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For example, cars are banned on Sark and only tractors and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. It is one of the few remaining places in the world where this is the case. Sark is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy.

It has a tiny population of just 500 and an area of around 2.1 square miles.

What is perhaps most bizarre about Sark is that it still had a feudal system until 2008, the last state in the western world to actually have a feudal constitution.

Until 2008, Sark’s parliament (Chief Pleas) was a single chamber consisting of 54 members, the Seigneur (head of the government), the Seneschal (the head of the parliament), 40 landowners and 12 elected deputies.

Two billionaire brothers, David and Frederick Barclay, who bought an island in Sark’s territorial waters, drove the change in the political system.

They asserted that the feudal government did not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 2008, the Chief Pleas approved a law to reform the parliament to a 30-member chamber with 28 members elected in island-wide elections, with one hereditary member – the Seigneur – and one appointed for life, the Seneschal.

However, some Sark residents have complained that it is still not democratic, because powers the new law granted to the Seneschal, an unelected member whose term lasts their entire life, have been deemed imperial or dictatorial.

The Court of Appeal has ruled these powers to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and were subject to further legal challenges.

The Barclay brothers have also pushed for other reforms, particularly around inheritance.

Only in 1999, for example, were women given equal rights of property inheritance.

Sark is also the first Dark Sky Island in the world, meaning that it restricts artificial light pollution and is sufficiently clear of it to allow naked-eye astronomy.

It helps that Sark had no cars or public lighting, but residents also had to make adjustments such as re-siting their own lights.

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There are no flights to Sark, so it can only be reached by boat from Jersey or Guernsey.

Lady Gabriella was on holiday in Sark when her now-husband, financier Thomas Kington, proposed to her in August 2018.

They wed in St George’s Chapel on May 18, 2019, just one day before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s one year anniversary.

The bride reportedly chose this location due to her “fond memories” of Christmas there and being a bridesmaid for Lady Helen Taylor, the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

Gabriella wore a tiara worn by both her mother, Princess Michael of Kent, and her paternal grandmother, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.

Their reception was in Frogmore House, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also had their after-wedding celebrations.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attended the wedding, as did the Queen’s children Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Prince Harry was also there, but there was no sign of Meghan Markle, who was heavily pregnant at the time.

Kate Middleton’s sister Pippa, who is said to have once dated Thomas, was also in attendance with her husband James Matthews, parents Carole and Michael and brother James, along with his girlfriend Alizee Thevenet.

Sarah Ferguson was also there with her daughter Princess Beatrice and Beatrice’s then-boyfriend, now fiance, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Beatrice was scheduled to marry Edoardo on May 29 this year, but it was postponed.

Gabriella, who now goes by the name Lady Gabriella Kingston, is a freelance writer who continues to work for The London Magazine, among other publications.

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