If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.
Andrew becomes a royal unperson
Amidst all the happiness of Princess Beatrice’s wedding Friday was the very obvious exclusion of her parents from the official wedding photographs.
ADVERTISEMENT
Of course, there really was no choice, as releasing a picture of Beatrice and a grinning Andrew—who continues to be mired in scandal over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—would have seemed totally inappropriate and beyond tone-deaf. It seems very hard on Fergie though, who presumably either decided or was told that it would look less odd not to include Andrew if she was passed over too.
But there we are; the family photo featured the bride and groom posing alongside the queen, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, in pictures that were released Saturday.
However, royal sources made it clear that Andrew was able to walk his beloved elder daughter down the aisle at All Saints Church in Windsor on Friday. The chapel is in the grounds of his home, Royal Lodge.
A friend of Beatrice told The Daily Beast on Friday: “Beatrice is not into all the razzmatazz, so I suspect she will really be very happy about it being such a small affair. And of course, if it meant her beloved dad could come without drawing any fire, that is another bonus. She is the sweetest girl and we are all thrilled for her after what has been a really difficult few years.”
Beatrice and Edo had a small party afterwards for 14 friends according to the Mail on Sunday, with their pals dancing the night away in a pub-themed tent named the Duke of York.
But given this is likely the last major royal wedding for at least a decade, probably two, it feels decidedly like going out with a whimper.
Beatrice’s stepson played “important” role at wedding
When Beatrice married Edo in their hush-hush ceremony on Friday (attended by around 20 “close family” members), she became the first British princess in the queen’s family to become a stepmother.
Town and Country reported that Edo’s son Wolfie was at the ceremony at All Saints Chapel at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. Wolfie “played an important role in the wedding,” a source close to the family told T&C.
“My granddaughter got married this morning both Philip and I managed to get there—very nice,” the queen is said to have told Captain Sir Tom Moore when she knighted him after attending the ceremony. (The 100-year-old became a national hero in Britain after raising more than $40 million for healthcare workers.)
The source also described the royal wedding as “intimate,” and shared that “under 20 people” were invited to the ceremony which had been “planned for some time” and scheduled to accommodate the queen. Wolfie’s mother, the architect and designer Dara Huang, was not present at the wedding, but wished Beatrice and her former partner well when they announced their engagement.
Harry and Meghan book price slashed
The Mail reports that the much-awaited Harry and Meghan bio, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and The Making of a Modern Royal Family, has already been reduced from £20 to £13.60 ($25 to $17). Whether this signals that the book is a lot less spicier and dishier than expected about the circumstances of the couple’s departure from the royal family remains to be seen.
Grief connection
The Mail also showcased the letter of thanks a representative for Harry and Meghan sent to author Mark Lemon, who wrote a book, The Magical Wood, about how bereaved children deal with the loss of a parent. Lemon’s father was stabbed to death 28 years ago, when the author was 12.
Lemon told the Mail, “As someone affected by grief and trauma as a child, I felt compelled to send a copy of my children’s bereavement title The Magical Wood to them. I have a huge amount of admiration for the way that both Prince William and Harry have coped with their grief throughout their lives.”
A dish fit for a king
Prince William has recalled that he once tried the famous cockney London snack jellied eels, which comprises chopped eels boiled in a spicy stock that sets, forming a jelly, as a hangover cure. William, 38, reminisced on this culinary experience with Gary Griffiths, 55, a homeless former roofer who worked on the restoration of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire, The Sunday Times reports.
Griffiths said William needed “a bit of pie and mash” to “fatten you up a bit”. William replied: “Don’t. I ate jellied eels on a hangover after a bender.” In the 18th century eel, pie and mash houses were big business in the East End of London but European eels, which once thrived in the Thames, are now endangered, with their numbers down 90% since the 1970s.
One is going on a summer holiday
Her Majesty the Queen will not be denied her vacay. Having sheltered in place at Windsor Castle for four months, Philip and Elizabeth are heading to their Scottish country estate, Balmoral, next month, The Sunday Times reports.
To minimize risk, the queen will not host or entertain her guests in the castle. They will stay in properties on the estate and join her for walks, shooting, fishing, horse riding, picnics, and barbecues.
Sounds nice. Let’s hope she doesn’t do a Queen Victoria and never come back.
This week in royal history
Beatrice and Edo got married almost 34 years after Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got married. The couple married on July 23, 1986 at Westminster Abbey. They have been divorced for many years, and have been the subjects of varying and considerable public shame. Yet still they remain friends, and each other’s biggest supporters.
Unanswered questions
How far will Meghan Markle go in her 2020 election politicking? How did the royal family pull off Beatrice’s secret wedding—and who was actually there?
