In early March, there were a handful of interesting gossip reports about the state of Princess Beatrice’s marriage to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Beatrice and Edo married in 2020, during the pandemic, and they have two daughters together. Edo also has a son with Dara Huang, his ex-fiancee. He left Dara for Beatrice, or at least that was how it looked at the time (Dara has indicated as much). Edo and Beatrice never seemed like a love match to me, and I always thought Edo was in it for the royal connection and to raise his own profile and the profile of his business. Well, now that the sh-t has hit the fan with Prince Andrew’s arrest and Sarah Ferguson’s international escape (??), Edo has been getting some distance from his wife and her family. He’s spent the bulk of 2026 in Florida, and now the Mail is on the case. This basically sounds like Bea and Edo are going to split any day now. Some highlights:
Edo’s Instagram is full of photos from Palm Beach, Florida: Filled with glorious photographs of sun-kissed Florida boardwalks, private yachts and exquisitely appointed properties, it is precisely the Instagram feed you would expect from a scion of Italian aristocracy who runs a high-end international interior design consultancy. Yet the carefully curated galleries posted by Edo Mapelli Mozzi have raised eyebrows, given the image of untroubled luxury they project is so at odds with the troubles engulfing his wife, Princess Beatrice. Rather than remain by her side, Edo jetted 4,500 miles to the glorious elegance of Palm Beach. Yes, he was there to promote his design business, Banda, and speak at a conference, but the optics of not being there for his wife of nearly six years are not good.
Very real distance: Sources close to Beatrice and Edo, who married in an intimate ceremony in Royal Lodge in 2020, have told The Daily Mail that there has, in fact, been notable ‘distance’ between the pair in recent months. They claim that Edo, 42, is understandably keen to avoid his business being tainted by the scandal enveloping the House of York, which may be at odds with Beatrice’s apparent determination to offer support to her beleaguered father. The timing of Edo’s Florida trip, and the flurry of posts on social media – which is, some point out, rather unlike him – has led to whispers that all might not be well with the couple.
Marriage problems: As one source told the Daily Mail: ‘Things haven’t been great for a while between them, but Beatrice has been determined to soldier on and forge a path through. Beatrice is quite different from her sister. She really wants to almost naively see the good in people and will turn a blind eye to uncomfortable truths – that is why she was blind to her father’s behaviour, and the same is true of her belief in Edo. She wants to stay together, but he seems more and more distracted by work and travel. Just when she needs him most, he’s been pulling away.’
Edo is worried about his business: Another source said: ‘He’s really worried his in-laws will affect his business. Banda has been taking off lately and he’s found some great investors among the wealthy Cotswolds set, but it’s taking up a lot of his time and energy. He’s all about himself at the moment. You have to feel for Beatrice.’ Someone else who knows the couple acknowledged: ‘There’s been distance between them with his much-increased work travel lately, which he has been posting out [on social media] heavily in a way he didn’t before.’
Edo is the kind of man who needs attention: While she is said to be ‘desperate to hold things together’ with Edo, sources add that dealing with the fallout from the crisis, not to mention being a mother to two small children, has left her with little headspace to give her husband the attention he ‘needs’. ‘He needs attention, he’s one of those men,’ a well-placed source told the Daily Mail. ‘Beatrice feels very raw and beside herself on so many levels.’
But he’s Italian: One source added that the rumours about Edo’s distant behaviour had now begun to feel all-too plausible. ‘Sadly, those rumours sound credible,’ they said. ‘It would make sense when you look at how much he’s travelling now. He’s posting about it constantly in a way he never did before.’ But they added: ‘Beatrice knows what he’s like. He’s Italian.’
Edo didn’t post anything for Mother’s Day: Last week, Edo shared further social media updates from a football match in London – the Arsenal vs Bayer Leverkusen Champions League clash. While he was happy to pay tribute to the footballers after the game on March 18, he failed to post any nod to his wife on Mother’s Day last Sunday, two days before the match.
Edo’s family: ‘Edo’s family do not want to be wrapped up in the wreckage of Andrew,’ one source claimed. ‘They want him to create distance between the Yorks and the Mapelli Mozzis and that has put enormous pressure on the marriage.’ Yet for all the speculation, Edo denied there were any problems with his marriage when approached by The Daily Mail yesterday.
The whole “my husband ran off to Florida for months while my whole life fell apart” thing is such a Mad Men plot. Edo is no Don Draper though – I think he’s probably just weighing his options and trying to figure out if the royal connection is even worth it at this point if that connection is to a sex trafficking degenerate who got arrested last month. Edo wouldn’t be the first husband to jump ship when the going gets rough, especially since he went into the marriage for all of the wrong reasons in the first place. Anyway, I don’t think they’ll get a divorce right now. As bad as this newscycle is, it would be so much worse if Edo looked like he was kicking Beatrice while she was down. The marriage will probably limp along for another year or two and then Edo will pull the plug. That’s my guess.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instar and Cover Images.
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