Update: Princess Eugenie's wedding to wine merchant Jack Brooksbank will be televised after all.
After the BBC reportedly turned down the opportunity to broadcast the ceremony live from Windsor, ITV has stepped in to spare the Royal Family's blushes less than a fortnight ahead of the big day.
A spokesperson for the commercial channel told the press: "ITV will provide coverage of the wedding of HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Mr Jack Brooksbank on October 12 in an extended This Morning special."
ITV's broadcast will begin at 10am on October 12, a Friday, with coverage at guests arriving at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the same venue where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in May. It will end three hours later with the bride and groom leaving the chapel.
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Princess Eugenie's wedding to Jack Brooksbank is believed to be an even grander affair than Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle and Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton. Eugenie and Brooksbank have reportedly invited about 850 people to the wedding ceremony, while Prince Harry and Markle invited about 600.
Meanwhile, their wedding party is reportedly being planned by Peregrine Armstrong Jones, who orchestrated David and Victoria Beckham’s infamously lavish 1999 wedding.
However, the latest Royal wedding is not without its controversy. A petition to deny taxpayer funding for the event, meaning the Royal Family would bill the entire bill, has attracted over 16,000 signatures. ITV's decision to broadcast the wedding could help demonstrate, at least partially, that there is some public interest in the event.
*This story was originally published on September 19, then updated later that day.
September 19: Princess Eugenie will be getting married soon, but her wedding may not be televised. According to The Daily Mail, Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II's third son, begged BBC to air his daughter's wedding. Sources say BBC denied his requests because they feared the broadcast would flop because "there isn't enough support for the Yorks."
"The feeling at the Palace is that the BBC has dropped the ball," the source told The Daily Mail. "At the end of the day, this is going to be a huge Royal Wedding, with all the senior members of the Royal family in attendance. But nobody wants to take the risk and spend the money it would cost to put it on air."
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In a statement to Refinery29, BBC said, "There will be news coverage of the wedding across our services.”*
The Daily Mail seems to think that another network, ITV, may swoop in to save Prince Eugenie's big day, airing the wedding in full on its network. However, none of that has been confirmed. (Refinery29 has reached out to ITV regarding the prospect of televising the wedding.)
Meanwhile, plans are still in place to make the October 12 wedding one of the biggest royal affairs in recent history. The main event will take place at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle (the same place Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot) and will boast an 850-person guest list including celebrities like George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham and, of course, members of the royal family. The newlyweds will keep the party going the day after with a "festival and funfair" event, fully equipped with festival rides and tons of booze.