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Princess Eugenie has chosen a rather unlikely choice of reading for her looming nuptials – yet another move away from tradition for the young royal.
She’s been the first royal to enforce a no-plastic rule for her big day, and has chosen to omit the word “obey” from her vows.
And it’s now been revealed that during the royal ceremony, Eugenie’s maid of honour, Princess Beatrice, will recite an excerpt from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. You know, the dark iconic American novel about the disillusionment of the American Dream.
According to People, the wedding guests will hear one of the book’s most noteworthy passages, in which Jay Gatsby’s smile is described by the author.
But while Eugenie has previously alluded that the quote may reflect her soon-to-be husband’s qualities, many are surprised by her choice given the subject matter of the novel, and the fact that she has chosen a celebrated American author’s words for a British royal wedding.
The passage reads as follows:
“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.