A daughter’s wedding is a very important and emotional day for any father, with Prince Andrew being no exception. Within the space of two years, the Duke of York witnessed both his daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice marry their husbands, and had the privilege of walking them both down the aisle.
While Eugenie’s 2018 wedding was a massive affair, with the day of celebration being televised on ITV, Princess Beatrice’s 2020 wedding was very different. Taking place in secret during the COVID-19 pandemic, Beatrice’s wedding was a much smaller affair, with no televised event or pack of photographers.
Instead, just one photographer, Benjamin Wheeler, was invited to be present – and only a few pictures were made public.
While Andrew reportedly walked his eldest daughter down the aisle, therefore playing a very special part in her big day five years ago on July 17, 2020, photographs of the prince on this special day were not made public.
Instead, just a few official photographs taken after Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s ceremony at The Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor were released, including one of the couple, and one of them with Beatrice’s grandparents the late Queen and Prince Philip.
While other attendees were present, including mother of the bride Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Eugenie, along with Edoardo’s family, they did not feature in the photographs that were made public.
The wedding came just one year after his interview with BBC Newsnight in which he famously addressed his association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
This is because, as reported by the BBC at the time, Andrew’s former friend Ghislaine Maxwell had been arrested for sex trafficking offences, which she denied. She was later found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022.
He had also stepped back from royal duties just months before in 2019, the same year as his disastrous Newsnight interview which saw him quizzed over his friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein.
In the interview, Andrew also denied claims by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who claimed the prince sexually abused her. These are claims the prince has always denied.
Despite his increasing unpopularity with the public, Andrew still attended Beatrice’s wedding and walked her down the chapel aisle in front of close family, with the princess wearing a dress that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Beatrice, who is celebrating her fifth wedding anniversary today, also wore a diamond fringe tiara which her grandmother the late Queen also wore on her own wedding day in 1947.