Shropshire Star

Princess Beatrice’s wedding venue announced

The wedding has been overshadowed by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that has engulfed Beatrice’s father the Duke of York.

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Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

The Queen’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice will marry her fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on May 29 in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, Buckingham Palace has said.

The couple will marry in a chapel which has been the venue for royal weddings and christenings over the centuries, including the nuptials of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in February 1840.

The announcement ends weeks of speculations but the forthcoming wedding has been overshadowed by the scandal that has engulfed Beatrice’s father the Duke of York.

Andrew has retired from public royal duties for the foreseeable future after his disastrous television interview about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Beatrice’s sister Princess Eugenie married her husband Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel in 2018, and went on a carriage ride through the streets of Windsor to celebrate.

But it appears that Beatrice’s big day will be a low-key affair.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The wedding of HRH Princess Beatrice of York and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi will take place on Friday 29th May 2020. The couple became engaged in Italy in September 2019.

“Her Majesty the Queen has kindly given permission for the ceremony to take place at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.

“The ceremony will be followed by a private reception, given by the Queen, in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.”

Eugenie’s royal nuptials were the centrepiece of a special live ITV show hosted by Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, but the broadcaster has previously said Beatrice’s big day will only be featured in its news programmes.

It is understood the princess and Mr Mapelli Mozzi wanted an intimate wedding for close family and friends and did not approach any broadcasters about televising the event.

Their wedding venue can hold 150 guests, compared to around 800 who attended Eugenie’s nuptials, emphasising the private nature of the event.

Buckingham Palace has said the wedding will be paid for privately.

Mr Mapelli Mozzi – a millionaire property tycoon, known as Edo – and Beatrice began dating in autumn 2018, and were soon being tipped to walk up the aisle.

The Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace
The venue can hold 150 guests (John Stillwell/PA)

The princess, who split from her long-term love Dave Clark in 2016 after 10 years together, got engaged during a weekend trip to Italy following the whirlwind romance.

Their families have known one another for many years and the couple are said to have started a relationship after meeting again at Eugenie’s wedding.

Beatrice is ninth in line to the throne, and a cousin of the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex.

She is not a full-time working royal but works for Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm, where she is vice president of partnerships and strategy.

Mr Mapelli Mozzi is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Williams-Ellis and is a count himself.

The princess will become a step-mother as he has a young son named Wolfie with ex-fiancee Dara Huang.

His stepfather was Christopher Shale, a senior Tory and a close friend of former prime minister David Cameron. He died from heart disease at the Glastonbury Festival in 2011.

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