Princess Eugenie has been praised by her fiance’s grandmother for agreeing to marry her “charming” grandson – but joked he is not the “most intelligent”.
The lighthearted comment by Jack Brooksbank’s grandmother comes as speculation mounts about a date for the couple’s wedding.
Joanna Newton, 91, told MailOnline: “I never thought he would get married to a royal. He’s a charming boy and all that but not the most intelligent and I would never have thought this would happen.”
The pensioner said her wine merchant grandson, 31, and his 27-year-old fiancee – who have said they will marry this autumn – had wanted to exchange vows in September but were now looking at October as their wedding month.
She said: “I do know that they’re now not going to get married in September. He said ‘we can’t get married in September now so we will have to get married in October’.”
With the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh traditionally spending September in Scotland at Balmoral, the month was unlikely to have been a serious contender for the wedding.
The monarch usually returns from her summer break in the second week of October, making dates around the middle of that month the likely period for the royal nuptials.
Another period for Eugenie to avoid is during Prince Harry’s Invictus Games, which he and fiancee Meghan Markle are expected to attend from October 18 when they begin in Australia.
Mr Brooksbank’s grandmother described him as a “good egg” and told MailOnline: “I think it says a lot about Eugenie that it’s him she wants and it’s lovely.”
On Monday when Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank’s engagement was announced, the princess’s father the Duke of York said about the arrangements for the wedding: “It’s now about finding the time and the date and getting it all organised.
“And I think probably in the autumn some time will be the sort of time that everybody’s looking at. But we can’t fix a date yet, we’ve got to look at everyone’s diaries.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that!”