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Dressed in a pastel pink suit with his legs crossed casually, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi lounged beneath a pink and white striped umbrella looking every inch the suave man about town.
The photo of Princess Beatrice’s husband enjoying solo travel in Florida dropped mere days before the arrest of his father-in-law Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in February.
Now, just over a month on, amid reports Edo has been “distancing himself” from the ongoing furore surrounding his in-laws, claims of a “tear-stricken call” between Edo and his wife have emerged.
“Beatrice is worried about her marriage,” an insider tells Woman’s Day. “She knows Edo’s pulling away and she’s worried he’s losing interest now her Royal shine is fading.”
The source claims the tense call between the pair involved Beatrice demanding Edo return home to help support her through the family crisis.
“She knows he’d be under enormous pressure from his family to stay away from the York scandal, but they have two kids together,” the insider explains.
Indeed, Edo’s solo February trip to Florida was was ostensibly for work purposes, with Edo “exchanging ideas with peers across the industry”, and it would hardly be a surprise if the Italian businessman were worried about what impact Andrew and Fergie’s ties to Jeffery Epstein will have on his property design company, Banda.
“The problem with Edo is he’s very proud and can’t take this hit on his reputation that’s none of his doing,” the source tells Woman’s Day, adding the frustrated father is “angry about it all”.
And Beatrice isn’t alone in her marriage woes. New photos of her sister Princess Eugenie appearing tearful at a dinner with her husband Jack Brooksbank have sparked fears that their marriage, too, is under strain.
Eugenie endured a lonely 36th birthday – marking the occasion with a low-key dinner at The River Cafe in Hammersmith, London, on March 23, with Jack.
While Eugenie was upbeat at times, she also seemed reflective and at times emotional, with the couple seen in deep conversation during the evening. At one point staff presented the Princess with a dessert topped with a single candle in a subtle nod to the occasion.
A source told Daily Mail that while Jack’s “code of honour” means that he will not “completely desert Andrew and Sarah”, but that he has refused to “step into the line of fire himself”.
“His first loyalty has to be to his wife and their two young children. The whole sordid affair has already brought them a great deal of unwarranted attention and he won’t do anything to increase that,” the source explained.
Jack – the owner of a successful consultancy firm – is said to be concerned he and his wife will both become “tainted by association” amid the ongoing fallout.
“Jack has worked very hard building his business, and it’s going well so the last thing he needs is for the Epstein scandal to taint that,” the source said. “He will do everything he can to keep his head below the parapet because of that,”
As such the duo are said to be “resisting any suggestion” from Fergie that she should come and live with them.
“Because to be frank Sarah is difficult to live with and they don’t want the responsibility of looking after her at the moment,” the source went on. “That’s not to say they are not concerned about her welfare – they just don’t actually want her to be living with them, even temporarily.”
So while Jack and Eugenie seem to be trying to unite, what beckons for Beatrice?
“Things haven’t been great for a while between them, but Beatrice has been determined to soldier on and forge a path through,” a source told the Daily Mail.
“Beatrice is quite different from her sister. She really wants to almost naively see the good in people and will turn a blind eye to uncomfortable truths – that is why she was blind to her father’s behaviour, and the same is true of her belief in Edo.
“She wants to stay together, but he seems more and more distracted by work and travel. Just when she needs him most, he’s been pulling away,” they added.
But while Beatrice – who shares daughters Sienna and Athena with Edo – is said to be “desperate to hold things together”, insiders add that she has little headspace to make her husband her sole focus.
“He needs attention, he’s one of those men,” an insider told Daily Mail of Edo. “Beatrice feels very raw and beside herself on so many levels.”
