Cover (Image: @edomapellimozzi/Misan Harriman)

Your cheat sheet to the Queen's granddaughter Princess Beatrice and her upcoming royal wedding

Ever since Princess Beatrice went public with her beau Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in March this year, royal fans have been waiting for wedding bells to ring. And with Buckingham Palace announcing the couple's engagement last week, it seems like the wait wasn't too long after all.

The next royal wedding is set to take place in 2020, and like the bride-to-be's sister Princess Eugenie's wedding last year, it is likely to generate a lot of buzz. As we await more details about the wedding, here are five things you should know about Princess Beatrice of York.

1. She is the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson

Born to Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1988, Princess Beatrice of York, whose full name is Beatrice Elizabeth Mary, is the older sister of Princess Eugenie. The younger princess tied the knot just last year, and Princess Beatrice was the maid of honour at the wedding.

Princess Beatrice is ninth in line to the British throne, after her father Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

2. She is not a working royal

While you may have seen her at royal engagements like Royal Ascot and Trooping the Colour, Princess Beatrice is not a working royal. Unlike her more prominent cousins Prince William and Prince Harry, the princess does not perform royal duties full-time and has established a career in finance and consulting.

She is currently employed with software company Afiniti, where she serves as vice-president of partnerships and strategy. Her company profile reveals that she was previously an associate at consumer-focused private equity firm Sandbridge, and a business development associate at Sony Pictures Television.

3. She is engaged to a multimillionaire

Princess Beatrice will be marrying 35-year-old multimillionaire Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi next year. Known affectionately as Edo, the property tycoon is the founder of real estate firm Banda and has served as its CEO since 2007.

Like his future royal bride, Edo also comes from nobility. Edo’s father—and his mother Nikki Williams-Ellis’ first husband—is British-Italian alpine skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, whose family seat is the Villa Mapelli Mozzi in Italy.

The pair, who are family friends, have reportedly known each other for a long time.

4. Her nuptials may be the last high-profile wedding to be attended by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip

With Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s remaining unmarried grandchildren still in their youth—Lady Louise Windsor is 15, while James, Viscount Severn is 11—Princess Beatrice’s wedding is “likely to be the last high-profile royal wedding for years to come”, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.

The royal wedding is speculated to take place in spring 2020, at the St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, her sister Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, as well as Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston have previously wedded.

5. She will soon become a mum

A step-mum, to be precise. Princess Beatrice and Edo’s whirlwind romance came soon after he ended a three-year relationship with architect Dara Huang, with whom he has a two-year-old son Christopher Woolf “Wolfie” Mapelli Mozzi.

The pair are reportedly sharing custody of Wolfie, with Edo taking him “to school a couple of mornings a week” and putting “him in bed three or four evenings”.

With the union of Princess Beatrice and Edo, the princess will likely be taking on a parenting role as well for her step-son, though it’s not clear how he will be involved in the British royal family.

As for Edo’s ex-fiancée Dara, she has said: “I wish the best for Edo and Beatrice and look forward to uniting our families.”

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