Princess Beatrice faced a lot of criticism last year. It seemed like the British tabloids suddenly began paying attention to the fact that Beatrice bounced around well-connected and well-paying jobs, and they noticed that she barely showed up for those jobs. The papers kept a running count of how many vacations Beatrice took too – in the span of nine months, Beatrice took 17 vacations, all of which were at exorbitant cost too. Last week, the Daily Mail reported that Beatrice either quit or got fired from her latest job at a Manhattan investment firm Sandbridge Capital after (once again) taking too much time off for vacations. The claim was that she might have quit to start her own company, but who knows? Now there’s another wrinkle: around the same time that Beatrice left Sandbridge, she broke up with her boyfriend of 10 years, Dave Clark. Dave and Beatrice started dating when she was 17 years old! Some highlights from the Daily Mail:
They’re over: “The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Princess Beatrice has ended her relationship with long-term boyfriend Dave Clark. Members of the Royal Family are said to be ‘shocked and saddened’ by the news that Beatrice, the Duke of York’s eldest daughter, and her boyfriend of ten years have parted.”
There were “make or break” talks: The talks centred on whether or not they should get married. A source close to Beatrice, 27, told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘After ten years together, Beatrice and Dave had to wonder why they were not married. They talked it through and decided to take time apart to reflect on the future. They remain friends and the decision to break up was mutual.’
How the family is reacting: The Duchess of York “considers Dave to be part of the family. She is very sad it didn’t work out. They have been together longer than many marriages last.” Other branches of the family are likely to be less devastated by the news. Rumours have long circulated that Prince William did not approve of the relationship and demonstrated his dislike of Dave, 32, by refusing to invite him to the Royal Wedding in 2011. He is said to have considered Dave an ‘indiscreet’ addition to the extended family and was opposed to the prospect of his little cousin marrying him.
Beatrice thought Dave would propose after Princess Charlotte was born: It was thought the Succession of Crown Act, which requires the first six in line to the Throne to seek Royal approval, had been the stumbling block. But when Dave failed to propose for more than a year after Charlotte was born, Beatrice decided to address the problem head-on. The source added: ‘Beatrice has become a lot more assertive and confident recently. She gave Dave an ultimatum, but it backfired because he did not ask her to marry him. They both agreed that with no marriage in their future, it was time to go separate ways. They had a very co-dependent relationship, so they haven’t yet managed to completely cut off contact. They speak occasionally and they sometimes refer to the split as ‘a break’. But it has been over for a month now and there doesn’t seem to be any reconciliation on the cards.’
William didn’t approve of Dave: The two men are said to have fallen out several years ago after William decided Dave was too ‘indiscreet’ to invite to the Royal Wedding. Perhaps mindful of at least one unsuitable earlier boyfriend, William is said to be protective of Princess Beatrice and told friends in the past he didn’t feel Dave was right for her. Beatrice’s now ex-boyfriend speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent after his wealthy family divided their time between New York and London.
Well, I’m sad about this. I did think they would get married eventually, especially since they were together for so long. But I’m glad that Beatrice gave him an ultimatum and she was upfront about what she wanted. It’s better to force the conversation and know for sure than just sit around waitying for another five years, you know? That is my takeaway from this: waitying doesn’t work for many people, and if you want to get married, you need to force the conversation. Now Beatrice can move on, hopefully. I never bought that William is “protective” of Beatrice though – I don’t think William cares at all about his York cousins, mostly because the Middletons dislike the Yorks so much. I hope Beatrice finds someone really nice, someone who wants to settle down. I wonder if her latest career will fail to pan out and whether she’ll return to the UK. It does feel like Bea is at some kind of crossroads.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Finally. Photo assumption could see this one coming for about 2 years.
im also good at hindsight.
I’m sorry, were you a fan of this couple?
People have talked about this-I believe even here- prior to today’s news.
Tumblr was more subtle than the Daily Mail, they stopped calling him “Smiley Dave” and the photos/comments they posted of him weren’t as positive, etc. My gossip memory forgets a lot but, even I remember noticing slyly negative reporting on this couple via pics published of him checking out other girls in front of Bea, etc.
Yikes. Wandering eyes that obvious?
Glad they are done then. I wonder if the job drama is actually cover for breakup drama.
Vacations to try to fix things, etc.
That’s funny. Funny as in odd. My friend dated him when they were in school and she always said she wasn’t surprised he’s with Bea. She seemed to imply that he came off as a bit of an opportunist. Even before I knew that I always thought as much and considered it odd that he never locked it down. 10 years is a long time. It must suck to finally have to grow up now (she has to move on from her teenage relationship which will no doubt make her question what she’s doing with her life. It was probably a crutch and didn’t help her grow up being stuck in that mindset). Poor thing. It must be devastating.
That said I never really cared so much about her vacations. By all accounts she’s a female Royal, which means all she had to do was marry well and disappear in one society event after the next, but she and her sister went to school and tried to have jobs. It speaks more than Waity, who is not Royal, and is not therefore expected to live a life of luxury. She worked at Whistles or was it Jigsaw for 6 months? and couldn’t even handle that. Bea and Eugene at least have held down more jobs and for longer. And didn’t Bea have to give up her job at Sony due to the hack? Either way the York sisters get a pass from me. They’re not as tax funded as lazy Waity and Bill. Nor is there role expected to be as big as theirs. They are lesser royals.
I wonder if another one of the reasons is that Dave actually works? He’s a trust fund baby with tons of connections, sure, but he’s held two steady jobs and I doubt he went on all 17 of her vacations. I remember reading some article about Uber a while ago and he was briefly mentioned in it as being very devoted and hustling for the company.
I truly wonder how long the monarchy can sustain itself. The Cambridges, Eugenie, and Beatrice seem to garner very little goodwill anymore. Hasn’t there been some sort of rumblings about Eugenie being handed a position she was in no way qualified for at some art gallery? That’s to be expected, of course, but I think there was also talk of her running off on constant vacations a la Beatrice after landing the position.
Actually he was right there for most of the ‘holidays’ which were networking opportunities for him and B was his plus one OR she was attending events for family and friends OR weekend getaways with parents and friends were reclassified as holidays in the most toxic manner possible because the DM has decided to give her the as toxic a narrative as her parents. Since people hate or dislike the parents, they easily believe it.
It is unfortunate that the tabloids want to paint the Yorks with the same brush as their parents. Beatrice is a wealthy woman and not a working Royal. If she wants to go on vacation, for whatever reason, so be it.
Thank you. Injecting a little truth about the “vacations”. The DM is always going to attack the Yorks, as they have done constantly since they were children.
Seems like everyone would have a better life if monarchies just got abolished, everyone lost their titles, etc. Royals and common people.
It’s just a relic of a horrible time anyway.
Clueless about the royals. But question. Why would the Middletons hate the Yorks?
There were b*tchy comments about how the York girls would insist on Kate curtsying to them when Wills wasn’t around. As per the etiquette of ranking of royalty they are officially ‘above’ her as they were born royal and she married into it.
Rumours are the girls hate her and also happen to be friends with Cressida Bonas and Chelsy Davy and Kate feels threatened by Harry’s exes.
The family curtsy rules are set by HM, not the York sisters nor Prince Andrew. HM is the one who sets up the arcane family rules. She re-drew the Order of Precedence several times related to Anne, Diana, and Fergie. She re-drew it related to Camilla. She gives precedence to “blood princesses” over married-in spouses. None of that is the Yorks fault, but KM fans like to blame it on them.
If KM was looking to marry into the royal family, she’d need to follow protocol. That means she could chose to curtsy to them or not before she married in, as no one is required to curtsy to royalty. Once she married in, she has to follow the Order of Precedence.
I agree with you.
I think KM is very insecure when it comes to her husband’s female relatives. She has no problems flirting with Harry but she never talks to their female cousins.
Not to be unpleasant, but isn’t Kate Middleton “threatened” of everything she comes across?
I’ve never really seen why Kate disliked the York girls, but Kate was the one who at least publicly snubbed the Yorks and the Yorks snubbed back. It’s been years since it’s been an active feud though.
I always thought it was super weird that he didn’t propose after all these years…and also, didn’t William introduce them? I thought that was the story.
Beatrice is back in London and has been for a couple of months. She got let go probably because she was rarely there and because she only moved there to be with Dave. Over 10 years together it was time for the talk. Hopefully she will move on and find someone who wants what she does. William knew Dave and he was liked in the beginning but then something happened and the rumour going around is that Dave is quite shady and their have been rumours about a wandering eye. I think William dislikes Sarah and Andrew he seems to get on with Eugenie more but she seems more down to earth then Beatrice who William called the Duchess at one point because she acted so stuck up. Sarah will miss Dave because he has in the past helped her with some of her money troubles as have the girls and their trust funds. How else would Sarah be able to keep living in the style she believes she should. Who would trust a Princess with such a bad work ethic to give them advice on anything.
Yes, I also read Beatrice is a bit difficult and a snob. I think that was a big reason why Kate and Pippa clashed with her, and to a lesser degree, her sister.
If Beatrice was a snob, she wouldn’t have dated an UNtitled, no-fancy-lineage- having (half) American, with only an ordinary amount of riches. Dave’s father is a well off lawyer. But there isn’t like a 100 mill coffer awaiting him. Maybe 5 mil? So…super poor 😉
Bea dated him because she liked him. Eugenie too. Her boyfriend Jack is a non-aristocrat from a very regular middle class family. He works because he has to.
(IMO) No snobs here.
The other way around maybe. Kate and Pippa are snobs and were resented by the York sisters.
Elaine,
She probably dated him because that’s the only person who would date her. She is likely lazy, snobby, subjectively and objectively entitled.
How come no matches with other lesser European royals?
@JustBitchy – what a scathing comment. As if a princess would have trouble dating! The trouble is separating the gold diggers and social climbers from authentic people.
The issue with the York sisters and the Middletons goes way back and alledegly relates to some comments made about the Mids social climbing ambitions and prob some jealousy related to the fact the the york sisters and William were all very close at one point.
And as for Willaim complaining that Dave had a wandering eye, pot meet kettle, same goes for the Duchess comments. His own wife acted like she was already Queen Cpnsort during the dating years, the stories of her and her families bad behaviour were plentiful before the whitewashing.
Bea’s boyfriend before Dave was a criminal with a scandalous background. Fergie and Andy were desperate for her to stay away from him so I suspect Bea may have terrible taste in men. Hopefully, as an adult now she will choose someone appropriately suited to her.
None of this is true.
I don’t know about Dana, but the stuff I read was by Tom Sykes…who can be full of it sometimes, but more often than not…he’s right.
Thank you, LAK. People who meet the York sisters talk about how polite and sweet they are, with the excellent manners drilled into them by spending loads of time with HM and Philip. They take it on the chin because of their parents.
William thinks someone is shady? William thinks someone had a wandering eye? Has William been looking in the mirror?
Sarah, no matter what, will always be protected by Andrew and therefore the Queen. Dave and his financial advice would never be needed.
The Daily Beast? The guy who lifts stories whole-hog from royal fan sites and believes everything on there. Geez, I miss James Whitaker. A royal reporter who did his own legwork and had insider connections to back up his writing.
Talie, where the Yorkies are concerned, Tom Sykes and all these reporters are inventing stories and or taking 1% glimmer of truth and turning it into 100% factual exaggeration and or stating their own opinion.
As for DanaG’s post…..for once i’m speechless.
If that’s true about William calling Beatrice the Duchess because of her stuck-up ways, l assume the basis of comparison would be his own wife.
IDK, for some reason I have always found him a bit sketchy. Maybe because when they got together he was 22 and she was 17.
Poor Beatrice. I hope the media isn’t super mean about her being single. (Although I’m sure we can count on all kinds of outdated sexist narratives from the Daily Mail…)
If William thinks this guy is indiscreet how does he feel about his mother-in-law being papped in the wild with George so often, when no one else gets those kind of pics.
Or his own use of Tanna and the press to get his version of events out there. Bill “Do as I say, not as I do” Middleton.
Ugh I hate that women are considered “waity” if they aren’t married by a certain point in a relationship. I don’t care if I’m married. Maybe they didn’t either.
YES!
I came here to say the same thing. I don’t know if she wanted to get married, but not every relationship has to end up in marriage. Why does it seem that a longterm relationship is worth less, just because they are not married? Why is it that people are like “How long are you together?…. And you are not engaged already? GIIIIIRL you have to talk to him!”
Marriage does not mean everlasting or deeper love.
I don’t think I would describe talking a out where you see a relationship going “forcing the issue”.
The full article also says Bea issued an ultimatum to Dave and he said no to marriage. So there was definitely a forcing of the issue.
The full articles that is full of lies? Several years ago, it was their group of friends who said Dave was proposing and Beatrice said no.
It says that, and then doesn’t give any details on what it actually is. For all we know, she could have said “I see myself getting married and having kids” or she could have said that if they didnt have the same vision for the future it wasn’t fair to either of them to be together. Having an honest discussion about where you want a relationship to go isn’t forcing an issue or giving an ultimatum.
I’m sure I’m way off base, but I assumed they were waiting to marry until after Philip died. Since he despises Sarah Ferguson, it would put Beatrice in a terrible position of excluding her mother.
Or maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion. I’m terrified of Philip. He reminds me of Tywin Lannister.
That may be partially true and perhaps explains the wording “taking a break” and not completely broken up. Once Charlotte was born, they no longer needed permission from the Queen to marry. That birth moved Beatrice down the line enough she is free to invite whomever she wanted, and she may have forced the issue based on that.
Very accurate comparison!
Ha! The Tywin Lannister comment has made my night. Just picturing the entire royal family in Game of Thrones. …..
That’s way off base. Sarah Ferguson has been included in several royal functions over the years ,Philip hating her wouldn’t be an issue.
Perhaps. But Sarah lurking in the dark corners of a room while Philip pretends not to see her is a whole different story from the prominent position of mother of the bride.
Or I’m just that afraid of Philip Lannister.
I find it terribly funny how William considers Dave shady and indiscreet when he married a Middleton. Both Pippa and James Middleton are not only shady but also indiscreet, cashing in on the Royal Family and trying to build careers on the one conection.
I’m sad this relationship has ended – 10 years together! Hopefully they both find what they need. Perhaps this break will do the same for them as it did for William and Kate.
Seriously as if William has a leg to stand on for judging Dave Clark. The DM article sort of said that Bea was afraid the Queen wouldn’t grant Bea permission to marry Dave because William has badmouthed him? And once Bea fell past the top 6 in line for throne she no longer has to ask the Queen?
Maybe the Queen should look at her do-nothing grandson Will and her grifting son Andrew a bit more closely rather than getting worked up over this Dave guy!
Seriously, she’s 27. They dated since they were teens. Was he supposed to propose at 23 just because it was a long time since they got together? Jesus. Bea always comes off as so over entitled and elitist. If she wants to be free, go ahead and do it, don’t throw him under the bus.
He was twenty-two and she was seventeen when they got together sorry but she isn’t throwing him under the bus on that fact a lone he comes off as a little weird creep just like r Kelly.
Is it true that Beatrice is dyslexic?
I have read that her school tailored her curriculum to meet her needs, and that the Yorks were very grateful and proud that she was able to graduate.
If so, I wonder how she performs at her various jobs?
I’m not an expert on how dyslexia affects people other than I imagine it would be a disability that impacts any type of career where reading and writing is required, so pretty much any career, but certainly a job in an Capital Investment firm where there would be copious amounts of paperwork.
Was she “let go”, or did she quit?
The BRF has acknowledged she has dyslexia. A quick search would reveal to you other well-known people with dyslexia.
Agatha Christie, William Butler Yeats, Steven Spielberg, Anderson Cooper, Keira Knightley.
Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway
Carol Greide, Microbiologist and Nobel Prize in Medicine
Gary Cohn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs
Richard Branson, $5 billion net worth founder of Virgin everything
Nota–you are my everything with this post. Thank you!
Yes she’s dyslexic.
It was caught when she was a tween and she started receiving help/therapy for it immediately. She’s royal patron of the Dyslexic centre that helped her.
https://www.helenarkell.org.uk
The sooner dyslexia is diagnosed and treatment commenced, the easier the sufferer’s ability to pick up the techniques that help them navigate a regular life and learn normally.
The rest vis a vis cheating at exams or having special treatment is fanfiction.
Btw: Harry is also dyslexic, but he wasn’t diagnosed until his final year in high school. The reports calling him stupid that follow his school career are therefore unfair as it was a major factor in his ability to learn.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is also dyslexic and has face blindness too.
AFAIK Harry’s dyslexia has not been admitted by the Palace. Jeremy from Top Gear blabbed that he’d learned it from Harry when he ran into him on vacation. It is known but not officially confirmed.
When they did a twitter campaign about FeelNoShame about HIV awareness a year or two ago, “fans” were upset he didn’t admit dyslexia. Again, none of their business just like his grieving process, but don’t tell them that.
I have a learning disability my mom made shore to get me a IEP when I started school and before that she had me at a disability daycare/headstart program do they have that in England? I haven’t really had trouble in school except in math thanks to early intervention but I think her problem is she grew up thinking she would be apart of the family firm and the charles flipped the script. Then she got a worthless degree in history ideas
Her degree is in history and history of ideas. How is that worthless?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ideas
Maybe here America it’s different but a history degree isn’t really consider a Job granting degree unless you want to teach,lawyer,physician assistant but I am also comparing her to princess anne children who have a business degree and physical therapy respectively
The American system of study is very different from the British one. The two systems value and emphasise different things. You guys seem to only value degrees that are vocational whereas we still value the degrees that may or may not have a clear career path.
The job market here is also not tied to what you studied at university unless it’s a very specialised career eg Medicine.
That said, with the state of the economy, more people are pursuing vocational degrees, but that’s still not a guarantee of working in that area.
What’s England equivalent of a high school degree? What are A levels?
@LAK – over the course of my career I have hired dozens of liberal arts majors – art, English, history, philosophy, etc. – the job market in America is not tied to what you studied.
My sister was diagnosed at age 5 (my mum being a psychologist helped, too) and was in treatment for 7 years. 3 times a week. While being called stupid at school and compared to me, a good student with no learning disabilities, by teachers we had in common, and learning a second language. After finishing treatment she had to receive therapy for another 2 years because of her low self-esteem. This made her a stronger person and a smarter student – she excelled in the sciences and mathematics, while being average in social sciences, humanities and languages.
My sister is now 24 and graduated in the top 3 of her class at uni, and is a dentist. I have the utmost respect for those who suffer learning dissabilities because the amount of hate and ridicule they suffer is incredible.
Amen
God bless your sister
I’m not even sure why this relationship got a pass to begin with. A five year difference is fine but not when the individuals are 17 and 22. And not when the younger of the two has just been yanked out of a highly inappropriate relationship with a criminal. I am also not surprised that no one will point out the contradiction of calling Kate ‘Waity’ but somehow Bea was just going along for the ride with Dave because…?
If you don’t know whether or not you want to marry someone after 10 years then you probably never will. It can’t be easy breaking up after that length of time so I feel a bit sorry for her.
I always thought Dave was a bit smarmy but for William to object to him is a bit much considering who he settled for.
Three years ago, their group of friends were hinting to the press that Dave proposed and Beatrice said no, she wanted more time.
BTW, Happy Birthday Beatrice. 28 years old today, 8-8-88.
Yes, old enough to remember it happening and the public excitement about the first baby princess since Anne.
2 years into my relationship when we got an apartment together, I flat out said, “I’m not getting any younger (I was 24) and are we getting married or not?” Married 14 years.
That’s right, today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Bea! May you have a wonderful day and better days to come in all things.
He hot.
What a fortunate combination of birthday numbers. Happy birthday, Bea, and while you might not think it so, this breakup might be a birthday gift in disguise. Hopefully you’re opening the door for a better relationship in the future.
Agree.