Backing for Andrew from Bea and beau
Princess and fiance visit embattled father
PRINCESS Beatrice and her fiance visited her embattled father at his home yesterday after he was forced to quit royal duties.
She and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi spent several hours with Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson at their 30-room Royal Lodge mansion on the Windsor royal estate.
Beatrice, who was said to be tearful in the days after her father’s disastrous TV interview, managed a smile as she left her parents’ home.
The family meeting took place as the Prince of Wales flew back to the UK after a 12-day tour of India, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands.
Charles is expected to meet Andrew in the coming days to discuss the ongoing furore over the Duke of York’s friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
With investigations into Epstein’s associates gathering pace in both the US and France, the scandal shows no sign of abating.
Buckingham Palace is bracing itself ahead of a BBC Panorama investigation, due to be broadcast on Monday, which will feature a fresh interview with Virginia Roberts who claims she was coerced into having sex with Andrew when she was 17. The duke has always denied the claims.
Andrew’s meeting with his daughter, former wife and future son-in-law took place a day after it emerged that he will ‘stand back’ from his charity patronages. Although left deeply humiliated by his withdrawal from public duty, there is speculation that Beatrice, 31, and her younger sister Eugenie, 29, could replace him as patrons of the organisations he supported.
While some may welcome a continuing connection with the duke’s family, one of the most influential charity leaders has warned that Andrew should not treat patronages as a ‘dowry’ for his daughters.
‘You certainly can’t have a situation where the sins of the father are visited on the children,’ said Sir Stephen Bubb, director of the think tank Charity Futures. ‘But the decision on patronage is a matter for the charity itself to decide what is most appropriate.’
The subject of Beatrice’s wedding to Mr Mozzi, a 34year-old property developer, will almost certainly have been discussed at the family meeting yesterday.
Three months after the engagement, there is still no date, although it is understood that the Queen has told her granddaughter she can announce one once the General Election is over.
Some reports have suggested that the wedding, which will be held next year, will be scaled back.
Such a move may be related to the Epstein scandal, but may also be due to the criticism over the £2million security bill for Eugenie’s wedding to wine merchant Jack Brooksbank at Windsor Castle last year.
The Queen was seen being driven out of Windsor Castle shortly after Beatrice left yesterday, prompting speculation that she may have also spoken to the couple.