In the past month, there were all kinds of rumors about Princess Beatrice’s wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, which had been scheduled for May 29th. Once Britain finally went into lockdown and every royal retreated to their separate castles, it became obvious that Beatrice’s wedding would have to be postponed. She didn’t release any statements about it, so the chatter and gossip kept growing. Just a few days ago, there was a (rather hilarious) Daily Mail gossip item (re: trial balloon) about how Beatrice would postpone her wedding for one year, but in exchange she wanted a big, splashy, taxpayer-funded affair to “bolster the nation’s morale.” I’m still laughing about it. Well, obviously, the 2021 dream wedding can’t happen until the 2020 struggle-wedding is officially cancelled, so here we go:
Princess Beatrice and her fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi have formally canceled their royal wedding due to the lockdown in the U.K. amid the coronavirus pandemic, PEOPLE confirms. The royal bride-to-be, 31, who is the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, was set to wed the 37-year-old financier at St. James’s Palace in London on May 29 with a reception to follow at her grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s gardens at Buckingham Palace.
“There are no plans to switch venues or hold a bigger wedding. They aren’t even thinking about their wedding at this time. There will come a time to rearrange, but that’s not yet,” a spokesperson for the couple tells PEOPLE. Given the latest announced on Thursday from the U.K. government that the nationwide lockdown will continue for at least three more weeks — in addition to government guidelines to avoid gatherings outside of close family groups — the May 29 date made it impossible to go forward.
Due to coronavirus concerns, “the invitations were never actually sent out,” a source tells PEOPLE It had previously been announced that the reception was no longer taking place, and that the couple were discussing the option to marry in a private ceremony with friends and family instead. But with the coronavirus pandemic, it was becoming inevitable that it would be put on hold. Like many other couples around the world at this wedding season, they had become realistic that it wasn’t going to be possible, a friend says. But friends assert it was the last thing on their mind with so many other stresses and challenges across the world.
I still sort of feel sorry for her, like I feel sorry for all of the brides and grooms who have had to cancel or postpone. It truly sucks. But those other brides and grooms are not fantasizing about holding a giant look-at-me-extravaganza funded by the British taxpayer next year, so in that case, Beatrice can take a seat. I do enjoy that People’s “sources” were trying to strike the right balance of “poor Bea” and “obviously so many people have it worse, she was barely even thinking about the wedding!” Good thing they hadn’t sent out the invites, huh.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Honestly if I was her I would start wondering if the universe was trying to send me a sign or something
Mte!!!
My sister’s dog has more “chemistry” with his chew toy than these two do. We all called it a loooong time ago: these two will NEVER make it down the aisle. Covid is a convenient reason to hide behind to “save face”. Personally, I think she just wanted to be engaged to SOMEONE…to not be the *only* single one left in the group.
While I just don’t like Bea (can’t articulate, other than she rubs me the wrong way…seems to be just like her parents), I don’t wish her ill. I hope they both find happiness in their lives.
hes clearly not into her!
lol about the chew toy…so true. He’s not going to stick around while this marriage is endlessly delayed. I imagine we’ll hear that they “parted as friends” at some point.
lol yes this
When I was young and stupid I was about to buy a house with a guy I will call “worst mistake ever.” A glitch made it fall through and It was delayed a month. By the end of the month I knew God/the universe/fate was giving me my one do over. Bea honey the entire weight of the universe is trying to give you your one do over. Run … do not walk RUN. That guy is not into you.
HA!
The universe is trying to send HIM a message!!!
If Beatrice wants to boost morale she can volunteer in a hospital like Princess Sophia, or take any page out of Meghan Sparkle’s book.
She is a princess of blood! How you dare!
I bet she doesn’t fix her own tiara.
I can’t with her, sorry.
I do feel bad for her, because obviously she was looking forward to it. But unfortunately, that’s the world we’re living in at the moment. A lot of sucky things have happened to … well, everyone. I don’t think there’s a single person who’s only having a blast right now. She’ll reschedule and have a big splashy wedding (or they’ll break up, but I weirdly expect them to actually get married) and she’s not going to have to worry about paying rent and medical bills and feeding herself, so she’ll be okay.
I do feel sorry for her. Absolutely no one should have to be forced to cancel their wedding. But Bea doesn’t have to worry about the wedding deposit she might lose, or someone else taking her venue.
I feel more sorry for the brides who have spent their savings on having their dream wedding. I still feel sorry for Bea though.
Absolutely true. Countless brides and grooms are having to eat the deposits they put down and are in a wait and see position.
If that were me I’d just take me man and elope.
I know three couples who had to postpone their weddings. They all got their deposits back because the venues are officially closed, but they just got credits for their cancelled honeymoon flights.
It’s sad for her, but I believe it’s a blessing in disguise. If they ever do marry (fat chance) I think it will be a short-lived marriage, just like that of her parents. I think she’s well up for it, but he … not so much. He seems dodgy to me.
I mean, if it was just about the marriage, they could find a way to make a very small wedding happen. People have been doing it here in the US. Minimal guests, plus social distancing/staying in cars/zoom calls. But pretty clearly this is more about the wedding than the marriage for her.
It really depends, so this isn’t really fair. Me and my partner were forced to cancel our wedding and wanted to “elope” (aka just get our marriage license) but our city clerk is not issuing marriage licenses. We just moved to NJ from NYC and neither place will allow us to get a license.
So…yeah. It doesn’t have to be “about the wedding” to not get married right now. Also it’s not a crime for Beatrice to look forward to the wedding itself- its a big deal and she’s allowed to want the big party.
They can’t currently. No one can get married in the UK at the moment.
In the US you have to worry about health insurance. A lot of couples have small courthouse weddings because of HI, and have bigger wedding parties later. The only reason Bea would “have to” marry now, is if she were pregnant and wanted the child to be in line of succession. Nothing wrong in beeing partners for a while longer.
I feel bad for her also. Not specifically because of the wedding (I mean, they could elope after the quarantine and have a giant party when the time is right if being married was something they didn’t want to put off). I feel bad for her because she’s the last of her circle yet to marry and it’s a status thing for them. Even is she’s got it better than all but like 10 people on this planet, she probably compares herself to those 10, you know?
This wedding will not happen. This is a hill that I’ll die on. Haha
Right? Nothing is stopping the Queen’s granddaughter from doing the civil marriage paperwork and then doing a small ceremony with just the two of them, the minister, and a witness, all physically distancing themselves, if they really want to be married.
I’m right there with you lol!
My guess is that we will hear in a year that they have gone their separate ways via a very quiet statement.
If they’re just after a lavish, highly publicized event, the life afterwards would probably be a huge disappointment, so better to end it first.
just…..giant billboards everywhere sis. hopefully during this time she’ll examine her relationship and whether it’s something she’ll want to go thru with in 2021.
It’s quite possible that Beatrice came up with the “I want a big wedding next year to cheer everyone up” idea, but my more likely suspect is her mother or father. The former because she loves to be royal-adjacent and craves attention, the latter because he is a monster who, among his many problems, wants his branch of the family to be considered top tier.
It will be interesting if her shady fiancé uses this opportunity to bolt.
I’m surprised he didn’t bold after Pedo Andy’s TV interview.
Yeah if he stayed after Andy’s horrific bbc interview he’s a hanger on for sure!
@SpiceCake38 Honestly, what do you think he will get out of it? Yes, she’s a princess (wow); but her father is a rapist, money-launderer and friends with the world’s shadiest and most undesirable characters, her mother is crass, uneducated and had her revolting affair splashed all over the papers – not to mention the cash for access scandal. They’re both reviled by the public. Can he really not see that his social capital will be severely limited through associating with the Yorks? Or do you think he is just too great a social climber to care, in the manner of the Middletons?
Her parents are reviled by the public, but they still rub shoulders with a lot of wealthy and influential people. People who don’t give a damn about what they’ve done.
Cue a breakup announcement – this wedding was never going to happen.
Plus I think the ‘bigger wedding to bolster the people’ was PR from Mummy and Daddy to gauge public opinion/interest on her getting a massive wedding just like the Sussex’s and Cambridges did.
B has always had a terrible picker.
Oh I’m with you 100% that that PR attempt had Fergie and Andrew written all over it.
Their whole relationship you can see from the word go was rush, rush, rush, see, see, see.
I still believe that Bea is in this relationship and now engagement to try and get a one up on Dave Clark who met his partner, had a child and got married with 18 months of his breakup with Bea.
Nobody was ever gonna let her live that down.
What kind of person would rub that in her face?
I mean, four people I know have eloped this spring instead of waiting to reschedule weddings. All of them were really happy with how they celebrated, and are even more happy to be actually married now.
Is that not an option ?
The daughter of a very wealthy family was set to marry in marry in late March. Literally going to be the city’s wedding of the year. They canceled — among the things they did was tell the florists to sell the flowers that had been ordered to benefit the florists’ workers and any extra to the nonprofit of their choice. Any flowers not sold to go to nursing homes. Food ordered that was non perishable to food banks and perishable to charity that could use it.
The couple kept the date, got married and they posted photos on FB of bride, groom and parents.
They are planning to do a big one year anniversary party. (They come from huge families, so all of them would be considered a large gathering!)
If you want to be married, you do it.
This is lovely.
That’s wonderful.
We attended the zoom wedding of the daughter of my husband’s boss (Sounds more complicated than it is 😄). She was supposed to get married in California, black tie, multi-million dollar thing with a Welcome booze cruise. I was looking forward to it 😄
Anyway, they’ve postponed the reception and she got married in a local park in a cocktail dress with just the officiant and photographer. She probably has more in her trust fund than B, and she made it happen.
Sounds loveley,and celebrating the one year anniversary is really something they can look forward to.I like this a lot.
I’ve long thought that anniversary parties should be bigger celebrations than weddings. Weddings are the start of something. An anniversary is an accomplishment.
Yes, it is. Marriage and a life together should be the reason, not the wedding, of course, which tells me everything I might want to know (IRL, I don’t want to know) about these people. THAT might boost morale, actually. A big splashy party later (not paid for out of public funds) is a much better look.
Depends on where you live. In my town, the city hall’s closed and only doing drive through paying bills. They’re not issuing any liscences at the moment either. So if a couple wants to get married the city hall way in my neck of the woods, they will have to wait. And the other city halls around the metro area are also closed with some exceptions.
Not sure how it works in the UK though
That green sequin-y Vampire’s Wife dress she’s wearing looks a lot like the VW dressKate wore in Ireland. I never noticed that.
On one hand I do feel bad for her, she didn’t choose her parents and the always the bridesmaid never the bride narrative fit too perfectly for her to counter-program. On the other hand, read the room! Stop talking about your wedding!
It is indeed the same dress.
The Vampire’s Wife makes that same dress each year in different fabrics with different trims. It is one of their standard dresses.
Yep,it’s the go to ugly dress for the wealthy and well connected.
This may be heartbreaking but this is what’s best for her. She should focus on helping those in need and staying healthy. If they stay together through this and marry, then good for her. She seems to be desperate to marry because her friend and younger sister is married. This is s terrible reason to want a husband.
So they are not getting married to start their lives together.
Sorry I do hate weddings so I dont understand why they wouldn’t get married and celebrate later.
I always hold my applause or pity for aristos until the end, you just never know when the snob will come out and you’ll regret it. But I do feel bad for everyone who had a big celebration planned. My son’s birthday party is cancelled and several family members were set to graduate. It’s a hard time for everyone.
Our nephew cancelled his wedding three weeks ago. They then went to the courthouse and got married (just the two of them, with judge using social distancing). The family received some cute selfies to celebrate and there will be a party once it’s safe to have one. So… If you really want to tie the knot, you still can.
Are they even together now? If they are in self-isolation now, chances are they won’t make it to the altar. I do not feel this is a love story, but more transactional. If they must cohabitate through this crisis then most likely they (mostly him) will get a sneak-peek at the loveless life that awaits. If they are not together now, with no plans to be during the pandemic, then nothing will keep them upholding the engagement. More time being not married will just make more stark the realization a loveless union means misery to their lives.
Are there really some people out there that don’t know you can get married without having a wedding? If your primary goal is to be together & share life experiences under a legal recognition, just go sign the paperwork and get married.
In the UK, the registration offices (where you do the legal bit and get the wedding certificate/ legal papers) is closed. They are only open to process death certificates.
So, I can understand if they can’t do the legal bit now. But considering they are very wealthy, I would have thought that they may be able to pay for a registrar to process their papers (but that may look really bad if it was publicised).
I was supposed to get married last week. We cancelled our party, but I was really hoping that we could at least get the legal bit (the most important part for me) out of the way, and we could always organise a big party with our loved ones sometime later in the year. But then the registry office called to say they cancelled our appointment 🙁
@Ruby_Woo Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that – how terrible for you! I so hope you’ll be able to exchange your vows in the near future
Yeah, I think wedding season is officially screwed up for everyone the rest of the year. I’ll definitely save my tears for couples who actually paid for their own wedding deposits instead of mooching off the taxpayers. My husband and I got married at the end of February, right before they locked everyone down here in Chicago. We just went to City Hall and were planning on having a church wedding this Fall, but now we’ll probably cancel that. But then neither of us really care about the big wedding party, we’re just happy we’re married! I’m so glad we did it and didn’t decide to wait a couple of weeks, or we’d have been screwed!
@Kristina Congratulations! I hope you have a long, happy, contented and supportive life together
If you really want to get married, do it privately. Does she really think we care to see her wedding. I’m tired of these Royals.
“the invitations were never actually sent out,”
This sounds fishy. I’m sure there would have been many wealthy famous people attending who have very busy schedules and many coming from overseas, since he’s Italian. So, invitations would have been sent with plenty of notice even before this pandemic to ensure that everyone had plenty of time to block that time off. But I’m just quite sensible.
I wonder if the relationship had wound down even before the pandemic but they were going to let it fizzle out?
I myself was planning to get married last week and know many people who were planning to marry this spring/ summer. Everyone has just had to push it back/ put it on hold, till we know what’s going. There is no need to ‘formally cancel’.
Either they are breaking up or People magazine are making up drama. But either ways, she seems like a nice girl (her parents are something else) and I hope she finds happiness.
Maybe “save the dates” went out but not invitations?
Ruby I was invited to a wedding being held in a stately home on the same day and the invites we sent in Feb. We got save the date in early Jan as lots of international travellers. wedding officially cancelled mid-late March or when UK lockdown happened. I agree, fishy
I think of the faces her and others in that family made at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. I don’t feel sorry for her at all
@Mia Yes, you’re absolutely right; I’d forgotten about their vulgar and embarrassing behaviour at H&M’s beautiful wedding. They were acting like people who had never been taught how to act appropriately in public. The fragment of pity I alluded to below has just vanished!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that in a pandemic people decide what is truly important to them; small ceremonies formalizing lifetime commitments to worthy partners or big flashy royal weddings. *ahem*
well said👍
maybe he’ll just go away.
I don’t think it’s just summer weddings that are questionable at this time. I put a deposit on a venue for my daughter’s wedding venue that is scheduled for December but there are no guarantees for that either. But like her Dad said to me, it could be a time of year when we see another round of Covid not to mention the regular flu, and he’s nervous about us planning any party at all. We agreed we’d just wait and see what happens over the next few months.
As for Bea, this wedding is never gonna happen. I hope she finds someone who truly cares about her. Also, I don’t believe for a second that she said she’s going to throw a big splashy party next year to “lift the nation’s morale.” That has the chubby fingers of pedo Andy all over it. Did you see the pic Fergie posted of her washing her own floor? Are we supposed to be impressed with that? She’s probably in kahoots with pedo over that whole “lifting morale” fake story.
I think there are two categories of people: those who want a wedding, and those who want a marriage.
And I’m afraid Bea falls into the former category.
Yes, I have a small fragment of pity for her – her rapist ephebophile arrogant cretin of a father, her hideously vulgar, tacky and national-embarrassment of a mother, the berk who dumped her after a decade and wed suspiciously quickly afterwards. A seemingly glamorous (but decidedly sketchy, baggage-laden, camera-seeking) man proposes. She’s set to have the Big Do of the season, like her sister and cousins before her. Then a pandemic happens.
The thing is, she’s not remarkable enough for anyone to drag their attention away from the daily death count for. Given the levels of inequality, poverty and general misery crushing the country, it’s a positive insult for someone whose greatest achievement is to have been shoved out of Fergie’s birth canal and handed a tiara for the accomplishment to be given a big, splashy wedding. A wedding whose sizeable security bill is on the taxpayers’ slate.
If the vaguely creepy young man and she really wanted to pledge their undying devotion to one another, they could say ‘I do’ in a register office. Save the party for next year. But no – there has to be a spectacle. The Bride Must Be Seen. The Public Must Adore.
I’m putting a bet of 100/1 against the wedding happening next year, if ever. Any takers?
LOL – I wouldn’t bet against that! I didn’t believe there would be a wedding long before this announcement. I can’t put my finger on what I find so distasteful about what’s his name (what IS his name?), but sketchy about covers it.
Glad you’re back – and I hope you’re feeling better.
They would rather call it off indefinitely than JoP it or whatever they do in England and have a fancy party later**?
If this isn’t a sign to just back all the way out, idk.
** To be clear, I don’t think anyone who wants to wait this out so they can have a tradition wedding is strange. Just that for these two in particular, the wedding seems more important than the marriage and okay then
She could have Jessica Mulroney give her an I-do, Re-do wedding. That way it will televised. But seriously she will be fine, and I doubt they have to worry about losing deposits for things they reserved. I don’t think many weddings will be going ahead for the next few months. They can get to know each other for another year without the wedding pressure and public reaction to worry about. The only thing they shouldn’t do is have a baby, because he’s already a baby daddy. Don’t need that headache.
She’s not interesting enough for the public to care one way or the other.
Their wedding being cancelled was “the last thing on their mind” because “the world has so many other challenges right now” ???? Really….We’re supposed to believe this girl is soooo concerned with everybody else that she isn’t even dissapointed about her wedding being cancelled? If that’s not disingenuous I don’t know what is.
Why not just admit you’re upset? I would be if my grand royal wedding was cancelled. Such a weird thing to lie about.
I don’t think her wedding being cancelled is a sign or anything… It’s just bad timing. But if one more obstacle arises, then maybe…
Well the wedding is cancelled but the engagement is still on. So hopefully they will use this year wisely as their friendship grows and love for each other deepens. How do you do that in an arranged marriage? I have no idea.
Part of me wants to roll my eyes and say “who cares?”, but I know that there is still a segment of the population in the UK that does. I just don’t understand…for entertainment and celebrity purposes? Sure. But there are people legit invested in these people and their lives.
I’m so, so mean, and very sorry for it, but I honestly wonder if he’ll even be in the picture by the holidays.
And I want to feel sorry for her, but her allegiance to her pedo papa makes it really difficult to conjure empathy.