Well, People Magazine got an exclusive on Princess Beatrice’s wedding, but the exclusive doesn’t include additional photos. I didn’t expect that, honestly – I saw some theories that Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi would sell some additional photos to People Mag or Hello, but I think that with the palace stage-managing everything, that’s not going to happen. I could be wrong! What we are getting: lots of exclusives about how Beatrice is super-tight with her petty grandmother. Plus, a confirmation of something we believed as soon as we saw the photos: that Beatrice’s choice to wear the Queen’s old dress was a last minute decision. We knew that as soon as we saw how poorly the dress was altered.
Queen Elizabeth bestowed the ultimate “something borrowed” upon her granddaughter Princess Beatrice on her wedding day: a hand-me-down dress crafted by the Queen’s own wedding-gown designer, Norman Hartnell. But wearing her grandmother’s dress wasn’t always the plan for Beatrice’s big day, which came together in just two weeks when the U.K. government announced that the wedding ban due to lockdown measures would be lifted on July 4. After a last-minute change of heart about her dress, Beatrice “made a request [to borrow one from the Queen], and that was kindly granted—and it looked amazing!” a friend of the bride and groom tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “It was touching for both of them.”
Beatrice’s bridal look was made all the more special by the fact that she also wore the same tiara the Queen wore at her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip.
“Beatrice talks about her grandmother often, and it’s clear there’s a strong bond there—the dress and the tiara could not have been more perfect,” says another friend.
The couple, along with Beatrice’s mother, the Duchess of York Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, and the groom’s mother, Nikki Williams-Ellis, planned the revamped day in record time. “They swung into action and brought it all together in two weeks, which is quite extraordinary,” says the friend of the couple. Adds the friend: “Beatrice was so excited about it all, and I think they just jumped at the chance when the ban was removed. They were both desperate for it to happen. They wanted everything to be very classic and elegant; small but refined. It felt romantic and lovely.”
As they settle into newlywed life, the couple will continue to reside in London, where Beatrice works for Boston-based tech company Afiniti, which has offices around the globe. They are also planning a honeymoon at a later date. “They’re terribly happy. They’re besotted with each other,” says a source close to the family.
In case anyone is doing the math on when the wedding was thrown together, here’s the timeline: on July 2nd, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire. On July 3rd, the acting US Attorney for the Southern District gave a press conference about Maxwell’s arrest and she said she would welcome Prince Andrew “coming in to talk with us,” pretty much confirming that Andrew is still a person of interest (as opposed to a witness) in the ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, rape, blackmail and human trafficking operation. On July 4th, the UK said people can start having socially distanced, small weddings. So… yeah. We thought that Beatrice’s wedding was organized as a distraction to her father’s many issues. We were right.
I also believe there’s a conspiracy with the borrowed wedding gown too! I think that was some kind of play by Fergie and Andrew to further ingratiate Beatrice and the Queen. It sounds like this whole wedding was taken away from Beatrice and used by her parents and Edo’s mother.
Photos courtesy of Buckingham Palace’s social media.
very pretty though. the flowers are stunning too. good luck to them.
A distraction from her Andrew’s “troubles” but also, I suspect, Bea and Edo coming to grips with the fact that *nothing* regarding her disgraced father was ever going to get better for them — there is no future in sight where this has blown over, Andrew has been restored to royal duties, it would be remotely acceptable to include him in wedding photos, a splashy wedding would be possible, etc.
This is how I feel as well. But I still do think the dress was gorgeous on her. With all of the Instagram filters on the shots, I do wish we could see some normal light photos!
I do think they made the best of a bad situation. So many of us were sure Edo would bail without the full-on royal wedding experience, it was nice to see them lean into their small family wedding and just be happy to be married.
@jessamine the first time i saw his pic I knew they were going to end up together
They were never ever going to get a big fancy wedding like her sister did and she has her own parents to thank for that but will those 2 grifters take responsibility? No they won’t.
Also who paid for it? Sure as hell wasn’t her parents. Granny and Edo’s parents probably forked up the dough with Andrew ‘providing’ the venue’s.
Also? The realisation that her father may truly be indicted sooner rather than later if Maxwell gave up critical information once caught. I think that’s the more realistic take than a distraction.
I don’t think there’s a conspiracy about the dress at all. I think her original dress would have been big and cathedral worthy, and she ended up in a chapel. She needed something else and family stepped in.
100%
Not Beatrice’s fault. She looked wonderful and it seemed a fabulous wedding.
This is why I was rolling my eyes at the “Her wedding is true royalty”. People seem to be forgetting that she had an original date of May which she had to cancel. She was reportedly seen walking into this Italian designer’s shop a few times. This definitely was NOT planned from the beginning.
And if her wedding is “true royalty” was the Future Future King and Queen Consort’s wedding not “true royalty” then? Or what do you call her own sister’s wedding then?
But all things considered, they made the best out of the current situation and it’s worked out well.
Don’t worry, taxpayers will continue to shell out for other royal celebrations lol.
^^agreed. Though I don’t like it lmao
AND, I think Daily Mail? had a story about her wedding dress. the original dress. Not this one. LOL.
I don’t think Bea was happy with this compared to the large wedding she envisioned. Yet she is credited with “wanting a small wedding.” I doubt this, it was more a necessity and she had no choice.
Exactly. OF course “she wanted a small wedding” when the only other option was no wedding at all.
Tht’s just the press and some people being ninnies some always make it about a royal vs royal
It’s a beautiful wedding setting no doubt and I think she looks good. But at the same time I have no trouble believing this is pandering to the Queen or in layman’s terms sucking up. Wearing the same tiara that she used for her wedding and then deconstructing her granny’s dress, that’s two elements of her outfit “paying tribute” unless Petty Betty really offered that tiara herself. You can still love someone and try to suck up for your own benefit. We all know the Yorks will be at a major disadvantage when she’s gone. Beatrice would be thinking of the inheritance her future kids would need.
Nonetheless wish her a happy marriage.
I think QEII would have had no problem saying ‘no’ to Bea’s request for that tiara had she not wanted her to wear it. Same for the dress.
Yea of course she can say no, but isn’t it flattering to be asked? Also, for some older folks, it is highly endearing to see such a tribute, especially if that may be the last grandchild wedding you’ll attend. It wouldn’t hurt Beatrice to get some direct inheritance money instead of it all going to her father first. After the Queen is gone and Charles is King, what would be her appeal to her current company? I don’t think she is close to Charles and forget about William and Kate.
Not once in my life did it ever cross my mind to suck up to either grandma. Pandering (good word) seems so distasteful and grasping, especially from so-called royalty.
I wonder if the Queen asked her what dress she wanted to borrow, if the Queen said “you can borrow this dress and only this dress” or what. Also, does the Queen just keep at Windsor all her dresses from over the years? Maybe this one was considered significant because of the designer?
Knowing it was a last minute change (which many of us suspected all along) – it seems even more a calculated move to emphasize Beatrice’s role as a blood princess and to show once again how the Queen will protect the Yorks. The tiara alone would have made that statement, so using that dress really does take it up a notch.
Fergie is probably so mad she couldn’t even be in a publicly released picture, lol.
I think HM just told her to speak to Angela Kelly
I think many are saved especially formal ones. There’s a long standing display at Kensington palace of some of her dresses as well as Margaret’s and Diana’s though many of the lattter’s had obviously been auctioned.
People think this dress is prudent recycling. The (first?) celebration of this marriage may be prudent compared to other royal weddings. But that dress and many others are maintained over the years using a good chunk of royal maintenance budget every year. So it MAY cost about the same as a new dress or even more if we consider the actual cost of the old dress plus yearly maintenance.
For most brides, this would have been a dream wedding: a gorgeous vintage dress with sentiment attachment, a magnificent tiara, a really pretty old church on the grounds of a castle, spectacular flowers, a small enough guest list that you get time to spend with everyone.
It really is my favorite royal wedding of all time. It’s absolutely what I wanted, though I was a 22 year old baby and easily swayed when I got married!
And a rapist father conveniently hidden in the background, getting away with his crimes because his mummy illegally uses her position to keep him from being arrested.
She and Edo attended an event with Chinese diplomats after Andrew’s interview, no? That puts Beatrice and Edo squarely in the grifter category.
Wait what? That doesn’t sound good but what exactly would they be grifting or have to benefit?
Exactly, Notasugar! Prince Andrew, Fergrifter, Beatrice & Udon went to dinner, posed for an official photo with the Chinese diplomat to UK, Liu & wife, and had an Chinese Embassy dinner together.
And this was after that horrific interview, when Andrew was meant to have completely stepped back from being a senior royal. Except he allowed the Chinese Embassy to publicly say Andrew and his ex wife and daughter were relating ‘formal’ and ‘encouraging’ words directly from the Queen. Which cannot be done in any unofficial capacity and is completely unethical and problematic.
Andrew, Fergie & Beatrice and Edo were probably looking for the deals like he got from Abu Dhabi and could get from Chinese diplomats in terms of ‘trade envoy’ lol and real estate. Kushners/Ed, Sophie & Andrew etc. pimp to get deals to help their accounts while Russia/China/UAE thinks of them like white-washing dupes & marks.
There is no difference between Beatrice and Ivanka at this point. They are both playing the game.
That picture with the Chinese ambassador was shady as hell, especially with Fergie in there. I think she doesn’t think her dad did anything wrong or deserves to be punished. I also think that until Covid hot, they were planning to go all out with a big wedding, regardless of any public perception. I could understand why Beas parents weren’t in any of the released photos, but neither were any with her sister and brother in-law. That was weird. Anyway, they’re officially married now and can move forward.
It certainly is for me. I know everyone is upset with Bea’s family and have conspiracy theories about this, that, and the other.
But I can’t get up the energy to be mad about this. I look at this and see beauty and hopefulness. I was close to my grandmother, more so than my parents. I wish I could’ve had my grandmother at my wedding and had the honor of having “borrowed” a dress from her.
Andrew being a rapist of underaged girls who are sex trafficking victims isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a crime. Let’s stop whitewashing his actual crimes here. Any regular guy photographed with a victim and the procurer for an international underage sex trafficking ring would have been dragged to a police station years ago.
Beatrice got a wedding that Andrew’s victims will never get so my sympathy for her is minimal. Plus her attendance at the Chinese embassy with her dad shows she is okay with the grifting. She’s no different than Ivanka, whom most people criticize mightily.
@Nic919 , nobody is whitewashing anything here. People are going on and on about how this wedding is so much “less” than what she or anyone would have wanted. My point, which you ignored, is that most brides in the world, including those victims you tossed in here, would have considered this a dream wedding. I did not say she deserved sympathy, in fact, pretty much the opposite. And I suspect MissMarieRose’s comment about conspiracy was in reference to the theories that this was all an attempt to put Beatrice in better standing with her grandmother, not in reference to Andrew”s crimes, which are indeed crimes. Nobody here is challenging that.
I agree. It’s not about Beatrice herself and all the issues around Andrew so much as the fact that rather than being ‘deserving’ of pity because she didn’t get a big royal wedding, this was instead a wedding most people would be happy, if not thrilled, to have. So those going on a put ‘poor, robbed’ Beatrice on social media, etc can just sit down.
I agree! The bodice isn’t my favorite – the straps when QEII wore it are awkward and I think the added sleeves made an improvement but overall this is a dress better made strapless, though I understand there is a rule against that for the BRF – but I love the silver shooting stars. This is a sweet and simple affair and overall appeals to my personal aesthetic. I think the tiara is too big but the sentiment behind it makes it special. I married my husband in my grandfather’s back yard which is a modest description – he lives in a beautifully restored midcentury brick home directly on the river with massive live oaks. It was intentionally simple and small and when the ceremony was done we moved the chairs over to waiting round tables and let guests choose their own seating. We didn’t have any trendy stuff, etc. I look back on it fondly with the one wish that it had been smaller – and we only had 50 people in attendance, mostly family. 😂
Any chance she’s saving her first dress choice for a bigger ceremony down the line? It’d be totally unnecessary, but the her parents are notoriously out of touch.
She’s a ‘blood’ princess and Andrew is a stickler for status. I don’t find it unbelievable that she would have a bigger party in the future. That’s why I find the fawning response that it was romantic, intimate and prudent, laughable. Just wait fawning taxpayers, you’ll get to continue paying for this family’s celebrations for a long time. And those racist critics of HM will turn around and say it is tradition and royal for Beatrice to celebrate.
A massive church blessing services for their one year anniversary, followed by huge party at Buckingham Palace.
I have no doubt of that. She will get that church blessing and the huge party where she might have that “extra” wedding dress to wear at the party.
The original release mentioned they would be preparing something bigger yes.
People are projecting a lot and overpraising a pragmatic decision.
I dont think she will have another ceremony . Perhaps a big party somewhere or maybe voewl renewal sometime down the line
Eugenie seems like the more emotionally tough sister. Beatrice seems like a hothouse flower raised to think other people will always take care of her. Her parents are awful, Edo seems sketchy. I hope everything works out well but really I hope Beatrice finds some independence. It really does seem like her wedding was used as a prop to curry favor with the Queen.
Eugenie seems smart enough to stay out of the limelight and not take part in the grift, as Beatrice has done.
I said when the photos dropped that the dress was an appeal to the Queen. Anyways it was obvious that it was a last minute wedding, they’re very wealthy, they can afford to put together a last minute wedding.
This wedding is set to distract from Andrew’s mess. A federal judge rules today if Gigi Maxwell’s civil suit details are unsealed. Coincidence?
It was a beautiful wedding, if it came together in 2 weeks. The dress was beautiful. The flowers were amazing. The tiara worked well with everything. This just proved there’s no need for all that pomp when a royal wedding can come off as well as this one did. Regardless of the reasons behind the timing, Bea & Edo got their day. They got married. The rest doesn’t matter because the British press aren’t going to talk about Andrew & Ghislaine Maxwell. They would rather throw Harry & Meghan under various buses than be investigative journalists tackling the connections between Andy & Epstein/Maxwell.
This is not going to be the practice in future, It’s an exception to the rule. Lavish weddings will not stop.
“Bea talks about her grandmother often.”
I bet she finds a way to work her into every conversation.
I don’t see how Beatrice’s wedding can be considered a distraction from the Andrew stuff, when every time anyone talks about Beatrice, they are reminded of and talk about Andrew…
I think they just wanted to get married, saw that the Covid situation was not improving much and that waiting for the perfect time might mean waiting until 2021, maybe even 2022… and so they just went for it at the earliest possible time.
I feel sorry for her, unable to get out from under her father’s shadow, even just for one day.
Andrew cannot escape this scandal – and yes, Andrew is always being mentioned when his daughters are covered. A distraction would be a royal story that is about something not remotely connected to Andrew.
Beatrice was never going to get a big wedding like her sister because of her father’s scandal. Then she had to cancel and post-phone. I think she really wanted to be married and it is hard to wait indefinitely because there’s no deadline on a pandemic.
However, I also think that the BRF used this event to get some good PR and it is clear that the public announcement was stage-managed in order to reduce Andrew’s presence. But, as you said, any coverage of Andrew’s daughters will mention Andrew and his scandal.
I think that Beatrice and Edo made the best of a difficult situation and the palace tried very hard to minimize any mention of Andrew.
I feel a little bad for her too, she is always going to be under that shadow, and I imagine that he has gaslighted his daughters for years to believe that it’s not true. And maybe she did just want to get married – a big royal wedding isn’t happening any time soon, maybe they just decided to do it now. And if it was done to distract from Andrew, that’s sad, because it should be their choice when to get married.
i didn’t realize the dress was vintage QE, but I like it. I think the original, without the poofy sleeves, is better though.
It rediculous to think the York gals should pause thier lives judging by thier comments in a indefiniet manner. They have theirr own lives to live too. Andy is to blame for the hurt he caused others not them, or anybody else. People are sort of shifting the blame on here, judging by some comments. Heck even one of Andy’s victims have made a sympathtic comment about them.
Absolutely love the flowers!
I think she looks beautiful and if it were for all the noise about her groom, her father and all the other toxicity around her, this would be a fairytale wedding.
I can’t get past the bottom of the dress. It’s terrible. The sleeves, while not my favourite, flow into the original dress. The bottom though? Blah.
Anyway, she’ll probably have an Italian ceremony next year and wear something that I like better then 🙂
I don’t mind the sleeves, but WHAT IS UP WITH THE BOTTOM OF THAT DRESS? WHAT DRESSMAKER/SEAMSTRESS/TAILOR IS LIKE, YES, LET’S TACK ON SOME DIFFERENT COLORED FABRIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS GORGEOUS DRESS
Yes, the bottom of the dress was stunning when the queen wore it originally. The alteration is terrible.
Beatrice probably needed to add *some* type of sleeve no matter what, because a lot of churches require women to cover their shoulders.
I wonder if she’s taller than the Queen, and needed to add length to the gown? Whatever the reason, the hem is terrible, and it looked much better on the Queen.
I tried but I can’t get past the sleeves. I really think the two neckline strings (thingies?) could be pinned down and then unpinned to restore it. Use other sleeve types. Colour is good. I love ivory for wedding dresses.
I have to say liz of house petty looked gorgeous in that dress back in the day.
Yes! And I love the original bubbly hem versus what it is now
It was an absolutely stunning dress then and still looks gorgeous on Bea, except for the hem.
To me, the Queen looks so much like her sister Princess Margaret in those old black and white photos. Gorgeous!
The flowers are just beautiful and her hair and (lack of) jewelery choices were really great…but the dress is not a great fit, it’s too short or not short enough…as a tea length it would be perfect…(imo)
Are royals supposed to be sentimental? Then why marry with queen wedding tiara or her dress. Queen marriage is disastrous on inside and she hangs on to Philip the same way kate does. But at least Philip changes for some time. I think Beatrice was desperate to get married because all the rumors who do ex live with him and iron his clothes etc. This fellow will openly cheat on her Beatrice raised as Windsor will surely look away because according to the world she has a handsome hubby. Only Eugenie and harry won the jackpot. Edo was blue blood and from Charles and William we know they openly cheat because of its their social standard. Poor Beatrice. Edo is there for some serious benefits because no sane person will marry after Meghan and Andrew debacle. We can pass Meghan because she doesn’t know how the upper class in the UK works but this guy brought up there and he works in a business where the name is important. In spite of all this Andrew case this guy still hangs there it is because of love? I highly doubt it. Because when in love humans often put up with abuse and neglect, addict, etc. But they can’t stand when your spouse cheat and you associate with the rapist. An example is Diana she can’t stand that Charles doesn’t love her and that leads to divorce. But kate on other hand openly knows her hubby cheat and doesn’t love her but she is putting up is because of title in the end. The same way this guy hangs on to yorks when your father in law accused of raping children and he still there instead of running for hills says a lot about him when he has a child of his own. Having child will have different views on these pedophile and these guys still allowed his child near andrew.
How is Meghan a “debacle” and how can she even be in the same sentence as Andrew. Andrew consorted with a criminal. Meghan was just not going to be accepted by the Establishment whatever she did. She did nothing wrong. Harry himself probably was surprised by the backstabbing by his brother and sister in law and the way Kate conducted herself with Meghan. The Queen is not in the same position as Kate because the Queen is In Charge and not expendable like other consorts have been. SHe can turn a blind eye towards Philip but has nothing to worry about because she’s the monarch and he’s the consort.
Meghan debacle is how racist Windsor was to her when edo has half Asian son by himself. Harry has eye-opening when he has the son of black and he sees the things from different view because now he has the son and wife of color. Edo was there when some stuff about Meghan was plain racist and he simply stands by Windsor. queen would have divorce him but she didnt.
The Queen was all about Keeping Up Appearances. And ostriching where she ignored what went on with Philip.
Ugh I hate the context of the event and it’s too bad if it’s just a distraction but the dress is lovely and she looks lovely and I disagree with all the criticism. Also, this is the one time it actually downed on me what it must be like to be a bride and try your best to look good on your wedding day only to be torn apart in comments by indifferent outsiders who are picking your look apart just for the sake of it. There’s literally nothing wrong with her look, she looks good. I was able to look critically at wedding dresses of other celebrities but I was not aware of Princess Beatrice’s existence before so to me she’s just a girl trying to get married and looks very good and is a lovely bride and it just doesn’t sit right with me that people are having all these opinions about the style and outfit and hair and accessories, it’s kinda nuts tbh
There was no reason for any photos of this event to be released, no reason. This wedding took place now, with this dress and tiara, as a PR move to cover her father’s crimes. Beatrice is complicit in all of it. Nothing lovely about that.
1. It’s not covering anything, it’s drawing attention to it.
2. Of course pictures were going to be released. When have pictures of a royal wedding ever not been released?
3. This poor girl could have gotten married in October when Ghislaine catches Covid, or Spring 2021 when pre-trial shenanigans happen, or Summer 2021 during the trial, or 2022 when some civil procedure is underway, or 2023 when a new documentary comes out… if you’re looking for it, you will always find a connection to the scandals. How long should she have waited exactly?
4. Not even gonna touch your comment that Beatrice is complicit in her father’s crimes, that’s… no words.
We can all agree we hate Andrew. But some of you need to take a step back and realize how you sound…
@Katherine People and the press have always picked apart her looks. I truly believe she just wanted to get married and start a family of her own. They could have waited to have a bigger wedding of their own, but they didnt, but it could also been about optics as well, could have been about all things at once. Just people are making it too black and white. Like I said I truly believe they wnated to get married and start a family of their own as well having her grandparents at the wedding
@Belig Agreed
I feel like the dress and tiara were a bribe from QE2 to B to have the small wedding.
She and the flowers were just as beautiful as all brides and weddings on July 17.
I thought she looked lovely but that it almost made her look like a cosplay throwback of a WW2 war bride…the hastily pulled together made over gown just in time for the fiancés two day leave…and it was the band at the bottom and the choice of puffed sleeves that did it…my super suspicious mind made me think of the stories of people offering to send Queen Elizabeth their ration coupons when she got married…as if they wanted to remind us of that Queen rather than Petty Betty the pedo protector. But separate from my tin foil hat theory I thought it looked sweet.
That original dress was long enough before to not necessitate a contrast hem, and I’ll die on this hill
Someone said that it was to reduce the original ballroom size of the bottom so fabric had to be removed and that reduced the length? But I don’t know anything about tailoring or dressmaking.
I don’t know, the queen is really short.
The Queen in the 60s was about the same height as Beatrice now. I saw a photo of the queen sitting opening Parliament and it was already altered from the duvet hem, but it still looks long enough. So I honestly think this was a design choice.
It was also fun cruising through her Parliament and galas dresses, she had a lot LOT of nice ones in the 60s to choose from; would recommend a google.
I thought Bea looked lovely, and the flowers were stunning. When the queen’s grandchildren were small (years ago) I read somewhere that Bea was the favorite. If this is the case, then the dress and tiara are an expression of a close relationship.
I thought she looked beautiful too, and I really like that dress — not necessarily the alterations to the skirt, but definitely all the bead work on the bodice and upper skirt. (And yes, spectacular flowers.)
May be a good thing she already had the wedding. A court ruled today that documents from Maxwell can be unsealed.
Personally not a big fan of the dress but she looks lovely and I think this is the first time that I’ve seen a picture where I can clearly see that Edo really loves her. There are some things you can’t fake and his 1000 watt smile is one of them.
What I find most interesting is no photos of her with her mom and dad, that is weird. Especially
considering that they’ve all been quarantining together.
Based on the few photos, he actually looks to be more into her than she is into him.
Now she can finally go back to eating again.
Everything separately is beautiful, but none of it together seems to suit Beatrice? The way she’s smiling and looking away from the camera in every pic looks kind of…manic…not nearly as serene as her surroundings.
Puff sleeves and that tiara are a no, too. I think the straps should have been removed and replaced with off-the-shoulder sleeves to modernize it and flatter her neckline better. Then her hair and tiara would have more room to breathe. Great pick for a dress though!
I don’t see how much more mileage they can get out of this wedding, especially in the US. There really isn’t much more to report and they don’t want to release family photos or say who was there. It was a private wedding so the mention and photos were nice, but not much more to it really. At least their privacy and married life won’t be interfered with constantly.
From the absolute minimum shared details and photos it wlooks like it was a nice, small, private, covid-resposible wedding and I wish them well. The dress was beautiful on her. Its quite unpleasant to tar the daughter with the sins of her father like this. Andrew should be held to account, not his daughters.