No Windsor wedding for Princess Bea
But HM lays on reception at Buckingham Palace
PRINCESS Beatrice has watched with sadness as her father, Prince Andrew, was forced to give up royal duties for an unspecified time. But now the Queen has stepped in to give her beloved granddaughter a huge morale boost. I can reveal that Her Majesty has offered to hold Beatrice’s wedding reception at Buckingham Palace later this year.
‘Bea was delighted and very grateful to accept,’ one of her friends tells me. ‘It was a really special gesture as it will be the first wedding celebration at Buckingham Palace since William and Catherine’s in 2011.’
All three subsequent royal weddings have been in Windsor. Bea’s sister, Princess Eugenie, tied the knot in 2018 at St George’s Chapel, with a reception at the castle.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had exchanged vows there earlier that year. And Lady Gabriella Windsor married businessman Thomas Kingston at St George’s Chapel last year.
Bea’s wedding to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi will be held in Central London, but, intriguingly, the location has still not been finalised. Bea and Edo have many friends and the Chapel Royal or Queen’s Chapel would be too small.
The most likely choice was the Guards’ Chapel at Wellington
Barracks, but that could be troublesome because the Duke of York’s role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards appears to be in doubt.
The Daily Mail Diary disclosed last month that Andrew would not appear with his regiment at Trooping the Colour in June after his catastrophic Newsnight interview.
A courtier tells me: ‘Her Majesty does not want Beatrice to suffer in any way from the troubles her father is enduring.’