The Life Of Princess Beatrice: Fast Facts About The Royal
Being a princess is not always glamorous. Sure, you might get to live in a palace if you want, and you will have more opportunities than the average person to wear a cool fascinator, but there is more to it than that. For Princess Beatrice, life as a prominent royal has included dodging scandal, enduring bullying (once for wearing an unbecoming fascinator!) and protecting her family's privacy.
Princess Beatrice is the eldest daughter of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York (the original "Fergie") and Prince Andrew. She is not a working royal, but she indeed works very hard outside of the royal family. She counts her late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and her mother as role models and enjoys a close relationship with her sister, Princess Eugenie. Beatrice's life, which has often been in the public eye, has had quite a few ups and downs, but she has always handled herself with the grace of a true princess. This is the life of Princess Beatrice.
She became a Counsellor of State after the queen's death
Princess Beatrice has always been a princess. That is, she was born into royalty, rather than having married into her position. As the daughter of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Prince Andrew, Beatrice is currently ninth in line for the throne. And since the queen has passed away, Princess Beatrice has been appointed a Counsellor of State, which means her royal duties will increase just a bit. According to the website of the royal family, Counsellors of State attend council meetings, sign routine documents, and receive credentials of new U.K. ambassadors. Counsellors of State include the four people closest in line for the throne who are at least 21 years old. Charles is King, so the four Counsellors are Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Princess Beatrice.
Per Express, rumors have been swirling of late that King Charles III might decide to strip Beatrice and Eugenie of their princess titles. The move would not be motivated by anything personal, but by an effort to streamline the monarchy. It's a bit complex, but basically, Charles could bring back an old rule that says prince and princess titles can only be bestowed upon the children of the monarch, the children of the monarch's sons, and the Prince of Wales' eldest son's eldest son. If this change occurs, Princess Beatrice will instead be known as Lady Beatrice.
Her close relationship with her mother
Princess Beatrice has always had a close relationship with her mother, Sarah Ferguson, and Ferguson is vocal about how proud she is of both her daughters. In June 2022, she expressed admiration for her girls after their appearance at the queen's Platinum Jubilee. "I couldn't get over it. There was Beatrice in blue and Eugenie in orange and they're smiling, right. ... We were so grateful. ... I was screaming at the TV," Ferguson said during an appearance on "The Graham Norton Radio Show Podcast with Waitrose."
In 2020, Princess Beatrice had to cancel her royal wedding due to Covid-19 lockdowns. On what was originally scheduled to be Beatrice's wedding day, Ferguson posted to Instagram a sweet throwback pic of Beatrice as a toddler with the caption (in part), "Love you my darling Beatrice. You have given me more joy than I could ever wish for."
Over the years, Ferguson has been no stranger to scandal, from her divorce to her money issues. But Beatrice has stood by her mother, and in a 2017 interview with Hello!, the royal called Ferguson "probably one of the most misunderstood women in the world." She went on to express her love and admiration for her mum, adding, "We've been through some incredibly stressful times together as a family and every single minute she created joy. I am so lucky that I get to learn from her every single day. I'm inspired by her ability to give, even when she's going through something hard."
Princess Beatrice has a career
Princess Beatrice is not what is referred to as a "working royal" in that she does not perform royal public engagements full-time. Instead, Beatrice has forged her own path, which led her to earn a BA in History from Goldsmiths, University of London. While a student, Beatrice worked part-time in retail, as a sales assistant at famed London department store Selfridges. A rather normal job for a princess!
Once she graduated, Beatrice began a career in consulting and finance. She worked for a time at Sandbridge, a venture capital firm, and later as Vice President of Partnerships & Strategy for Afiniti, a data and software company. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Princess Beatrice is worth $1 million.
Princess Beatrice also lends her time to many charitable causes, serving as a patron to a long list of nonprofit organizations. Beatrice is a global ambassador to Street Child, formerly known as Children in Crisis, the nonprofit founded by her mother in 1993. Beatrice has also worked with the Teenage Cancer Trust, the Berkshire Community Foundation, The Big Change Charitable Trust (which she co-founded), Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, among others.
She was dragged into a fraud scandal
In April 2022, it was reported that Princess Beatrice had been named in a fraud case involving her father, Prince Andrew. Beatrice's sister, Princess Eugenie, was also named in the High Court case in which Turkish millionaire Nebahat Evyap Isbilen claimed she was tricked into transferring a large sum of money into Andrew's personal bank account (via People).
Andrew claimed that a portion of the money, £750,000, was meant as a wedding present for Beatrice, but Isbilen said she believed the money was meant for Andrew to help her procure a new passport after fleeing the country. The case alleges that Eugenie and Sarah Ferguson also received money that was designated for other purposes (via The Telegraph).
While Buckingham Palace had no comment, The Telegraph reported that neither Princess Beatrice nor Princess Eugenie had any knowledge of the matter. Princess Eugenie issued a lengthy statement to People magazine denying any involvement on her part.
She is supportive of her father
Princess Beatrice is certainly one loyal royal. Despite the scandals her father, Prince Andrew, has been involved in over the years, she continues to show her support for him. Andrew was chummy with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and was accused of sexual assault himself in 2015. While a judge initially threw out the allegations, new incriminating information came to light in 2019 (via Insider). Andrew stepped down from his royal duties, but not before taking part in a disastrous interview with BBC's "Newsnight" while continuing to vehemently deny the accusations against him. Beatrice was reportedly in the room during the interview (via Express).
In 2021, the victim of the assault, Virginia Giuffre, filed a lawsuit against Andrew, and in January 2022 he was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages. Amid the controversy, Andrew opted out of a ski trip with his family, but the Mirror reported that he Skyped with Beatrice and Eugenie every day. A source explained to the Sunday Mirror, "Beatrice and Eugenie fully support their father and are a very close family unit... It's more about them being there for him and supporting him as opposed to questioning him about the case. ...The girls feel their father's name is continually dragged through the mud unnecessarily, when really he is a good egg."
In April 2022, at Prince Philip's memorial ceremony, Beatrice wept upon seeing her father escort the queen to her seat, according to the Daily Mail.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Princess Beatrice had a private wedding ceremony
In July 2020, Princess Beatrice married property tycoon and multi-millionaire Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. The couple, who made their first public appearance together at a gala in 2019, were wed in a private ceremony in Windsor. The wedding was attended by close family, including the queen and Prince Philip. The couple initially planned a large wedding which would have taken place at The Chapel Royal at St. James' Palace in London, followed by a reception in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Due to concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, the couple ultimately canceled their plans.
The smaller ceremony, however, was a beautiful affair, with the bride wearing a vintage gown on loan from her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. Beatrice was also adorned with a tiara, the very same one worn by the queen in 1947 when she wed Prince Philip. Edoardo, or Edo as he is known, shared a lovely pic of he and the princess on his Instagram page, captioned with a poem by E.E. Cummings.
Now that Princess Beatrice is married, she has gained some new titles, per the Daily Mail. Because Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi descends from Italian aristocracy (his father is Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, making him a count as well), Beatrice is an Italian Contessa and a Nobile Donna. "Contessa" means countess and "Nobile Donna" means noble woman.
She keeps her daughter out of the spotlight
On September 18, 2021, Princess Beatrice gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi. While Beatrice shared an adorable tweet showing baby Sienna's footprints, she and her husband opted not to publicly share a photo of their baby daughter. The person who runs the Royal Replies Instagram account received a handwritten thank you note from Beatrice after congratulating her on the birth of her baby. Beatrice wrote, "We are so thankful to have welcomed this little person into our family. She is a little rockstar!"
Beatrice also has a stepson, Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi, nicknamed Wolfie. Wolfie is the son of Beatrice's husband and his ex-fiance, Dara Huang. In June 2022, six-year-old Wolfie made his royal debut at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in London.
Beatrice is notoriously private and does not have a public Instagram account. Unlike her sister, Eugenie, who has posted many pics with her son, August, Beatrice prefers to keep her daughter out of the spotlight. Perhaps due to the scrutiny her family has been under for her entire life, Beatrice has chosen to shield Sienna from the public for as long as she can.
Princess Beatrice is dyslexic
One aspect of her personal life that Princess Beatrice is very vocal about is her own experience with dyslexia. In an interview with Hello!, Beatrice opened up about her diagnosis, although "diagnosis" is not the word she chooses to use. "Even referring to it as a diagnosis, I feel, does a disservice to the brilliance of some of the most fantastic minds that we have," she said. "Just shifting the narrative a little bit towards something that is positive, something that is impactful, can really help everyone."
Beatrice has a very optimistic take on dyslexia, even referring to it as a gift. She is lighthearted while discussing the topic, saying, "Yes, my spelling is appalling and I wish that I could do something about that, but luckily Spellcheck has sorted that out for me."
Beatrice is clearly passionate about raising awareness about dyslexia, as she believes it can be a step toward rethinking traditional education and teaching techniques. In an interview with Made By Dyslexia, Beatrice said, "...I really see the work that we're doing raising awareness around dyslexia as a true pillar to stand up the concept of reimagining education."
She has spoken out about being bullied
Princess Beatrice is well aware that growing up in the public eye has many disadvantages. Even pre-social media, tabloids were often vicious, especially toward members of the royal family. But being judged by strangers on everything from her family's morals to her outfits seems only to have strengthened Beatrice's character. She spoke in a 2017 interview with Vogue about dealing with public scrutiny. "My experience was about growing up and living a very public life and living in an overexposed environment. So that's from being 18 and struggling with your weight to what fashion choices you are wearing," she said. She credits her family and friends, as well as a healthy sense of humor, with getting her through some rough patches.
At the Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon, Beatrice spoke on a panel about online bullying and her own experiences as a target, and she expressed her desire to set young people up for success with the tools to navigate social media safely.
Her famous friends
Being a royal is not all duty and formality, and Princess Beatrice has the social life to prove it. Beatrice has some very famous friends, with whom she is quite close. In 2018 she went on a desert vacation in Jordan with model Karlie Kloss, fashion designer Misha Nonoo (who is incidentally also close friends with Meghan Markle), and pop star Ellie Goulding. Beatrice has referred to Ellie Goulding as a dear friend and attended the singer's wedding to Caspar Jopling in 2019.
Beatrice also attended Karlie Kloss's second wedding to Joshua Kushner in June 2019. The star-studded affair was held in Wyoming and was attended by Mila Kunis, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, and many other A-listers. Beatrice was seen partying it up at the event, and was clearly excited for her friend. When Kloss first shared the news of her engagement, she posted Beatrice's reaction on her Instagram Story (via Harper's Bazaar). The princess' jaw dropped and she was thrilled, showing that the two women share a close bond.
Beatrice and Eugenie are super close
Born just 21 months apart, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have a very close relationship. In a 2008 interview with The Telegraph, Princess Eugenie spoke at length about her family's tight bond. "Mummy, Bea and I call ourselves 'the Tripod' — they are my best friends in the world," she said. When asked about Beatrice specifically, Eugenie said that the two are extremely close due in part to their differences. "We get on fantastically well, perhaps because we do and think different things. It's quite funny how, like most sisters, we sometimes fight about clothes...We had a screaming argument over a pair of Converse trainers that I took back, which she said were hers and I said were mine." Sounds exactly like most sister duos.
The princesses were seen comforting each other at the funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. The sisters issued a joint statement about the death of their beloved Grannie, which read in part, "There have been tears and laughter, silences and chatter, hugs and loneliness, and a collective loss for you, our beloved Queen and our beloved Grannie. ...You were our matriarch, our guide, our loving hand on our backs leading us through this world. You taught us so much and we will cherish those lessons and memories forever."
It seems the two girls have learned a lot from their grandmother and their mother as well, perhaps most importantly how to support one another through difficult times. Because clearly, being a princess is not all tiaras and cake.