Princess Beatrice and fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi's wedding celebrations kicked off on Wednesday with their engagement party. The glamorous gathering featured a mix of royal friends and family, as well as celebrities. Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews, James Middleton and fiancée Alizee Thevenet, James Blunt, and Robert De Niro were among those in attendance. There was one person whose absence who was hard to ignore, however. The bride-to-be's father, Prince Andrew, was not at the gathering.
Prince Andrew has kept a low profile since the announcement of his decision to step away from all royal duties for the foreseeable future. The decision didn't keep Andrew from attending mom Queen Elizabeth's annual pre-Christmas luncheon at Buckingham Palace with his daughters earlier in the day. Despite Andrew's absence from this first step celebrating Beatrice and Edo's union, he still plans to play a significant role in the couple's 2020 wedding. Reports indicate he still plans to walk Beatrice down the aisle.
Princess Beatrice and fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi celebrated their engagement last night with loved ones in London. The star-studded affair featured a performance by Beatrice's friend, singer Ellie Goulding. Kate Middleton's siblings, Pippa and James, were in attendance with their significant others, as well as a number of other famous faces.
Beatrice and Edo announced their engagement in September. He proposed to her earlier in the month, during a trip to Italy. The couple plans to get married early in the summer of 2020, with a date slated to be announced in January.
"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," they said in a statement announcing the news.
"We share so many similar interests and values and we know that this will stand us in great stead for the years ahead, full of love and happiness."
Absent from Wednesday evening's festivities was the bride-to-be's father, Prince Andrew. Andrew has kept a low profile since he announced last month that he was stepping down from all public duties for the foreseeable future. The announcement follows the controversy around his friendship with late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson released a joint statement celebrating the couple. "We are thrilled that Beatrice and Edoardo have got engaged, having watched their relationship develop with pride," the statement read.
"We are the lucky parents of a wonderful daughter who has found her love and companion in a completely devoted friend and a loyal young man. We send them every good wish for a wonderful family future."
Andrew was in London on Wednesday, however. Earlier in the day, he attended Queen Elizabeth's annual pre-Christmas luncheon at Buckingham Palace. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were also both in attendance.
Despite his absence from the engagement party and his stepping down from public life, Andrew still plans to play a prominent role in Beatrice's wedding. This puts Beatrice in quite a predicament. While she certainly wants her father to be a part of her special day, she's well aware of the public fallout it could cause.
Before Andrew's scandal erupted, there were already talks about how Beatrice's wedding would differ from little sister Eugenie's wedding in October 2018. "Beatrice is more reserved and discreet," a source told People.
"She holds back more, she is very polite, very well-educated but more formal and quiet in her personality, so I think it will be a very different wedding to Eugenie’s."
As a source told Entertainment Tonight, it's impossible not to take Andrew's situation into consideration when planning how the wedding will go down. "Everyone right now is concerned about Bea," the source noted.
"Poor Bea. She deserves to have the wedding she wants and the public is going to go nuts [because of her father]."
"They love him; he’s family," the source added of the royal family's struggle with Andrew's situation. That hasn't stopped them from expressing that they are "very disappointed" in his behavior behind closed doors. Andrew is focusing his time on his daughters, said to be "utterly devoted" to being part of their lives.
No wedding details beyond what was announced pre-scandal have been spoken of in its wake. Royal sources indicate that this is because they are up in the air. No one knows how to move forward in a way that won't create fallout.
Beatrice has reportedly been leaning on Eugenie for support during this tough time. Both young women are suffering the effects of their father's actions, despite not being guilty of anything themselves. It's a difficult situation that only the two of them can fully understand.
Sarah Ferguson touched on the struggles everyone is facing in an interview with Vogue Arabia. "When I talk about Prince Andrew, I talk about family because the last six months have been hard on the girls and me," she noted.
"To see such a wonderful man go through such enormous pain. He is the best man I know. It’s just incredible what he has done for Britain, and it’s all nonsense."
In just a few weeks, we're likely to learn more about this wedding. While it's unlikely that it will be as lavish as that of Eugenie, all anyone can hope for is that Beatrice's special day isn't ruined by her father's alleged actions in the scandal. It's a tough situation, but it's not the first time that Andrew's family has found themselves in a difficult public situation.
