Anguish for Eugenie
Fears for her father-in-law, 71, as he is taken into intensive care with virus
PRINCESS Eugenie’s father-in-law is in intensive care with coronavirus.
George Brooksbank, 71, whose son Jack married the Queen’s granddaughter in 2018, is understood to be in a ‘serious but stable’ condition in hospital.
His wife Nicola, 66, is also suffering from the disease but has been recuperating at home.
‘It’s a traumatic time for Jack and Eugenie,’ said one of their friends. ‘George has been very sick but the whole family has been rallying round to help.’
A family spokesman declined to comment but a friend said: ‘They are hugely grateful for the excellent care that he has been receiving. They are thinking of all the other families who are being similarly affected at this time.’
Eton-educated Mr Brooksbank is a retired chartered accountant and company director who lives with his wife Nicola in Wandsworth, south London. They also have a home in France. They watched proudly as Jack, 33, married Eugenie at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with the Queen and most senior members of the Royal Family in attendance.
The newlyweds rode in a carriage procession around Windsor after the ceremony, which was broadcast live by ITV.
Eugenie and Jack have been joining the princess’s mother Sarah, Duchess of York, to deliver supplies to frontline NHS staff at
Jack, a wine merchant, and Eugenie hospitals in London and Berkshire live at Ivy Cottage in the after being asked to help out by a grounds of Kensington Palace, friend who is a doctor. home to royals including the Duke
‘They wanted to do anything and Duchess of Cambridge. they could to help,’ a friend said. Eugenie, the daughter of Prince
The care packages they delivered Andrew, has campaigned for the included essentials such as toothpaste, NHS since she underwent surgery soap, shower gel, hand wash, in 2002 for scoliosis, or curvature anti-bacterial wipes, pasta, sauces, of the spine, at the Royal National rice, cereal bars and tinned fruit. Orthopaedic Hospital in London.
On her wedding day she wore a dress that showed a long scar down her back from her surgery – a move that won her praise for giving courage to other sufferers.
The coronavirus crisis has affected the wedding plans of Eugenie’s sister Princess Beatrice. She was due to exchange vows next month with property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.
The planned reception at Buckingham Palace has been called off and it is unclear whether the wedding ceremony will go ahead.
The Church of England recommends that the numbers attending wedding ceremonies should be limited to the legal minimum of five: the priest, the bride and groom and two witnesses.