The wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank is...tomorrow (!), and the buzz about the next royal wedding is only getting louder and louder. As with any and all royal weddings (and non-royal weddings alike, if we're being honest), the questions are mounting: What will the dress look like? Which flowers will be in her bouquet? What flavor is the cake? Will there be a prenup?
While you'll have to wait a few more hours to find out the intimate ceremony and reception details, we do know that in this case, Princess Eugenie and Jack have decided to forgo the prenuptial agreement, a legal document designed to protect the assets of both partners in the case of a divorce. The couple has been together nearly eight years—but that's not the reason why they don't have a prenup.
In fact, according to Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, prenuptial agreements aren't something that the royal family does. "I don’t think members of the royal family sign prenuptial agreements,” Nicholl told Town & Country earlier this year regarding the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (who also didn't sign a prenup).
"It’s commonplace with celebrity marriage, but this is not a celebrity marriage, it’s a royal marriage."
Not only that, but prenuptial agreements are not currently legally binding in England, so most people don't have them. Royals: They're just like us! Besides, as a generally private set of people, the nitty-gritty of royal divorces rarely play out in the public sphere, but rather in private behind closed doors.
Another reason why royals might pass on a prenuptial agreement is that a majority of the family's fortune and property doesn't even belong to them...it belongs to the Queen and the crown. The drama. But it does make things easier: Since non-monarchs don't have any property or assets, it's not as if they have much up for grabs in a divorce.
That said, Eugenie does have around $4.8 million in trust funds from the Queen Mother, and that all belongs to her. Even so, if signing a prenup is a gauche move in terms of royal protocol and not legally enforceable in England anyway, then it's really not worth the time. Plus, we've got a good feeling about the longevity of these lovebirds.
