So comfortable is Princess Beatrice is the company of her new in-laws that the royal, who has wed boyfriend Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 37, in a secret ceremony, it has been announced today, that she even spent lockdown at the home of her very well-connected new mother-in-law, Nikki Shale.
Princess Beatrice married Italian property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret ceremony at Windsor Castle, with both Edo’s father, Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, and his mother thought to be in attendance.
The couple were due to tie the knot at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace on 29 May but their ceremony was postponed due to Covid-19 and no new date was given by the palace at the time. It is thought the couple exchanged vows today at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, in the grounds of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s home of Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park.
The 31-year-old royal has officially become daughter-in-law to skiing star and Italian count Alessandro – who has dual Italian and UK citizenship – and his former wife three-times married Nikki, who mixes in English high society and has gained an MBE for her charity work.
The couple divorced when their son and his sister Natalie were young, with Nikki now on her third marriage to sculptor David William-Ellis, following the tragic death of her second husband Christopher Shale in 2011 at the age of 54.
Scroll down for video
A lock-down royal wedding! Princess Beatrice has tied the knot with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in secret, it has been revealed
Beatrice’s new father-in-law holds both British and Italian citizenship and competed for Great Britain as a skier at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Edo’s mother Nikki Shale hosted the happy couple during lockdown at her £1.5 million home in Chipping Norton (pictured, Nikki with her MBE in 2019)
Well-connected: Nikki was married to Christopher Shale, a senior Tory and a close friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron, before his death at Glastonbury Festival (pictured, Edo with Nikki and David Cameron in 2011 after the memorial service)
Both Edo’s parents expressed their delight at the couple’s engagement earlier this year
Alessandro, an Italian count now 68, skied for Great Britain at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Japan, and is a firm fixture in European high society. Beatrice has long enjoyed a close relationship with her property developer husband’s father.
Edo also has a very close relationship with his mother, with the then soon-to-be-marrieds spent lockdown at Shale’s £1.5 million country house near Chipping Norton. Shale has been a friend of the Yorks for decades and is considered well connected in high society.
She split from Alessandro when her son was young, keeping custody of Edo and his sister Natalia, while her former husband moved to France to live.
Shale’s second husband, Edo’s step-father, was Christopher Shale, a senior Tory and a close friend of former prime minister David Cameron.
He collapsed and died in 2011 at Glasonbury Festival, after going missing for about 18 hours before he was found in a cubicle in the VIP area.
An inquest subsequently found he had been suffering from undiagnosed heart disease resulting from high blood pressure.
Nikki with new husband sculptor David William-Ellis; she became engaged to the sculptor in 2016, with Edo congratulating the couple on social media, writing ‘I’m over the moon for you both’
His stepfather and Nikki’s second husband was Christopher Shale (pictured), a senior Tory and a close friend of former prime minister David Cameron. He died in 2011
Family affair: Beatrice has known Edo’s parents since childhood and is said to be comfortable in the company of her new in-laws
Princess Beatrice and Edo have kept a low profile after postponing their May 29 wedding, which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
So devoted was Edo to his stepfather that he named his son Christopher after him.
Beatrice and the rest of her family attended the funeral, with Nikki eventually becoming engaged for the third time to sculptor David Williams-Ellis.
Supportive son Edo posted a photo of the couple on their engagement in 2016, writing: ‘I’m over the moon for you both’.
Princess Beatrice’s nuptials had been due to take place next week in St James’ Palace on May 29th but were postponed due to the pandemic.
The Duchess of York said at the time: ‘It’s sad for me that Beatrice, she was going to get married next week, but they postponed the wedding.
‘Edo and Beatrice have been living with her future mother-in-law who is lovely. Great friend of mine.
‘But I’m missing my other daughter but it’s just like everybody else, we are just the same family as everybody else.’
It had been thought that Beatrice and Edoardo were self-isolating together in her apartment in St James’ Palace in London.
Instead, they are at Edoardo’s mother Nikki’s £1.5million country house near Chipping Norton.
Nikki split with Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi when Edo was young, while her second husband Christopher Shale, a senior Tory and a close friend of former prime minister David Cameron, died of a heart attack at Glastonbury Festival in 2011.
The dashing Italian property developer who won Bea’s heart: Father-of-one Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 37, is a long-time family friend who swept her off her feet
Princess Beatrice has married Italian property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in secret at Windsor Castle
Princess Beatrice married fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret wedding in Windsor earlier today – but who is the man that stole the royal’s heart?
The happy couple were due to wed at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in London with 150 guests on May 29, but Covid-19 meant they had to postpone their big day.
Having kept their plans quiet, they tied the knot this morning in front of just 20 guests including the Queen, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, at All Saints Chapel in Windsor Great Park.
Beatrice, 31, and Edo, 37, are long-time family friends, but started dating in October 2018 and got engaged in September last year.
The pair said of their 11-month whirlwind romance in a statement: ‘We are extremely happy to be able to share the news of our recent engagement.
Property developer Edoardo is the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Shale, and has been a friend of the Yorks for some time. The father-of-one has a son, Christopher, with his former partner Dara Huang. He’s said to enjoy an amicable relationship with Huang and prides himself on still being an active part of his son’s life. Edoardo was educated at the prestigious Radley school in Oxfordshire before studying for a Master’s in politics at Edinburgh.
He is believed to have known Beatrice for years, the royal attended the funeral of Edoardo’s stepfather, Christopher Shale, who died at of a heart attack at Glastonbury in 2011; Shale was a close friend of David Cameron.
Father-of-one Edo has a young son, Christopher, whose nickname is Wolfie, with his former partner Dara Huang – meaning Beatrice is now a stepmother. Right, Beatrice with Edo
She used to run a property company and was awarded an MBE by David Cameron as a parting gift following his resignation at Prime Minister in 2016.
While Princess Eugenie and Fergie have been active on social media throughout the pandemic, Princess Beatrice has kept a lower profile.
The royal has shared two video messages with patronages during the lockdown period from what was an unknown location.
Princess Beatrice with sister Princess Eugenie and parents Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew
Beatrice, daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, was set to walk down the aisle in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace in London.
The princess was overjoyed after becoming engaged on a weekend trip to Italy last September, and the couple said they could not wait to be married.
But plans were changed after the Government called on all people in the UK, particularly the over-70s, to avoid all non-essential contact and travel as part of unprecedented peacetime measures aimed at controlling the spread of Covid-19.
And in April, Boris Johnson put a ban on weddings as the virus raged through the UK public.