Throughout March, the tabloids have been dragging Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who is Princess Beatrice’s husband and father to her two daughters. Edo also has a son, Wolfie, with his ex-fiancee and current business partner Dara Huang. When Edo and Beatrice got together circa 2018, it was a whirlwind romance involving Edo abruptly dumping Dara and going all-in with Beatrice. Edo and Bea married in 2020, during the pandemic, and Edo has enjoyed being married to a princess ever since. Then it all went to hell in recent months because Beatrice has been scapegoated about her parents’ associations with Jeffrey Epstein. There are so many reports about Edo flying off to Florida for months instead of taking care of Beatrice and their girls. They’re saying he’s a self-absorbed Italian who “needs attention.” They’re saying he’s arrogant and smarmy and his marriage is in shambles. Well, now they’re pointing out how Edo has “used his royal connections” for years to promote his business. Duh, we’ve known that this whole time.
Anyone with a passing interest in the House of York saga will know that Princess Beatrice’s dashing husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is in the property game. They might also be aware that Edo, as he is known, has sure-footed good taste, evident from his interior design projects, and that everything about them – and him –speaks of high-end refinement and a rare attention to detail.
And yet when he first appeared at Beatrice’s side, some who follow the royals couldn’t help feeling a sneaky bit suspicious. Was this debonair Latin charmer – he is the scion of an aristocratic Italian family – too good to be true? Some found it strange that he left his glamorous architect fiancée, Dara Huang, with whom he has a son, then aged just two, for Beatrice. Ms Huang’s mother, Lily, certainly thought so. She said she was ‘shocked’ and believed it stunned her daughter as well, so sudden was the split.
…Today, some in their social circle point out that he would do well to remember that his marriage to Andrew’s eldest daughter gave Edo’s career a once-in-a-lifetime boost. When he walked back up the aisle of Windsor’s Royal Chapel of All Saints in July 2020, he had one of the most eligible women in Europe by his side.
‘When they first got together, Edo wasn’t nearly so successful,’ said a former associate. ‘Being adjacent to royalty was transformative.’
To be fair, their union came against a backdrop of Covid, which hit most property businesses. Yet the Daily Mail has discovered that Banda faced difficulties even before that. In 2018 its two main subsidiaries – Banda Design and Banda Property – were both reporting losses. Prior to that, the company Edo started aged 23 had enjoyed moderate success, with annual profits in the tens of thousands. Yet his new life as a member of the Royal Family coincided with a period of spectacular growth. In 2020, Banda was a niche concern specialising in locating and developing upmarket homes for the rich, mainly in and around London.
Today, it grandiosely calls itself a ‘multi-disciplinary property practice, covering property search and acquisition, development, project management, architecture and interior design all over the world’ and employs some 60 members of staff, more than three times the figure six years ago. Indeed, the latest records from Companies House show that Banda Design Ltd, its interior design arm, reported a turnover of £2.2million in 2024, and retained profits of £774,353. Yet the year before Edo and Beatrice wed, it was £244,000 in the red.
Friends say that Edo is singularly driven and has made a success of his business through dedication and talent. Yet it is also true that his name, or rather his royal connections, afforded him access to new platforms to promote his work. Post-wedding, it seemed his every project was given acres of space in newspapers and magazines. And suddenly, he was given free rein to rhapsodise about his commercial efforts using what at times appeared to be jargon-heavy, Harry and Meghan-style verbiage.
Never in any interview does Edo mention his wife or the royals, much less answer questions about them. But he was surely aware the blanks would be filled in for him, thus ensuring that he wouldn’t appear to be the one leveraging his status.
‘It was the kind of publicity money can’t buy,’ says a source. ‘There were references in the likes of Vogue and Hello! to him joining the Royal Family. It didn’t exactly do his business any harm, did it? Would he have got it if he wasn’t her [Beatrice’s] husband? Of course not.’
“…He had one of the most eligible women in Europe by his side…” Whew, are we going that far? While I would say that Beatrice was an eligible bachelorette in the UK, I remember Beatrice’s vibe pre-Edo. It was sad-sack Miss Lonelyhearts, can’t-find-a-man. Especially after Dave Clark dumped her after their years-long relationship. In fact, that was why people were so suspicious of Edo – he seemed to be working an angle with a “desperate and lonely” princess, and he was always rather blatantly using his royal-adjacency to promote his business. This Mail piece is just pointing out what has been out in the open this whole time, that Edo comes across as a user, and that he likely saw this marriage to Beatrice as a way to get ahead professionally.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar, Cover Images.
