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Why today is a bittersweet day for Princess Beatrice and her family

The Princess was due to wed at St James's Palace

beatrice postponed wedding
Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
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There has been an abundance of royal weddings in the past decade, including Prince William and Kate Middleton's in 2011 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's in 2018. The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York's eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was set to be the latest royal bride to walk down the aisle but sadly, the 31-year-old has had to postpone her nuptials to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi amid the coronavirus pandemic. The couple were due to tie the knot on Friday 29 May at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, where Beatrice occupies one of the apartments, followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace.

It was always set to be a much more intimate and smaller wedding than that of Beatrice's younger sister, Princess Eugenie, who married her long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor in October. The chapel has capacity for around 150 guests, in comparison to the estimated 800 guests on Eugenie's big day and 600 in attendance at Harry and Meghan's wedding.

READ: Sarah Ferguson's emotional message for Princess Beatrice on what would have been her wedding day

edoardo beatrice wedding postponed© Photo: Getty Images

Beatrice and Edoardo have had to postpone their wedding

Beatrice and Edoardo announced their engagement in September 2019 after he proposed during a weekend break in Italy. The groom-to-be consulted Mayfair atelier to design Beatrice's three-stone diamond engagement ring. Buckingham Palace released a statement from the newly-engaged couple at the time, who said: "We are extremely happy to be able to share the news of our recent engagement. 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."

MORE: 7 times Princess Beatrice dressed like a bride

Details of the bridal party have still not been confirmed by the palace, but it is thought that Eugenie will play a major role on her big sister's wedding day, as Beatrice was her own maid of honour. It's also likely that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, will have been chosen to be pageboys and bridesmaid, as George and Charlotte were for Eugenie's nuptials. It was confirmed earlier this year that Edoardo had asked his four-year-old son Christopher (affectionately known as Wolfie), from his previous relationship with architect Dara Huang, to be his best man. 

Buckingham Palace is yet to announce the new date for Beatrice and Edoardo's rescheduled wedding. The couple are currently isolating with Edoardo's mother Nikki Shale at her £1.5million country home near Chipping Norton.

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