Her Royal Highness, Princess Beatrice of York, tied the knot with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi today, July 17, 2020, in a private ceremony at The Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park.
The secret wedding ceremony was only attended by close family members, following government's guidelines on strict social distancing. The intimate reception was believed to have been held at the ground of her parents' home at the Royal Lodge.
The secret wedding ceremony was only attended by close family members, following government's guidelines on strict social distancing. The intimate reception was believed to have been held at the ground of her parents' home at the Royal Lodge.
The newlyweds emerged from the chapel
The Palace said in a statement:
"The private wedding ceremony of Princess Beatrice and Mr. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi took place at 11:00am on Friday 17th of July at The Royal Chapel of All Saints, Royal Lodge, Windsor.
"The small ceremony was attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and close family. The wedding took place in accordance with all relevant government's guidelines".
The Queen and Prince Philip attended the wedding ceremony
Dubbed as the royal secret wedding of the year, the couple decided to push through with their wedding plan this year than having it postponed next year.
Princess Beatrice is the first royal to wed in the time of pandemic. And the first to hold the wedding ceremony at the private chapel of the Queen in Windsor.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh leaving Royal Lodge after the ceremony
Originally, the couple set to wed last May 29, 2020 at the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, with 150 guests but due to the pandemic and the restrictions of lockdown put in place by the government, the wedding had to be cancelled.
The private wedding today was ultra exclusive, photographers weren't able to get photos of the newlyweds and guests except with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Even the bride's parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were not captured.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh with the newlyweds outside the church
The Queen and Prince Philip were the first to leave after the ceremony and traveled back to Windsor Castle to prepare for Captain Tom Moore's knighthood ceremony.
In March, the Church of England had to cancel all church ceremonies including weddings in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Princess Beatrice with her grandparents in 2018 attending the wedding of Princess Eugenie
The church ceremonies were permitted back in July 4 but with a very strict policy of just 30 attendees for weddings with no choir allowed.
The couple has not released any pictures and only the Queen and Prince Philip photographed leaving the scene.
The wedding church venue
All Saints Church is very significant to the Queen because it's there where she regularly attended a church service when she's staying at Windsor Castle. It's a very private church with its vicinity closely guarded.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints
It's also called Queen Victoria's Chapel and located within the ground of Windsor Great Park, just 100 yards away from the Royal Lodge, the country home of Princess Beatrice's parents, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
The Yorks in 2019 during Prince Andrew's rehearsal for Trooping the Colors
The Duke and Duchess of York's country home, Royal Lodge, Windsor
The Duke and Duchess of York spent the entire lockdown period quarantining at this 30-bedroom royal home with their youngest daughter, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank.
Significant Date: July 17, 2020
The date is quite significant to the British royal family.
July 17, 2020 is the 103rd anniversary of the changing of the royal house name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.
The Queen and Prince Philip in June 2020
In an astounding coincidence, it's also the 103rd anniversary of the creation of the noble House of Mountbatten, when Prince Philip's maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, anglicized Battenberg to Mountbatten.
The change was due to bitter anti-German sentiments in England during World War I. And to ensure stability of the British throne, King George V decided to eliminate all German traces in his kingdom, this includes, discarding the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal house name of Queen Victoria and giving all his royal German cousins living in England with English noble titles.
The current surname of the Queen and Prince Philip's offspring who don't carry the title of a prince and a princess is Mountbatten-Windsor.
The Historic Change in 1917
Following the arrest of his cousins, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra, King George V, the Queen's grandfather, moved to secure his kingdom by changing its royal house name, from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.
Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, were both Germans
It was World War I and the bitter anti-German sentiment was sweeping across the United Kingdom. Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a German royal house name, he had a German wife and had royal German cousins living in England.
The choice of Windsor was appropriate, it was the name of the castle that had been home to English sovereigns for many centuries and served as the status symbol of the British monarchy.
All cousins of the king living in the UK bearing German royal names were forced to abandon their titles and were made British noblemen.
Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth engagement in 1947
Prince Philip's maternal grandparents, Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine were obliged to abandon their royal titles, both German in origin.
Prince Louis was created the 1st Marquess of Milford-Haven and took the name Louis Mountbatten. Prince Philip adopted the name in 1947 when he abandoned his Greek royal title to marry the then Princess Elizabeth.
Marrying into the European Aristocracy
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a millionaire property developer, is a member of the Italian nobility.
His father, Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, who represented Britain in the 1972 Summer Olympics in the skiing event, descended from the prominent Italian aristocracy, and whose family owned the Mapelli Mozzi villa, a splendid neo-classical palace in the province of Bergamo, Northern Italy.
Villa Mapelli Mozzi in Bergamo
Though he is not using prominently the noble title of a count in his business dealings, in European standard of aristocracy he is Count Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Princess Beatrice will be most likely known as Countess Beatrice Mapelli Mozzi following the wedding.
Best Wishes to the Mapelli Mozzi couple!
The wedding of Princess Beatrice is the only wedding of a British royal that was not shown in public. She is the sixth grandchild of the Queen and Prince Philip to marry.
Princess Beatrice will be most likely known as Countess Beatrice Mapelli Mozzi following the wedding.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are the only grandchildren of the Queen and Prince Philip to marry into the scion of European aristocracy.
The Princesses with their parents and partners in 2019 Trooping the Colors rehearsal
Eugenie's husband, Jack Brooksbank, a wine merchant, is also a remainder (potential heir) to the Brooksbank baronetcy of Healaugh manor, a title of the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, the lowest hereditary rank in the British nobility.
Jack's great-great grandfather was Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who was also a direct ancestor of his mother-in-law, Sarah, Duchess of York.
Jack's great-great grandfather was Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who was also a direct ancestor of his mother-in-law, Sarah, Duchess of York.
Princess Beatrice wore the Queen's tiara
Two important pieces of history were seen during the princess's wedding. She wore the Queen's Mary Russian Fringe tiara which was worn by her grandmother, the Queen, during her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.
Queen Mary Russian Fringe tiara
The Queen (left) wearing the tiara on her wedding day in 1947
The second royal to wear such tiara was the Queen's only daughter, Princess Anne, for her first marriage to Captain Mark Phillips, in 1973.
The tiara was made for Queen Mary, the consort of King George V, in 1919 and was loaned to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, when she married Prince Philip, in 1947.
The dress belonged to the Queen
Princess Beatrice wore a vintage dress on her wedding day, this "something borrowed" was significant to the Queen because she wore it twice in her lifetime. And designed by her favorite designer, Norman Hartnell, who designed her wedding dress in 1947 and coronation dress in 1953.
The wedding dress was made from Peau de soie tafetta and organza trimmed with duchess satin and encrusted with diamante. Design was altered to suit the wedding occasion.
Best Wishes to the Mapelli Mozzi couple!
The wedding of Princess Beatrice is the only wedding of a British royal that was not shown in public. She is the sixth grandchild of the Queen and Prince Philip to marry.
Best wishes and congratulations! 💏💞💖
Wedding photos credit: Photo: Benjamin Wheeler
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