What the queen says goes.
If you thought the person who gets the last say on certain things the royal family can and can’t do is Queen Elizabeth II, you are correct.
When it comes to marriage, only some royals need to get the monarch’s permission before they can get ready to say “I do.” However, another big choice regarding that day is made by the queen and that goes for everyone. Read on to find out what that is and who can’t walk down the aisle unless Queen Elizabeth gives the green light.
Only certain royals have to get the queen’s permission to marry their partner
Before royals like Prince William and Prince Harry were able to marry their brides, they needed to get permission from the queen first. Yet when their cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice tied the knot they did not have to get their grandmother’s consent first. That’s because the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, which was repealed from the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, states that only the six closest royals to the crown (line of succession) needed the reigning monarch’s permission to marry.
So if William and Harry’s grandmom did not give them her consent, we likely wouldn’t know the name Kate Middleton today and Meghan Markle wouldn’t be the Duchess of Sussex.
But there is something regarding weddings that the queen does decide on for all her family members.
The decision Queen Elizabeth makes for every member of her family
Although Eugenie, for example, could marry whoever she wanted she couldn’t get married anywhere she wanted, according to her father Prince Andrew.
“It doesn’t make any difference who you are, all the approvals go through the queen anyway,” Andrew explained (per Express) ahead of his daughter’s nuptials in 2018. “The queen very firmly said St. George’s is where you’re having the wedding so I said, ‘Aye aye mam, turn to the right, salute, and carry on.’”
Therefore, whether they were in favor of it or not, Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank wed at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle; the same venue chosen for Prince Harry and Meghan marriage ceremony five months earlier.
Royal rank is a way of life
All the talk about the line of succession to the throne and senior royals may get a little confusing for outsiders but it’s a way of life for Britain’s famous family.
During public appearances, processions, weddings, and parades the family must be in royal ranking order meaning that Queen Elizabeth is always first. The royal matriarch sets the tone for other things too such as when everyone stands and may be seated during a banquet dinner.
RELATED: Royals Don’t Carry Cash on Them But 1 Family Member Refuses to Follow That Rule
ncG1vNJzZmhqZGy7psPSmqmorZ6Zwamx1qippZxemLyue8Keo56aXZy2tMCOoqusZZ6kwW621KyrZquVo7awvoyrprKZnKh6ssHEnqVmnZyex6KuxK2fZqGZYrGqr9Oaq56rXWZ6rq3JqKlmnJWYtrS1zqdkn6eiYrK3sdGyZKadnZeys3nOn2ShnaJis6K5yKWwaA%3D%3D