George & Charlotte Star at Eugenie's Wedding

Princess Eugenie's Wedding

Princess Eugenie of York will marry her long time boyfriend Jack Brooksbank on Friday, 12th October at St George's Chapel, Windsor. 

Eugenie and sister Beatrice were brought up in the Windsor area, first at a purpose built home Sunningdale then at Royal Lodge in the Windsor Castle grounds. 

Eugenie and Jack now live in a Cottage in Kensington Palace, just next to cousin Prince Harry.

Buckingham Palace has just announced the attendants for the day and Eugenie has included all of her young royal cousins and second cousins:

Bridesmaids:

• Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
• Savannah and Isla Phillips, daughters of Peter and Autumn Phillips
• Mia Tindall, eldest daughter of Zara and Mike Tindall
• Maud Windsor, eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor. Maud is a classmate of Prince George and also a goddaughter of Eugenie.
• Theodora Williams, daughter of singer Robbie Williams

Pageboys:

• Prince George of Cambridge
• Louis de  Givenchy, whose parents are friends of the bride

Prince Edward and wife Sophie's children Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn will be special attendants. Louise and James are first cousins of Eugenie. Lady Louise was bridesmaid for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 and is regularly seen at royal events. James is a little shy and is seen in public less often.

Princess Beatrice will be maid of honour and the groom's brother Thomas will be best man.

Little George and Charlotte will be wedding attendants for the fourth time.

Busy Charlotte & George At Another Wedding

The Duchess of Cambridge's good friend Sophie Carter was married to Robert Snuggs on Saturday at St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Norfolk.

Sophie, long time friend of Catherine and is godmother to Princess Charlotte. Charlotte and brother George were flower girl and page boy just as they were at uncle Prince Harry's wedding in May. 

Normally quite shy in front of the cameras, George was more outgoing this time and could be seen marching around like a soldier and cheekily smiling for the official photos. 

Catherine's parents Carole and Michael Middleton and younger brother James were also present as was Prince William.

 

Kensington Palace Mailroom!

Kensington Palace uploaded a photo of it's very full mailroom to Twitter. It seems that 36,000 pieces of mail have arrived in the last month from well-wishers. 

Prince Louis' birth, Charlotte's 3rd birthday, William and Catherine's 7th wedding anniversary and Harry and Meghan's marriage have all occurred in the space of less than a month and cards and drawing from all over the globe have been sent to the Cambridge and Sussex households. 

Thank you everyone for the beautiful cards and letters following Princess Charlotte's third birthday, the birth of Prince Louis and the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

We've received over 36,000 letters in the past month alone 📝 pic.twitter.com/rmz0sImwrg

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 5, 2018

George And Charlotte In Wedding Portraits

Prince George and Princess Charlotte are included in two of Prince Harry's wedding portraits released on Monday.

Cambridge Family At Royal Wedding

There is much commentary today about the wedding of the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 

The Duchess of Cambridge along with George, Charlotte and Louis spent Friday night at Windsor Castle. Prince William spent the night at a hotel with groom Prince Harry. 

Let's take a look of the sweet photos of George and Charlotte at St George's Chapel. Nanny Maria Borrallo and the Middleton family were all sighted in the Chapel so newborn baby Louis must have been cared for by another nanny or nurse in the Castle apartments. 

Wedding Rehearsal

Thursday saw the major royals converge on Windsor Castle to rehearse for Prince Harry's wedding.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with their eldest children Prince George and Princess Charlotte took part in the run through for tomorrow's marriage of Prince Harry to Ms Meghan Markle. 

George and Charlotte will be among the pageboys and bridesmaids for the wedding. Photos of Catherine leaving Kensington Palace were the first public images of the Duchess since giving birth to Prince Louis on 23rd April. 

Prince William will be best man for Harry and Catherine will be busy helping with the children just as she did at her sister Pippa's wedding twelve months ago (see photo below). 

No doubt little Louis will be at Windsor Castle on the big day, being cared for by nanny Maria Borrallo or grandmother Carole Middleton. Catherine will be close by for feeding or cuddles for their first major separation since birth. 

Prince Harry's First Big Occasion At Windsor

In the lead up to Prince Harry's wedding we look at his first big event at Windsor Castle. Harry was christened at St George's Chapel in December 1984 at the age of three months. 

Big brother William will once again be there to support Harry on another historic occasion.

Inside St George's Chapel

St George's Chapel (left) in Windsor Castle

George and Charlotte's Roles At Harry's Wedding

Prince George ( 4) and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (3) have been confirmed
amongst the bridesmaids and pageboys for their uncle Prince Harry's wedding this coming Saturday.

Further details of their outfits will be made on the big day itself. 

Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have chosen the Bridesmaids and Page Boys for their Wedding on Saturday 19th May #RoyalWedding: https://t.co/fRX7IA5Cn9

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 16, 2018

Prince Harry Engaged

Prince Henry of Wales has announced his engagement to American actress Ms. Meghan Markle. The couple has known each other for sixteen months after being introduced by a mutual friend in London.

Harry, 33 and Meghan, 36 are to be married in the spring of 2018 and more details of the wedding will be released in due course.No doubt they will have to plan the wedding date around the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy due date in April. Catherine was overdue with her first two babies so this will be tricky. 

Prince Harry presented Ms Markle with an engagement ring made of two diamonds from his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales plus a diamond from Botswana where the couple has holidayed.

Meghan and Harry were photographed by the media in the sunken garden at Kensington Palace. This is the same garden that was transformed this last summer with a beautiful collection of Diana's favourite flowers to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.

The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace which was once the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge before they renovated Apartment 1A. It is expected that an apartment at the Palace will be made available to Prince Harry and then modified to suit his needs.

As this blog chronicles the lives of the children of both Princes William and Harry, no doubt we will be covering a few more royal babies in the coming years.

Aunty Pippa Weds

The Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa married James Matthews on Saturday. The service was held at St Mark's Englefield near the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Bershire.

Prince George ( almost 4) and his sister Princess Charlotte (aged 2) were pageboy and flower girl respectively along with a group of other children. 

Catherine took charge of the children at the church and could be seen making a "shushh" gesture as the group approached the church doors. 

Enjoy the lovely photos of the day.

Flashback

Seeing gorgeous Princess Charlotte in her pretty sheep cardigan reminded me of her late Grandmother's very famous sheep jumper.

Diana wore the jumper twice at the polo- once in 1981 when she was Lady Diana Spencer and engaged to the Prince of Wales. The second occasion was in 1983 when she had been married for two years and a mother to William for 12 months. 

Having returned from a history making Australia and New Zealand tour only months before, Diana was immensely popular and growing in confidence and poise. 

Also looking through the archives, I spotted some photos of Prince William as pageboy at the 1986 wedding of his uncle Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson or "Fergie" as she was known. 

William was 4 years old at the time, just a bit older than Prince George will be at his aunt Pippa Middleton's wedding on 20th May. Photos of William acting out, wriggling and being plain cheeky were beamed around the world. 

William was paired up with his cousin Lady Laura Fellowes. Laura's mother is Diana's sister Jane and the Queen's Equerry Robert Fellowes. Jane, Robert and family lived at Kensington Palace and so were neighbours to Diana and her children. Laura is now a godmother to Princess Charlotte. 

As an aside, it was reported at the time that the Queen was not very impressed by William's behaviour and Charles and Diana were spoken to. I bet lots of parents are nodding in sympathy......
 

Charlotte & George To Star At Pippa's Wedding

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be the stars of their aunt Pippa's wedding next month. 

Catherine's younger sister Pippa will marry banker James Matthews at St Mark's Church, Englefield near the Middleton home in Berkshire on 20th May. George will be a pageboy and Charlotte who will turn two next week will be a flower girl. The Duchess will not have a formal role on the day but is expected to give a reading at the church.

It has been confirmed that Prince Harry will also be present at the wedding. He will most likely join the Cambridges who will be staying as guests of Carole and Mike Middleton at their family home in Bucklebury. 

It will be a very busy time for the bride's parents who will host the reception in a marquee on their grounds. 

Heads Together 

Catherine, William and Harry have been undertaking several speaking engagements in the last few weeks to promote their organisation Heads Together.

Heads Together is an umbrella for the mental health charities that the royal trio support:

• Best Beginnings
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably)
• Contact (a military mental health coalition)
• Mind
• Place2Be
• The Mix
• YoungMinds
• The Anna Freud Centre

 Last weekend's London Marathon chose the organisation as this year's beneficiary. 

Prince Harry spoke about his struggle to process the grief for his mother, the late Princess of Wales who died 20 years ago. Harry was just 12 when he lost his mother and bottled up his feelings because he didn't see the benefit in dredging up sadness. 

From express.co.uk

"The fifth in line to the throne said he sought help when he was 28 after his brother the Duke of Cambridge intervened. Harry, 32, said he had "shut down all my emotions" for almost two decades after losing his mother but often felt anxiety during royal engagements and on the verge of punching someone.

The Prince, now a much calmer individual, admitted he took up boxing to try to control his aggression but for a long time felt that lining in the public eye he could be "very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions".

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph journalist Bryony Gordon, he said he had spent his teenagers years and early twenties determined not to think about his mother after losing her when he was 12.
“I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle," he said.

Asked whether he had been to see a 'shrink' to offload his thoughts, he said: “I’ve done that a couple of times, more than a couple of times, but it’s great.”

I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions. Harry admitted that he had turned to boxing as an outlet for his frustration.

My way of dealing with it was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help?
“During those years I took up boxing, because everyone was saying boxing is good for you and it’s a really good way of letting out aggression,” he said.

“And that really saved me because I was on the verge of punching someone, so being able to punch someone who had pads was certainly easier.”

He eventually asked for help with the encouragement of William, 34, and others close to him, who told him: “Look, you really need to deal with this. It is not normal to think that nothing has affected you.”
Since learning to talk honestly about his feelings, he said, he now feels able to put “blood, sweat and tears” into making a difference for others.

Prince Harry said he turned to boxing following his mother's death

“The experience I have had is that once you start talking about it, you realise that actually you’re part of quite a big club,” he said.
He said he counted himself lucky that it was "only two years … of total chaos" before he learned to talk about his mental health problems. "I just couldn’t put my finger on it,” he said. “I just didn’t know what was wrong with me."

He had even found himself battling a "flight or fight" reaction without understanding why when he was on official royal duties.
He insisted it was all about Diana and nothing to do with his experiences serving two two tours of duty in Afghanistan."