Royal Family Doesn’t Usually Do Prenups, It Is Revealed As Princess Eugenie’s Wedding Approaches, Here’s Why

For many celebrities and people who hold a lot of wealth and planning a wedding, the prenuptial agreement, or prenup, is a part of the planning process. After all, considering the high rate of divorce these days, it seems like the most logical thing to do in order to protect your interests prior to the union.

However, the royal family is an entirely different creature when it comes to prenups, even though its members usually enter marriages with substantial wealth.

As Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank approaches in October of this year, it is unlikely she will sign a prenup, even though she estimated to have a net worth of £3.6 million (approximately $4.6 million) according to Heart.

But, why don’t the royals sign prenups?

According to the Express, the reason why royal family members don’t do prenups is that the “bulk of the family’s fortune and property belong to the Queen and the Crown.”

The Express also points out that Duncan Larcombe, the author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, commented on royal prenups earlier in the year when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry married.

“You wouldn’t need a prenuptial agreement to stop Windsor Castle from being cut in half in the event they divorce,” he said at the time.

While royal property always belongs to the Crown, an individual’s own amassed wealth from prior to the marriage can be open to a divorce settlement. Even though Meghan Markle was not a member of the royal family prior to her marriage to Prince Harry, she still walked into the relationship with an estimated wealth of £3.8 million (approximately $USD4.8 million), so there is the potential there that, should she and Harry divorce, her personal wealth could be affected.

According to Heart, “any divorce agreement would only cover personal wealth and assets, with property owned by the royal estate — which means castles, palaces, paintings, jewels and other treasures — being unaffected.”

However, the royal family prefers to handle such matters behind closed doors and not via the court system, so it is unclear just how much Meghan would walk away with should she get divorced.

Heart also points out that royal expert and author of Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, Kate Nicholl, has stated that Meghan and Harry probably didn’t sign a prenup prior to their wedding, and neither would his brother, Prince William when he married Kate Middleton.

Of course, in the U.K., prenups are not even considered legally binding according to the Express, so there is actually no point to members of the royal family signing them or considering them prior to getting married.