THE Queen showed her support for the scandal-hit Duke of York by attending Princess Beatrice’s surprise private wedding yesterday.
Beatrice, 31, and property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 37, wed at anintimate Covid-secure ceremony in Windsor.
The Queen, 94, and Duke of Edinburgh, 99, were driven three miles from their self-isolation in Windsor Castle to All Saints Chapel in the grounds of the Royal Lodge.
They spent 45 minutes at the ceremony, held under strict social-distancing rules, before being driven back to the castle.
It was the first time the Queen had seen Beatrice’s father Prince Andrew, 60, since before lockdown and the arrest of his pal Ghislaine Maxwell on child sex charges.
US prosecutors have applied to quiz him on his links to dead paedo financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Beatrice and Edoardo’s wedding was arranged amid close secrecy and held yesterday so that the Queen could attend before she left for Balmoral at the end of the month.
No official photographs of the couple were released last night so as not to overshadow the Queen presenting Captain Tom Moore, 100, with his knighthood.
Beatrice, the Queen’s granddaughter and ninth in line to the throne, has been engaged to millionaire property developer Edoardo, known as Edo, since September 2018.
Dad-of-one Edo is the son of Count Alessandro Mapelli-Mozzi, a former British Olympian and Italian nobleman.
The couple planned to marry at St James’s Palace with a reception in Buckingham Palace gardens on May 29 but that was postponed, as were all weddings during the lockdown.
Yesterday’s ceremony began at 11am in the 190-year-old chapel, which is shielded behind walls and bushes in the grounds of the Royal Lodge on Windsor Great Park.
Beatrice and Edo were joined by between 15 and 20 close relatives. Guests were kept one metre apart during the ceremony in line with Covid-19 guidance.
They moved on to a scaled-down reception at Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s Royal Lodge.
It was so hush-hush most people did not know about it until HOAR’s website broke the news.
A friend of Beatrice said: “A massive wedding was out of the question because of coronavirus.
“They were obviously very keen for the Queen to come so the wedding had to happen before she goes up to Balmoral so this was a great opportunity.
“So many guests were disappointed not to make the big day but understood the reason for it.
