When Princess Beatrice exchanged vows with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the world was abuzz with tales of her marrying into one of Italy’s most distinguished aristocratic families. Her new husband, it was said, was poised to inherit not only a noble title but also a significant fortune and a historic palazzo.
Edoardo’s Italian roots were a key highlight of their union. His father was reputedly a wealthy Count, and their family estate, the splendid 18th-century neo-classical Villa Mapelli Mozzi in Lombardy, was expected to one day be Edoardo’s inheritance.
Yet, as the couple nears their sixth wedding anniversary at Windsor, rumors have begun to circulate suggesting that their relationship might not be as idyllic as once perceived. These whispers have coincided with a reevaluation of Edoardo’s supposed wealth and social standing.
In a surprising revelation, the Daily Mail reports that the Mapelli Mozzi family’s ancestral home, once grand but now in a state of disrepair, is so deteriorated that it is almost impossible to sell. Even if a buyer were found, the property would likely fetch no more than £2.5 million, a modest sum for such a palace.
Furthermore, any sale of the property would not financially benefit Edoardo. His branch of the family is a junior one within the Mapelli Mozzi lineage and, as a result, has no legal claim to the estate.
Indeed, far from having bottomless pockets as a member of Italy’s aristocracy, Edo’s three-times-married father, Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, is living in a small property in the South of France and eking out a modest income derived from renting out small holiday lets.
Mr Mapelli Mozzi senior is not a Count either. The title is only vestigial, with no legal status since Italy became a republic in 1946. And even if it were recognised again, cousins would have greater claim to its use.
Certainly, 42-year-old Edo, who was born in London and went to public school Radley College before graduating from Edinburgh University, is not awash with funds in the style of a scion of the Euro super wealthy.
The Mapelli Mozzi family’s ancestral home, a once fabulous but now crumbling edifice, needs so much work that it’s considered practically unsellable
It’s estimated a sale of the home would only bring in around £2.5million
Edo and Beatrice purchased a six-bedroom £3.5million house in the Cotswolds in June 2021, a year after they married
When he bought his comfortable Cotswolds family house with Beatrice he did not pay cash, but took out a mortgage just like anyone else, the Daily Mail has learned.
Edo and Beatrice purchased the six-bedroom £3.5million house in June 2021, a year after they married, with a mortgage from a private bank, according to publicly available Land Registry records.
Inevitably, it means the pair have a significant financial commitment and now there are fears that Mozzi’s stock as a property developer, which had been buoyed by his marriage into the Royal Family, could slump thanks to the close association of his in-laws with the sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Small wonder, then, that there are reports of gathering storm clouds around the once supposedly fairy tale marriage between the ‘Count’ and his Princess.
Concerns about a rift – denied by the couple – were revealed by the Mail on Sunday last month.
Eyebrows were raised when Edo flew to Palm Beach in Florida for a design conference in February, just days after the former Prince Andrew was dramatically whisked away from Royal Lodge under the cover of darkness. Photos posted by Edo showed him looking relaxed in a pastel pink suit and loafers. But while Edo was enjoying the sunshine 4,500 miles away, Beatrice was left alone to cope with the one of the most critical moments in the agonisingly drawn out fall of the House of York.
None of this seemed to trouble Edo’s father when we spoke to him this week, however.
Far from a palace, Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi lives in a £250,000 home in a sleepy hamlet near Draguignan in Provence, southern France.
‘I have plenty of opinions, but I am not going to talk about them,’ Mr Mozzi, 74, said. ‘It’s not my affair, you should go and talk to my son about it.’
Locals told us that Alessandro and his Spanish partner Marie Helene Viegas, 64, had lived in the village for several years. One said: ‘They run a holiday letting company from their home. We see them out and about walking their dogs. Everyone knows his son is married to a member of the Royal Family and lives in London. He’s mentioned it, but we have never seen them here.’
The latest publicly available accounts for Mr Mozzi Snr’s company, Hidden Secret Villas, show it making a loss of €19,000 – hardly the stuff of playboy millionaires.
Edo is one of two children Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi had with his English wife Nikki Burrows. His only full sibling is older sister Natalia, 44, whose husband Tod Yeomans works with Edo on his property projects.
‘Count’ Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki split when their children were young and after a brief relationship with Sarah Hunt – the widow of F1 racing legend James Hunt –he moved to France. There he married twice more before settling down with his current partner nine years ago. As for the future of Villa Mapelli Mozzi, the Daily Mail has spoken to Alessandro’s cousin Dario Mapelli Mozzi, 75, who along with a sister and another cousin, is the current joint owner.
Dario Mapelli Mozzi said: ‘It would be impossible for Edo or his sister to inherit the villa, they have no share in it and there are other more legitimate heirs.
‘I know who Edo is but I’ve never met him.’
The Mapelli Mozzi name came from the union of two clans in the 19th century – when Edo’s great-great-great-great grandfather Gerolamo Mapelli married Angela Mozzi – and antecedents can be traced back as far as 985AD.
Edo’s three times married father, Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, is living in a small property in the South of France. Pictured in front of the Mapelli Mozzi ancestral home
Eyebrows were raised when Edo flew to Palm Beach in Florida for a design conference in February, just days after the former prince Andrew was dramatically whisked away from Royal Lodge under the cover of darkness
They were given hereditary titles in 1913 by King Victor Emmanuel III but these were abolished along with the monarchy after World War II. Italian land registry records would seem to confirm that neither Alessandro nor Edo have a share of the palazzo – which is partially in ruins – apart from claim to a small orchard.
Dario Mapelli Mozzi also revealed that the family had tried and failed to sell the decaying building two years ago. The villa had been put up for sale with a price of €3million, but a deal fell through after internal family squabbles. A subsequent proposal to turn it into a care home also failed to materialise.
A property expert in Bergamo who had been involved in the bid to sell it said: ‘It’s a beautiful building and some of the frescoes are wonderful but the place needs a lot of work – the plaster is falling away and the roof also needs a lot of attention.
‘It’s now mainly used as a backdrop for weddings and parties. It would be hard to find anyone to buy it.’
They added: ‘I did read that a member of the family married into the British Royal Family and is a property developer – maybe he could buy it and turn it back into the magnificent place it once was.’
The allusion to Edo’s property career relates to his company, Banda, which received a huge boost following his 2020 marriage to Beatrice.
That wedding took place just two years after Edo had separated from Chinese-American architect Dara Huang, the daughter of a Nasa scientist.
He was briefly engaged to Huang with whom he has a son, ‘Wolfie’, whose full name is Christopher.
‘When they first got together, Edo wasn’t nearly so successful,’ said a former associate. ‘Being adjacent to royalty was transformative.’ Prior to that, the company Edo started aged 23 had enjoyed only moderate success.
Banda was initially a niche concern specialising in locating and developing upmarket homes for the rich, mainly in and around London, with annual profits in just the tens of thousands and two subsidiaries both reporting losses.
Yet his new life as a member of the Royal Family coincided with spectacular growth.
Today, Banda 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.
As for relations between Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and his son, as the comment from Mr Mozzi’s neighbour about never having seen Edo suggests, they are not thought to be close.
The small house where Edoardo’s father Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi lives in Provence, France
Speaking at the time of the wedding, Alessandro – who skied for Great Britain in the 1972 Winter Olympics – said he had yet to meet Beatrice but would do so at the ceremony, only for Covid restrictions to mean he could not attend.
It is unclear if they have subsequently been introduced, or whether Alessandro has met the couple’s two daughters, Sienna Elizabeth, four, and Athena Elizabeth Rose, one.
Edo has never spoken publicly of his father but instead heaped praise on his stepfather, Nikki’s second husband the late Christopher Shale, who died aged just 56 in unusual circumstances – at Glastonbury Festival in 2011 while in a portable lavatory.
In fact, Sarah Ferguson had worked for Mr Shale as a secretary before her marriage, remaining friends, and so Beatrice had known Edo for much of their childhoods. Mr Shale, a close friend of former PM David Cameron, who paid a glowing tribute to him when he died, evidently also thought of Edo like his own son.
He acknowledged this in his will: Edo inherited from his stepfather, although it was a sum in the region of £650,000 rather than millions.
Edo was also left his stepfather’s emerald cufflinks, half his collections of watches and Hermes ties, a 12-bore shotgun, ivory hairbrushes, a gold Dupont lighter and a marble chessboard.
In what may have been a dig at Alessandro, Edo said at the time: ‘He [Chris Shale] was a father to me, the only father I have ever known, and a father to all three of us [Nikki and Christopher also had a son together], the best father we could ever have.’
There are several other subsequent social media tributes to his stepfather, but none to his natural father.
One for Chris Shale from Father’s Day 2015 says: ‘Happy Father’s Day – we miss you every day. I aspire to be half the man you were.’ While another touching tribute on the 10th anniversary of his death reads: ‘Not a day goes by without me thinking of you and leaning on all the lessons you taught me.’
Finally, on the question of Edo’s Italianness or otherwise, we return to his cousin Dario Mapelli Mozzi at the stately home in Lombardy that Edo was supposedly one day to inherit.
‘There was talk of Edo coming to stay a few years ago when he was on holiday in Tuscany, but he never arrived,’ Mr Mapelli Mozzi told us.
‘He has certainly never been here to see the house. I don’t think he can even speak Italian.’
