Prince Andrew ‘faces Princess Beatrice wedding photo snub’ amid Epstein scandal
Prince Andrew will not feature in the official images published after Princess Beatrice's wedding, according to a royal expert.
The 59-year-old Duke of York was forced to step down from royal duties amid the backlash from his "car crash" BBC Newsnight interview last year.
The Duke of York was interviewed about his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide last year.
Prince Andrew's eldest daughter Princess Beatrice announced she was engaged to property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi last year saying they intended to wed in 2020.
The royal wedding is expected to be more pared back than previous weddings given the controversy surrounding the Duke of York.
Princess Beatrice’s royal wedding won't be shown live on BBC after Andrew scandal
Prince Andrew scandal likely to lead to 'scaled down' wedding for daughter Beatrice
Speaking on the ROYALS podcast, royal expert Angela Mollard said: “She’s just got to get through the wedding that the whole world will be looking at.
“As we know her dad didn’t come to her engagement party. She had her friends there. her mum was there but her dad didn’t come.
“What role her father is going to have in this wedding will be really interesting.
“I think it will be a very quick scamper down the aisle and that’s about it, to be honest.
“I think he will arrive with Fergie. I think that Eugenie will be her matron of honour but I think it will be very paired back."
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Regarding the photographs, Ms Mollard said she believes Bea and Edo, as they are affectionately called, will not share a group image of the wedding party, instead just posting the image of the newly wedded couple.
Ms Mollard said: “I think we will get photographs released and I’m not sure Andrew will have much of a role in those photos as I think it will be the couple themselves.
“Unfortunately poor Beatrice is being tarnished by the allegations around her father and that’s not going away yet.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with that so, very hard to be planning a wedding as the same time as your family is doing a major damage limitation exercise.”
When Beatrice's younger sister married her long-time boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in October 2018, four official photographs were published: two of the wedding party and two of the couple.
Prince Andrew featured in just one of these images alongside other members of Eugenie and Jack's families, including the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson.
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Bea is also expected to differ from her sister in terms of televising the wedding.
Ms Mollard said Beatrice will not choose to have it shown on television unlike her younger sister.
The royal expert said: "When Beatrice’s sister Eugenie got married, Prince Andrew very much wanted his daughter to have her wedding televised by the BBC.
“He approached the BBC, they didn’t want it and ITV begrudgingly broadcast it.
“I feel very sorry for Beatrice because I don’t think she would have wanted it broadcast anyway.
“They are completely different sisters. Beatrice is the elder more subdued, quieter, more serious, shyer sister.
“Eugenie is far more outgoing and sociable so she potentially would have wanted her wedding broadcast.
“She was also the one who wore the wedding dress that showed off her scoliosis scar and she wants to talk about her life, Beatrice doesn’t.
“She’s the opposite of her mother really. Fergie was always in the limelight and Beatrice is almost this throwback where she wants a quiet life.
“She would love nothing better apparently than to go off with her fiancé to Italy and have a quiet little wedding in a Tuscan villa.”
Italy holds romantic significance for the couple as it is where they became engaged.
However, speculation about the couple having a destination wedding in Italy was quashed when Princess Beatrice's mother Sarah Ferguson said: "It can only be Britain."
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