Royals
The Sweet Story Behind Prince Philip’s Wedding Gift For Princess Eugenie
The one-of-a-kind gift is deeply meaningful to the Queen’s granddaughter.
Throughout the BBC’s documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, the Duke of Edinburgh’s family, (children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren) reminisced about their connections with their grandfather – or grandpa, as Princess Eugenie lovingly called him.
Her connection to the late Duke was rooted in creativity, she explained, specifically painting. “He’s got that creative gene in him, it’s just he doesn’t talk about it,” the princess said, going on to explain that she loves art but only realised Philip was an artist when she was in her teens. “I would be sitting and painting and he would come and look at things,” she recalled.
In her tribute to Prince Philip following his death in April 2021, Eugenie reminisced how it was her grandpa that gave her this trait. “I remember learning how to cook, how to paint, what to read,” she wrote on Instagram. She also named her son, born in February 2021, after her beloved grandfather.
The late Duke of Edinburgh was always an avid painter, and particularly enjoyed creating oil paintings, per art title Art Critique. Some were kept in his private collection, as the publication notes, but others were displayed in the Royal Collection Trust including a poignant portrait of The Queen reading a newspaper at breakfast in the dining room at Windsor Castle. This was initially part of his private collection, but was shown to the public after being published in the 2010 book The Royal Portrait: Image and Input.
Speaking of his private collection, Eugenie has many memories of walking down the corridors of the royal residences and looking at his work. “I’d see the paintings he’s done of Scotland or different places in Norfolk,” she said. “They are beautiful.”
Their strong connection was showcased even more when the princess revealed that her grandfather gave her a very special wedding gift. “He painted me a painting of a bunch of flowers,” she said. “It was so nice, it’s now sitting in my house in London. I’m so proud of it, you know?”
