Glorious new photos of Bea’s ‘Secret Garden’ wedding
... BUT STILL NO SIGN OF ANDREW!
PRINCESS Beatrice’s new husband paid a very public tribute to his bride yesterday, telling her: ‘I carry your heart with me.’
In a romantic – but now deleted – Instagram post yesterday, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi uploaded the ee cummings poem ‘i carry your heart with me (i carry it in’, which was read out during their secret wedding ceremony on Friday.
The favourite poem was accompanied by three unseen pictures of the newlyweds taken in the grounds of Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew’s Windsor mansion, shortly after they were married.
Intriguingly, minutes later Mr Mapelli Mozzi took down the post, hiding it from his 36,000 followers.
It seems the property developer might have jumped the gun a little, as two of the pictures – showing Mr Mapelli Mozzi gazing adoringly at his new wife and another of them walking hand in hand through the garden – were later formally released by Buckingham Palace, along with a message from the couple.
The third picture, showing the couple holding hands, was not put out by royal officials, but was shared thousands of times online by well-wishers.
All three photographs and the message – in addition to two other photographs released by palace aides over the weekend – failed to feature the father of the bride, Prince Andrew.
This is highly unusual as the Queen’s second son, who is still eighth in line to the throne, would have been expected to take centre stage as father and senior royal.
Friends said his absence meant ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, who helped hurriedly organise the big day in two weeks, could not appear in any public posts either.
Andrew’s ‘airbrushing’ from the official record of the wedding suggests how toxic the family consider him to be in the fall- out of his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The 60-year-old royal has already been forced to retreat from public life and faces demands by the FBI to be interviewed over his links to Epstein – and to respond to claims by one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre, that she was forced to sleep with the prince on three occasions when she was 17.
He denies knowing anything about his friend’s criminal behaviour and firmly rejects Mrs Giuffre’s claims.
Friends stressed last night that, contrary to speculation, he did give away his adored eldest daughter, 31, but was keen to ensure his presence did not overshadow her big day. One said his daughters were ‘devastated’ by events involving their father in recent months.
In a statement yesterday, Buckingham Palace said: ‘Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice of York and Mr Mapelli Mozzi have been touched by the warm wishes they have received since their wedding, and are delighted to share two additional photographs of their happy day.’
It added: ‘Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were married in a small family ceremony on Friday July 17. The ceremony
‘Secret Garden theme’
‘Opted for iPod instead of DJ’
took place at The Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, with the kind permission of Her Majesty the Queen.’
The Mail understands the wedding had a ‘Secret Garden’ theme and was so low-key that the couple did not have a DJ, opting instead to hook an iPod up to speakers in a marquee.
The couple’s service at 11am – the first royal wedding to have been held in secret for 235 years – was extraordinary in so many ways.
Their engagement and original plan to marry at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace on May 29 in front of 150 guests were both formally announced by Buckingham Palace, as is tradition with all royal weddings. In April the Mail revealed they had decided to cancel due to the virus lockdown.
When regulations around weddings were relaxed on July 4, Beatrice and father-of-one Mr Mapelli Mozzi quickly re-arranged to work within government guidelines. The socially distanced service was instead conducted at the Chapel of All Saints on the Queen’s private Windsor estate followed by an outside drinks reception at Royal Lodge a few yards away.