Lucky numbers, sketchy business alliances…and she was formerly known as Annabel?! Fascinators
or not, this royal's gone global. Here's what everyone ignores about Princess Beatrice!
As Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson posted on Instagram to her firstborn daughter,
Princess Beatrice, for her birthday in 2020,
"8.8.88 at 8:18pm was one of the greatest and most proud moments of my life. You are unique
and simply one of the most special people on this planet. Your ever loving and devoted Mum."
Beatrice emerged into this world at precisely eight minutes after
the eighth hour on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year
of the eighth decade of the 20th century. That's a lot of eights.
And all those eights apparently reveal a lot about Beatrice and her destiny. According to
astrologer and numerologist, Ellen Bowles, the number eight is associated with, quote,
"infinite possibilities and prosperity." And for Beatrice,
this would appear to be exponentially true, considering the sheer number of eights.
"You should kind of be sitting there,
a little bit in the monarch's shadow, and just wait your turn."
Prince Harry may claim that the royal family "spares" get the short end of the stick from
both the public and their own family. But the birth of Beatrice to Prince Andrew and Sarah
was a momentous occasion for royal watchers at the time. And the fact that it took her
parents a full two weeks to announce her name may have only bolstered the drama.
There's no royal protocol regarding the timing of a royal baby name announcement in relation
to the baby's birth. But U.K. law gives parents 42 days to register a birth, which must include
a definitive name. Nevertheless, many royals have taken far less time to announce a decision,
including William and Kate, who announced Prince George's name just two days after his birth. So,
what was the reason for the two-week holdup with Beatrice?
According to the Los Angeles Times, that may be how long it took for the Yorks to settle
on a name that Queen Elizabeth would approve. Tabloids reported that Andrew and Fergie had
chosen "Annabel," but the queen rejected the name as "too yuppie" for a royal family member.
"Who are you?"
"I — my name's Beatrice." We'll never know how different
things might have gone had Beatrice been called Annabel. But her current name carries
great honor and affection among members of the royal family. Meaning "bringer of joy,"
Beatrice was the name that Queen Victoria gave to the youngest of her nine children.
Born in 1857, Victoria's Beatrice was given the nickname Baby,
and it stuck throughout much of her life. Some say that Beatrice was Victoria's favorite child,
but from a very young age, Beatrice was groomed to be
Victoria's near-constant companion. Ultimately, it was Beatrice to whom
Victoria bestowed the job of collecting and editing Victoria's diaries after her death.
That being said, Queen Elizabeth wasn't necessarily a fan of Baby's
work as an editor. In the 1992 documentary "Elizabeth R," the
queen is heard remarking of the writings of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria,
"[They were] unfortunately rewritten by Princess Beatrice. She thought her
mother’s diaries were too frank and so she destroyed them."
Although Beatrice makes occasional public appearances with other members of the royal
family, she is not among the working royals. Beatrice is, in fact, a royal who is employed
outside of her crown-related duties. And she's done that since the age of 19,
when she took a summer job as a sales assistant at the London department store, Selfridges.
In 2008, Marie Claire UK reported that Beatrice, then a student at Goldsmiths University in London,
would spend one month working full-time for the store in an unpaid internship.
But she definitely wasn't working the register. Instead, she was tapped as a
personal shopper for VIPs. And one of her customers was her cousin, Prince William,
who needed help choosing a pair of earrings for his then-girlfriend, Kate Middleton.
Of course, the princess nailed the gig. A source for Selfridges told The Sun at the time,
"Beatrice is a natural. Our personal shoppers are popular with wealthy Arabs,
celebrities and footballers' wives."
Beatrice also worked as an intern for Sony Pictures Television in London in 2014,
when she was 25. Previously, she had been working in finance at an investment capital firm,
but she left that job, choosing to focus on her charity work for a time.
But the princess's detour into the entertainment world was not her first.
In 2009, she played an unnamed Lady in Waiting in the coronation scene of "The
Young Victoria," which covered the first year of Queen Victoria's lengthy reign.
"There's so much talent here."
Later, in 2016, she collaborated with British artist, Teddy M, with her mother, Sarah,
and younger sister, Princess Eugenie, to create a painting. What started as
the artist's rendering of a red heart on a blue background became the charitable work known as
"Royal Grafitti." The piece was auctioned off to benefit the charity Children in Crisis.
Afiniti describes itself as a technology company that leverages artificial intelligence and machine
learning to create better customer service experiences for companies. And in 2017,
news first emerged that Beatrice was professionally associated with the corporation.
The Telegraph portrayed it as Beatrice having "business matchmaker" aspirations,
with Afiniti being her first client. That meant Beatrice's role was helping to match
Afiniti with investors. Earlier that year she was spotted with Afiniti's founder,
making the rounds at the World Economic Forum.
Beatrice has been associated with Afiniti ever since. This is Money U.K. reported in February
2023 that she was employed as Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy. Nevertheless,
it appears the royal family has had some misgivings about the affiliation. Along with
a sexual assault allegation leveraged against the company founder, according to City AM,
Afiniti continues to be plagued by scandal. Early in 2023, it appeared the founder had
also stolen proprietary technology in order to launch a Chinese competitor.
Under U.K. law, if a monarch becomes permanently incapacitated, the next person in the order of
succession is made Regent. As Prince of Wales and heir apparent, Prince William would become
Regent if anything were to interrupt King Charles' reign. But in the event of a monarch's temporary
incapacity, including their physical absence from the U.K., a number of royals are designated as
"Counsellors of State" and are empowered to act on the monarch's behalf to perform day-to-day duties.
Counsellors of State include Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William,
Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Princess Beatrice. But given that
Andrew has left his royal duties and Harry moved to the States,
Prince Edward and Princess Anne were appointed as lifetime Counsellors of State, per the BBC.
"I shall strive to follow the inspiring example I have been set."
Although it may seem strange to some that a non-working royal family member could be called
upon to act on King Charles' behalf, Beatrice's qualifications have never been questioned.
The royal family dress code is largely unwritten. But it turns out there is some leeway for
non-working royals like Beatrice. Other than the late Queen Elizabeth's wish that no woman from the
family be seen in public without stockings or in a dress cut above the knee, Beatrice
remained in her grandmother's good graces despite having appeared bare-legged in a short skirt.
Beatrice has become somewhat infamous for her unique choices in attire. And because
of that, she has appeared on various worst-dressed lists over the years,
especially when it comes to her accessories.
Beatrice was "dragged" for wearing what Cosmo called one of "the most extra hats of all time"
to the 2011 wedding of William and Kate. In fact, her entire outfit was deemed, quote,
"outlandish" by the Daily Mail. Although some of Beatrice's outfit misses have
later come to be considered groundbreaking and even iconic, she told British Vogue,
"It’s hard to navigate situations like these because there is no precedent, there is no
protocol. [Eugenie and I] are the first: we are young women trying to build careers and
have personal lives, and we're also princesses and doing all of this in the public eye.”
Despite several previous high profile romances, for Beatrice, the love of her life is British
businessman Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi. The two began dating in late 2018 and went public
as a couple soon after. Still, they didn't make their first appearance together until
March 2019. By September of that year, the two were engaged. Their wedding was set for May 29,
2020, at The Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace, with a Buckingham Palace reception.
But within a month, the couple canceled their plans amid the public health concerns at the
time. The two ended up trading vows in a private ceremony at the Royal
Lodge at Windsor in July. The event was a surprise to many, but not to Queen Elizabeth,
who lent Beatrice a vintage dress from her closet and the tiara she wore to her own wedding in 1947.
Although technically Beatrice's wedding might be seen as an elopement,
it's not considered as such because she had the blessing of the monarch.
On September 20, 2021, the royal family announced the birth of a baby girl on September 18 to
Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo. On October 1, 2021, the couple announced their new baby's name:
Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, with Sienna being a nod to Sarah Ferguson's first initial
and hair color, and Elizabeth as a tribute to her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.
"That's very kind."
Like Beatrice, Sienna stands apart from other members of her generation
within the royal family in several respects.
For one, Sienna does not have a royal title, due to an order put in place by King George V;
only the sons of the monarch and their children would receive a title. That's also why Princess
Anne's children don't have royal titles. In addition, no photos of the King's grand-niece have
ever been made available to the public. That's not to say that they never will be, but it's
certainly noteworthy when a royal's child goes more than 18 months without a single public photo.