of the royal collection ever since.

Princess Eugenie has since expressed how exciting it was to wear the tiara on her big day. ‘I’ve never worn a tiara before in my life,’ she later recounted. ‘It was the most incredible thing to wear such a piece of history that my grandmother had lent me, it was a very proud moment.’

And Her ‘Something New’?

While it’s not clear what Princess Eugenie wore for her ‘something old’, the royal did wear a new pair of diamond earrings gifted to her by Brooksbank. 

Did Princess Eugenie Have A Second Wedding Dress?

The royal bunked royal tradition again later on in the evening, when she opted for a second wedding dress in blush pink. Created by designer Zac Posen, the gown was made from British silk chiffon and featured a cape that gathered at the lower back and draped into a softly pleated full-length train. Not one to miss out on sentimentality, the royal also had the cape embroidered with the White Roses of York.

The gown reportedly drew inspiration from Windsor Castle and the surrounding countryside – with the blush hue meant to mirror an English rose – as well as film starlet and fellow royal Grace Kelly.

‘I wanted something reminiscent of Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief so I showed that for reference and Zac came up with this silk that he’d found from Manchester,’ Princess Eugenie remarked of her second wedding dress. ‘Every single draping effect, every single detail, every button, it’s all painstakingly done by him and his team.’

Can You Still Watch The Royal Wedding?

Yes, you can still watch the royal wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank in full on YouTube. The video posted by the royal family’s official account includes guest arrivals, the ceremony in St George’s Chapel and the couple’s departure from the service. Watch it here.