Beatrice refuses Royal procession for her wedding
And reception might be in a tent in the back garden!
SHE may soon be a Royal bride but there will be no carriage ride or procession for Princess Beatrice at her wedding – and no reception at Windsor Castle either.
Beatrice is ripping up the Royal rule book and has uttered that most unspeakable of words – ‘venue’ – during talks with her parents about where to marry next year.
Dispensing with the age-old aristocratic diktat that ‘ one should never marry at a castle that is not one’s own’, Beatrice has told her parents she isn’t interested in a big showy event at Windsor of the kind enjoyed by her younger sister Princess Eugenie a year ago, and is instead looking for a low-key venue to host the reception.
Bizarrely, this could mean she ends up renting somewhere posh that doesn’t belong to the Family.
Beatrice is in the happy position of being able to opt out of Royal protocol as she has dropped to ninth in line to the throne since the birth in May of Prince Harry’s son Archie.
She didn’t have to ask the Queen for permission to marry her fiance, Italian property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and she i s not obliged to endure the pomp of a procession. Nor will she have to face the embarrassment of potentially getting turned down by the BBC for TV coverage of the event, as Eugenie was. With no procession, there will be no pressure to have the occasion broadcast.
A low-key affair will also cut costs – Eugenie came under fire after it emerged her wedding cost the taxpayer about £2 million to police. Beatrice is said to be relieved that she can get on with a quieter, private wedding, possibly in a marquee at her parents’ home, the relatively modest Royal Lodge at Windsor. She has insisted to friends t hat she genuinely hasn’t yet decided where it will be, but hopes a smaller venue will keep things a little more casual.
Thoughtful Bea also hopes that a lack of pomp won’t rub Edoardo’s ex-fiance Dara Huang’s nose in the occasion too much. As I revealed last week, Dara has been invited with her two-year-old son Wolfie, who is to be Edo’s best man.
One of Beatrice’s friends told me last week: ‘Beatrice has said she and Edo are looking at alternative venues because she wants something different. The wedding will not be in Italy and from what they are saying it won’t be in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, either.
‘There have been three big Royal weddings there in the past year or so and I’m not sure that’s what Bea wants. Edo has a child, there’s the situation with his ex, and Beatrice might just feel something more low-key might be more fitting.’