Princess Beatrice’s marriage to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is being tested amid tensions over her disgraced father, ex-Prince Andrew, according to author Paula Froelich.
Whispers of trouble in paradise have grown louder as Mapelli Mozzi, 42, has spent long stretches of time jetting around the globe without Beatrice, 37, visiting Los Angeles and Palm Beach on a three-week business trip in January, and posting pictures from a luxury island resort off the Miami coast in March.
Beatrice stayed behind in the United Kingdom with the couple’s two young children, Sienna, 4, and Athena, 1.
Earlier this month, Piers Morgan posted photos showing Mapelli Mozzi at Le Club 55, the exclusive St. Tropez beach club known for its lavish daytime parties. The Daily Mail later reported that Beatrice had joined her husband on the French Riviera getaway but had fallen ill and stayed in bed while he went out to party.
“She called him her rock, but here’s the problem. If you’ve got a rock, you would think that the rock would stick around in stormy weather,” Froelich said on The Royalist Podcast.
“He’s been in and out and in and out all year, you know, going back and forth to the States. And then they took a lovely, fun, romantic trip to Saint Tropez at the invite of their friend Gabriela Peacock. And she got sick. So what did her rock do? Well, he left her in bed and went out and partied.”
Mapelli Mozzi, who wed Beatrice in 2020, told the Mail that his extensive solo travels were driven by business commitments.
“As you well know, it is completely normal for a business owner to travel for work. It happens in every industry,” he said.
Beatrice has kept in touch with her father after the fallout from Andrew’s close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex trafficker, and further allegations of sexual abuse, even as her sister, Eugenie, cut off all contact, according to the Mail.
Froelich suggested that Mapelli Mozzi is trying to distance Beatrice from her father, fearing that his father-in-law’s scandals could harm his business ventures.
“I think Edo is kind of looking at Beatrice and saying, ‘No, do not have contact with your father. Don’t go around him,’” she told host Tom Sykes. “I think it’s much more to do with his own business... which has, of course, taken off since he left his ex, Dara Wang, and immediately hooked up with Beatrice.”
Froelich continued, “So of course he’s saying, ‘Don’t go there, don’t go near your father, he’s toxic, and my business will fail.’ But then again, at the same time... what did they need the money for? They’re living for free off of lovely Uncle Charlie.”
The U.K.’s National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on Friday stating that Beatrice and Eugenie, both non-working royals, have had their rent covered by King Charles III.
Beatrice has a four-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment at St. James’s Palace in London, paid for by the king, while Eugenie, 36, lives rent-free at Ivy Cottage, a three-bedroom house on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
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