Royal wedding: Princess Beatrice’s fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi has controversial past
After a whirlwind romance, Princess Beatrice is engaged to a multi-millionaire property developer. Now more details have been revealed about the ring he gave her and their wedding.
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Since announcing her engagement to Italian property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi Princess Beatrice has been sporting a huge ring.
Now, new details have emerged about the 2.5 carat diamond Beatrice, 31, has been wearing after Mozzi, 34, popped the question.
UK magazine Hello! is reporting that the rock is made of two 0.75 carat baguettes, and Mozzi co-designed it with jeweller Shaun Leane, of the Shaun Leane Mayfair atelier, taking into account the royal bride-to-be’s love of Victorian jewellery and Mozzi’s art deco taste.
The ring was estimated as costing £100,000 ($A181,870) according to the Daily Mail.
Mozzi is said to have been a long-time family friend of the royals, with his family saying they have known Princess Beatrice for “most of her life”.
“The ring’s design is a fusion of Victorian and art deco — that was something that Edo requested,” Leane said according to the Mail.
”Beatrice has a love for Victorian jewellery and he has a love for art deco so we wanted to fuse two sides of their personality into the ring, to represent their unity.
“He came to me about four months ago. He was very involved in the process. When he saw the finished ring, he was blown away — he thought it was absolutely beautiful.”
But where the couple will tie the knot is a big question. Beatrice and Mozzie were reportedly wanting to get married in Italy but the bride’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth “won’t fly to Europe for the wedding”, a source revealed.
WHO IS BEATRICE’S FIANCE EDOARDO MOZZI?
As the royal family prepares for yet another wedding, reports have emerged that Princess Beatrice’s newly minted fiance has a somewhat complicated past.
Mozzi, a multi-millionaire Italian property tycoon, was engaged to marry the mother of his two-year-old son before they suddenly split last year.
Beatrice and Mozzi announced their engagement on Thursday, 11 months after the couple first started dating seriously following her sister Princess Eugenie’s wedding in October 2018.
Friends of Beatrice have said the Italian helped mend the royal’s broken heart after she split with longtime boyfriend in 2016 after 10 years together.
Mozzi (known as Edo to his friends) is the entrepreneur son of a skiing aristocrat named Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi.
He has found happiness with Beatrice after his engagement to glamorous Chinese-American architect Dara Huang came to an abrupt halt last year.
Huang and Mapelli Mozzi share custody of their son, Christopher Woolf, who is known to family as “Woolfie”.
After the couple broke up, both remained in London so “Woolfie” would see both of his parents regularly.
Sources have reportedly told The Sun, it was “a very awkward crossover of romances”.
“They were still living together when Edo realised after Eugenie’s wedding, that he was falling for Bea.
“Dara did not take the news well, although she has come to terms with the situation now.
“But initially she felt very let-down.”
Huang is yet to address news of his engagement publicly — instead the architect has been posting updates of her recent business trip to Thailand and being “jet-lagged” in London.
Buckingham Palace announced the engagement in a statement on Thursday morning (local time).
The couple “became engaged while away for the weekend in Italy earlier this month,” the palace said.
The Duke and Duchess of York are delighted to announce the engagement of Princess Beatrice to Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Read the full announcement here: https://t.co/E7VRBC7H96 pic.twitter.com/7sSIVy8Kmj
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 26, 2019
“The wedding will take place in 2020. Further details will be announced in due course.”
The couple issued a statement saying: “We are extremely happy to be able to share the news of our recent engagement. We are both so excited to be embarking on this life adventure together and can’t wait to be married.”
“We share so many similar interests and values and we know this will stand us in great stead for the years ahead, full of love and happiness.”
The Duke and Duchess of York issued a statement saying: “We are thrilled that Beatrice and Edoardo have got engaged, having watched their relationship develop with pride. We are the lucky parents of a wonderful daughter who has found her love and companion in a completely devoted friend and loyal young man. We send them every good wish for a wonderful family future.”
“It’s been a long time coming and you two are meant to be,” Eugenie said via Instagram.
Princess Beatrice’s mum, Sarah Ferguson, tweeted: “I know what a mother feels, so I have tears of joy. I am so proud of this sensational news. Andrew and I are just the luckiest people ever to have two great sons-in-law.”
Mr Mozzi’s parents, Nikki Williams-Ellis and Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi said, “We are truly delighted about Edoardo and Beatrice’s engagement”.
“Our family has known Beatrice for most of her life. Edo and Beatrice are made for each other, and their happiness and love for each other is there for all to see. They share an incredibly strong and united bond, their marriage will only strengthen what is already a wonderful relationship.”
The happy news comes amid ongoing woes for Prince Andrew, who has recently been forced to defend himself over damaging accusations about his friendship with the late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Beatrice’s sister Eugenie married a wealthy wine merchant, Jack Brooksbank, last year at a glitzy wedding at Windsor Castle, which was packed with celebrities, and included a horse-drawn carriage parade.
The wedding bore strong similarities to that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle earlier in the year.
Beatrice and Eugenie are ninth and 10th in the line of succession to the British throne.
Originally published as Royal wedding: Princess Beatrice’s fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi has controversial past