The newlyweds outside the church
©Benjamin Wheeler
Finally, Buckingham Palace released photos of Princess Beatrice's wedding yesterday photographed by Benjamin Wheeler.
From the photos published, we got an idea how intimate and symbolic the princess's wedding ceremony was. It was filled with all the "something old" stuff and things closer to the heart of her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Here, we have to present some details we knew about the secretive, very private ceremony attended only by immediate family of the bride and groom.
The Secret Ceremony
From the photos published, we got an idea how intimate and symbolic the princess's wedding ceremony was. It was filled with all the "something old" stuff and things closer to the heart of her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Here, we have to present some details we knew about the secretive, very private ceremony attended only by immediate family of the bride and groom.
The Secret Ceremony
Prior to July 17, 2020, we did not have any clue that the ninth in line of succession to the British throne will push her wedding plan this year.
The Duke and Duchess of York announced the engagement of their eldest daughter last September 2019 and set the wedding date on May 29, 2020 at the Chapel Royal at St. James Palace in London with 150 guests.
But London was put on lockdown in March and Princess Bea's wedding date was cancelled, there was no further announcement when it would happen again, many have anticipated it might happen next year.
However, in the afternoon of July 17, 2020 Buckingham Palace surprised the world with an official announcement that the Queen and Prince Philip's fifth grandchild married her Italian-born aristocratic fiance, in a private ceremony.
The world didn't get a glimpse on the ceremony, it was very private and no one had a chance to take a photograph of the newlyweds, except for Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh leaving royal Lodge.
The Queen was later quoted, after she knighted Sir Tom Moore in Windsor Castle, happily saying "Our granddaughter wed today. Philip and I attended - nice".
The Queen was later quoted, after she knighted Sir Tom Moore in Windsor Castle, happily saying "Our granddaughter wed today. Philip and I attended - nice".
Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor
Unlike all royal weddings in modern times, it was held in an ultra-private ceremony, in a small church almost tucked away inside the vicinity of her parents' country home, The Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
It was noted that the small event was the first royal wedding in more than 230 years held in a secret ceremony.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints Church was refurbished by King George IV in 1820, the first royal occupant of The Royal Lodge.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints Church was refurbished by King George IV in 1820, the first royal occupant of The Royal Lodge.
The only royals in attendance apart from her sister, Princess Eugenie, and parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were her grandparents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Symbolic Wedding
The intimate wedding set apart from all weddings of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's grandchildren. Apart from being held at the Queen's private chapel in Windsor.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi emerged from the church after the ceremony
Photo by Benjamin Wheeler, released by Buckingham Palace
It was a tribute to the princess's beloved grandparents. The date was wisely chosen.
It was the same date 103 years ago that the Queen's grandfather, King George V, changed the royal house name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.
The same date that Prince Philip's maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, created the noble house of Mountbatten and assumed the new name, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford-Haven.
The Queen's Dress
The Queen's Dress
Princess Beatrice wore the magnificent vintage dress belonging to the Queen originally designed by Norman Hartnell, the same designer who created the wedding gown of the Queen in 1947, and Princess Margaret in 1960.
The dress had been worn by the Queen at least twice in 1960s, to the premiere of the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, and to a state dinner in Rome.
The dress is described as made from Peau de Soie tafetta im shades of ivory, trimmed with ivory Duchess satin. The organza sleeves were added to the dress.
The Queen wearing the dress in 1962
It is encrusted with diamante, and has a checked geometric bodice ", Buckingham Palace explained in a statement.
The Queen's trusted designers, Angela Kelly and Stewart Parvin, made the alterations of the vintage dress especially for the princess's special day.
Queen Mary's Fringe Tiara
Queen Mary's Fringe Tiara
Most royal brides donned tiaras loaned by the Queen but Princess Beatrice seemed like the most special among all recent royal brides in the Queen's family as Her Majesty let her wore the same tiara she donned in her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip.
The Queen donned the tiara on her wedding day, November 14, 1947
Princess Anne donned the same tiara
on her wedding day, November 14, 1973
The sparkler is the Queen's Mary Russian fringe tiara made of 47 diamonds and smaller diamond spikes made by Crown Jeweller, Garrard.
It was also worn by Princess Anne to her 1973 wedding with first husband, Captain Mark Phillips. The Queen wore it many times in her reign.
Such a poignant choice. 👑
Consideration to Grannies
Consideration to Grannies
Her grandparents are very much part of the ceremony both in sentiments and appearance making Princess Beatrice's wedding very unique, intimate and truly memorable with royal sentimental value.
A bonus point that no media and public intrusion surrounding the ceremony making it a very close family affair.
It was also believed that the date was especially chosen so that the Queen and Prince Philip could attend the ceremony before they move to Balmoral castle at the end of the month.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints, where the Queen regularly attended church service when staying at Windsor, is just located within the ground of Princess Beatrice's childhood home, Royal Lodge, and just a short drive from Windsor Castle which made the venue very convenient to her grandparents.
Hers was the only royal wedding event where the Queen and Prince Philip were pictured with the newlyweds outside the church.
It is doubted however, if the couple will have an official wedding portrait taken inside the royal residence with the entourage and family just like the previous royal weddings due to social distancing policy of the government.
The Secret Garden Theme
The Queen and Prince Philip happily looked on the newlyweds
Photo by: Benjamin Wheeler, released by Buckingham Palace
It was also believed that the date was especially chosen so that the Queen and Prince Philip could attend the ceremony before they move to Balmoral castle at the end of the month.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints, where the Queen regularly attended church service when staying at Windsor, is just located within the ground of Princess Beatrice's childhood home, Royal Lodge, and just a short drive from Windsor Castle which made the venue very convenient to her grandparents.
Hers was the only royal wedding event where the Queen and Prince Philip were pictured with the newlyweds outside the church.
It is doubted however, if the couple will have an official wedding portrait taken inside the royal residence with the entourage and family just like the previous royal weddings due to social distancing policy of the government.
The Secret Garden Theme
Based on the official photos released by Buckingham Palace, we got a glimpse on the princess's fairytale-like wedding theme that's so romantic, dainty and soft to the eyes, very much countryside atmosphere with some rustic feel.
The couple emerged on the archway embellished with peach and pale pink blooms, very much like a fairy-tale look.
The wedding had a secret garden theme according to the source of the Town and Country website. The archway was made of soft, olive-hued greeney with pink, white and peach roses and hydrangeas.
The Bridal Bouquet
Buckingham Palace described the bouquet as made of trailing jasmine, pale pink, cream peas, royal porcelain ivory spray roses, pink o'hara garden roses, pink wax flowers and baby pink astilbes.
In keeping with royal wedding traditions, sprigs of myrtle were added in the bouquet, a tradition started by Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Vicky.
The bouquet was designed by Patrice Van Helden of the RVH floral design. It was placed later at the tomb of the Unknown warrior at Westminster Abbey.
The Intimate Service
The wedding ceremony took place at 11am on July 17, 2020 and was officiated by Rev. Canon Paul Wright, the dean of The Chapel Royal at St. James Palace, which was the original venue of the wedding supposed to be last May 29, 2020. And the Reverend Canon Paul, the Queen's domestic chaplain.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, walked his daughter down-the-aisle. The bride's mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, and the groom's mother, Nikki William-Ellis, read the poems chosen by the couple.
There were no hymns sung in the ceremony in compliance with the government's strict guidelines that there should be no choir in church services during the pandemic to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi following their private wedding
The couple emerged on the archway embellished with peach and pale pink blooms, very much like a fairy-tale look.
The wedding had a secret garden theme according to the source of the Town and Country website. The archway was made of soft, olive-hued greeney with pink, white and peach roses and hydrangeas.
The Bridal Bouquet
Buckingham Palace described the bouquet as made of trailing jasmine, pale pink, cream peas, royal porcelain ivory spray roses, pink o'hara garden roses, pink wax flowers and baby pink astilbes.
In keeping with royal wedding traditions, sprigs of myrtle were added in the bouquet, a tradition started by Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Vicky.
The bouquet was designed by Patrice Van Helden of the RVH floral design. It was placed later at the tomb of the Unknown warrior at Westminster Abbey.
The Intimate Service
The wedding ceremony took place at 11am on July 17, 2020 and was officiated by Rev. Canon Paul Wright, the dean of The Chapel Royal at St. James Palace, which was the original venue of the wedding supposed to be last May 29, 2020. And the Reverend Canon Paul, the Queen's domestic chaplain.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, walked his daughter down-the-aisle. The bride's mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, and the groom's mother, Nikki William-Ellis, read the poems chosen by the couple.
There were no hymns sung in the ceremony in compliance with the government's strict guidelines that there should be no choir in church services during the pandemic to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Princess Beatrice with her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York
The Guest List
Although the Palace did not specifically identified who were part of the guest list other than saying, the ceremony was attended by close family, we assumed the attendees were the immediate family of the couple.
Government guidelines only allowed not more than 30 guests on weddings since the church services across the kingdom were reopened in July 4.
However, no other photos related to the wedding were released other than the two images where the bride's grandparents were shown.
It was a wise decision by the palace, a poignant and symbolic one, letting the Queen and Prince Philip appeared in the official photograph instead of either the couple's parents.
The Queen's Favorite Son
It has been said that Queen Elizabeth II's favorite child is her second son, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.
This is revealed how the Queen treated his daughters on their respective weddings. In 2018 May, the Queen turned down Meghan Markle's choice of a wedding tiara, the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara.
Markle wanted to wear it on her wedding day and even led to Prince Harry's storming the staff with an explosive words "whatever what Meghan wants, Meghan gets".
The controversial Emerald tiara that Meghan Markle desperately wanted to wear on her wedding day
but refused by the Queen only to be seen on the head of Princess Eugenie five months later on her own wedding 😁
But Her Majesty's intervened, refusing Meghan to wear the Emerald tiara and loaned her instead the Queen Mary diamond bandeau tiara, which is less elegant than the Greville Emerald.
Ms. Markle might have been very disappointed because within five months, the tiara she was dying to wear on her wedding day was loaned to Prince Andrew's second daughter's wedding.
Prince Andrew walking her second daughter down the aisle in 2018
Princess Eugenie wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara on her October 2018 wedding to an aristocratic wine merchant, Jack Brooksbank.
Then the 2020 royal wedding.
It only noted how special the Duke of York's eldest daughter to Her Majesty and Prince Philip. The fact that the Queen allowed two of her most personal belongings, the tiara and the dress, to be worn by her granddaughter, said it all.
Married into the Aristocracy
It can also be noted that Prince Andrew's daughters are the only grandchildren of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh who married into the British and Italian nobility.
Princess Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, is the son of an Italian nobleman, Count Alesssandro Mapelli Mozzi, also a holder of a British citizenship, and had represented Britain in the 1972 Summer Olympics as a skier.
The Italian count, who occupied the Italian palatial home, Villa Mapelli Mozzi in Northern Italy, was quoted saying that her new daughter-in-law would be known as the Countess following the marriage.
While Princess Eugenie married a potential heir to the Brooksbank Baronetcy of the Healaugh manor in the Baronage Peerage of the United Kingdom. His great grandfather served as usher of King George VI and the Queen in the early part of her reign.
Brooksbank also descended from the 2nd Earl of Leicester, a descendant of Princess Diana's ancestor, John Spencer, the 1st Earl Spencer of Althorp, also the direct ancestor of Sarah, Duchess of York.
The New Style of Princess Beatrice
Normally, British princesses lose the geographical reference of their father's title upon marriage and would take the husband's status.
The newlyweds emerging from the church following the ceremony
Example, Princess Eugenie of York became known as Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Brooksbank, following her wedding in 2018.
However, since Princess Beatrice married an Italian count, though Edo never used the noble title "count" publicly, officially, the princess's formal title would be Princess Beatrice, Countess Beatrice Mapelli Mozzi.
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