Usually the bride is the center of attention at a wedding.
But sometimes she has to share the spotlight. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed on Saturday, some of the most prominent attention-grabbers in the ceremony were the bridesmaids and page boys, particularly Prince Harry’s niece and nephew Princess Charlotte and Prince George.
Likewise, when Pippa Middleton, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, married millionaire hedge fund manager James Matthews last year, it was perhaps even more the case she wasn’t the only star of the show. Then as now, Princess Charlotte and Prince George were members of the wedding party.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The two young royals are in good historical company, as these photos show. The children of the U.K. royal family have been a hit at society weddings for decades.
In fact, one image shows George’s father William, the Duke of Cambridge, as a page boy in the ceremony for his uncle Prince Andrew’s marriage to Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in 1986. As TIME reported in the Aug. 4, 1986 issue: ”
…the show stealer was Prince William, 4. During the 45-minute ceremony, he played on the cord of his hat like a fakir’s apprentice, wrapping the string around his nose and chewing it like a licorice stick. Undaunted by baleful stares from his mother and grandmother, he pulled out his miniature ceremonial dagger and began poking holes in the dress of Diana’s niece Laura Fellowes, 6.
…That spirit of grand informality could not be kept down. After the 240-lb., five-decker cake had been cut at the palace, the couple went out again into the streets, riding through the brilliant afternoon in an open landau. As the irrepressible Prince William ran toward the carriage, an unusually fleet- footed Queen hurried to retrieve him.
