ROYALS

Princess Beatrice Had a Secret Socially Distanced Wedding

The most anticipated royal wedding of the year took place in private.

by Brooke Marine

Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Instagram/@princesseugenie

The biggest royal wedding of the year finally happened—it just wasn’t as public as it was initially planned to be.

It’s unusual for such a large, anticipated royal wedding to go down without any fanfare, but as the United Kingdom is still dealing with the global coronavirus pandemic, the nuptials between Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi had to happen in secret.

The couple was initially supposed to wed on May 29 at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, but as coronavirus concerns loomed over Buckingham Palace (and with Prince Charles contracting the virus himself), the reception was canceled. The ceremony itself was taken off the schedule by mid-April.

According to a spokesperson from Buckingham Palace, the couple married in Windsor this morning, with only about 20 guests surrounding them. The Queen, Prince Philip, as well as the publicly disgraced Prince Andrew, were all in attendance. “The wedding took place in accordance with all relevant government guidelines,” the spokesperson told the press.

Because the Queen has already reportedly moved on to her next public engagement of the day (a ceremony to knight Captain Tom Moore at Windsor Castle), and because Princess Beatrice and Mozzi were being so considerate of social distance guidelines and the safety of their family members—many of whom are at a higher risk for contracting the coronavirus—it is unlikely that a big reception took place after the wedding ceremony. But we have to hold out hope that there might have been at least a little post-nuptial toast to the newlyweds with the royal family’s new gin.

Related: The British Royals are Launching Their Own Gin