Like many other couples planning to marry in 2020, Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi had to postpone their wedding.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the original date of May 29 at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace was scrapped.
Instead, they exchanged vows on this day four years ago at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, in the grounds of Royal Lodge, Beatrice’s childhood family home in Windsor Great Park.
The intimate ceremony, which adhered to social distancing measures, was attended by around 20 guests in attendance, including Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.
It was strikingly low-key, compared to Princess Eugenie‘s extravagant 2018 nuptials, which featured a carriage procession around Windsor and incurred around £2 million in public expenses.
In a touching tribute to her late grandmother, Princess Beatrice wore a dress by Norman Hartnell that Her Majesty had first worn for a state dinner in Rome in 1961.
The vintage gown was carefully remodelled for Beatrice by the Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly and designer Stewart Parvin.
Beatrice also wore the Queen Mary Diamond Fringe Tiara, which the then Princess Elizabeth displayed at her wedding to Prince Philip on November 20, 1947.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were married on July 17, 2020, at Royal Lodge
Queen Elizabeth II arriving at the Odeon, Leicester Square, in 1962, wearing the same Peau De Soie taffeta dress by Norman Hartnell that was worn by Princess Beatrice at her wedding
Norman Hartnell, a highly regarded designer of the 20th century, was renowned for his creations.
He designed both Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress and coronation gown, as well as Princess Margaret‘s bridal look.
Beatrice’s vintage wedding dress was made from ivory Peau De Soie taffeta and trimmed with a band of duchesse satin in a matching hue.
It exemplified Hartnell’s signature crinoline silhouette and passion for embellishment, showcased in geometric hand-embroidered diamantés across the bodice, waist and hips.
Angela Kelly and Stewart Parvin softened the full-skirted silhouette to create a more contemporary shape, and recreated the underskirt and petticoats, bound with silk tulle.
To comply with the regulations of the place of worship, short sleeves of triple organza were added to the straps and embroidered with vintage crystals to match the original design.
Each alteration made to the dress was reversible.
On her feet Beatrice wore a pair of champagne satin Valentino heels which he had debuted at William and Kate’s wedding in 2011.
The entire charming ensemble went on public display at Windsor Castle in 2020.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stand alongside Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi outside the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, after their wedding
Beatrice and Edoardo stand in the doorway of The Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge
For her big day, Beatrice wore a vintage dress by Norman Hartnell and the Queen Mary Diamond Fringe Tiara, on loan from her late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth wore the same tiara at her wedding to Prince Philip on November 20, 1947
Beatrice’s mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, shared a black and white photograph of the couple in her thank you cards
Sarah Ferguson sent thank you cards to well-wishers following the wedding
Princess Beatrice visited Windsor Castle in 2020 to see her bridal look on display
The ensemble went on public display at Windsor Castle from 24 September – 22 November 2020
The socially-distanced event at the Royal Chapel of All Saints marked the first royal wedding behind closed doors in 235 years.
The chapel was decorated with pink and white delphiniums, roses, waxflowers and hydrangeas, sourced from Windsor Great Park.
Beatrice carried a bouquet of trailing jasmine, pale pink and cream sweet peas, Royal Porcelina ivory spray roses, pink O’Hara garden roses, pink waxflowers, baby pink astilbe flowers and sprigs of myrtle.
Following tradition, the bride sent her bouquet to be laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.
During the 30-minute service, Sarah Ferguson and Nikki Williams-Ellis, the mothers of the bride and groom, read the couple’s favourite poems: I Carry You In My Heart by E E Cummings and William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.
Edoardo’s three-year-old son, Wolfie, played the roles of best man and pageboy.
Prince Andrew – out of the spotlight following his disastrous Newsnight interview about his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and sexual assault allegations – escorted his daughter down the aisle but did not appear in any of the photographs shared with the public.
Beatrice and Edoardo welcomed daughter Sienna in 2020 and were recently spotted together at Wimbledon.
They attended day nine of the tennis championships and were sat in the Royal Box, where Beatrice warmly greeted broadcaster Stephen Fry.
GLITTERING HISTORY OF BEA’S DIAMOND TIARA
The Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara
The Queen allowed Princess Beatrice, to wear the same tiara she wore at her own wedding in 1947.
The Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara, fashioned in 1919 from a necklace given to the current Queen’s grandmother by Queen Victoria, is a treasured heirloom.
It was lent to the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, as her ‘something borrowed’.
But two hours before the ceremony, a hairdresser securing Elizabeth’s veil with the tiara snapped part of it.
The tiara was rushed to maker Garrard’s London workshop where it was hurriedly welded back together and returned just in time.
The tiara was also loaned to Princess Anne for her wedding to Mark Phillips in 1973, but has rarely been seen in public since.
PRECIOUS HEIRLOOM: Queen Mary wearing the tiara in 1926
The tiara was also worn by the Queen (left) in 1947 and Princess Anne (right) in 1973