Princess Beatrice Reportedly Might Elope With Just Two Witnesses
Princess Beatrice and her fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi have already changed their wedding plans once due to her father Prince Andrew's connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now, they might have to change their upcoming nuptials for a second time — and there's a rumor the royal couple might elope. “Friends say restrictions on large gatherings, and the fear of the impact of coronavirus on the older generation, made the decision inevitable," The Daily Mail reported on March 20. "Now the couple are deciding what they will do. Extraordinarily, they are weighing up the possibility of a behind-closed-doors ‘elopement’-style wedding that will feature just five people: the bride, groom, priest, and two witnesses." (Elite Daily reached out to reps for the couple but did not hear back in time for publication.)
The new wedding rules for the Church of England, per the BBC, are as follows:
During the coronavirus outbreak, the number of people attending church weddings should be limited to the legal minimum of five—which consists of the happy couple, the priest, and two witnesses.
(And for the record, Beatrice's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of the Church of England.)
According to The Daily Mail, Beatrice and Edoardo will reportedly still host a fabulous A-list reception even if they do wind up going through with their smaller ceremony — they'll just wait until it's safe to do so.
"They would then throw the party to end all parties some months hence, when all is back to normal," the publication wrote. "It would be an extraordinary conclusion to what must surely be the most cursed engagement in royal history; so far it has been knocked off course by a General Election, Prince Andrew's Newsnight blunder, Megxit and now Covid-19."
Yes, The Daily Mail has officially dubbed Beatrice and Edoardo's plans to tie the knot "the most cursed engagement in royal history."
To be clear, "royal history" also includes engagements like that of King Henry VIII's to Anne Boleyn which caused him to, in the words of historian Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb, "[break] from the Church of Rome, [divorce] his first wife and [change] the very faith of England to be with her." Then, he wound up having her beheaded.
So, um, I think it's safe to say Beatrice and Edoardo having to postpone their wedding a few times doesn't necessarily take the cake for "the most cursed engagement in royal history."
But their engagement has undoubtedly been complicated by a series of unfortunate external obstacles, reportedly from Beatrice's father's ties to Epstein to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The couple announced their engagement on Sept. 26 on The Duke of York's website. “We are extremely happy to be able to share the news of our recent engagement," they wrote. "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.”
According to her sister's Instagram at the time, the engagement was "a long time coming," so I can only imagine how antsy they are to finally make their way down the aisle months later.
The good news? Their original wedding announcement said they'd be married in 2020 and, hey, 2020 isn't over yet.
