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Amidst Prince Andrew’s legal woes comes some much-needed good news for The Firm – the addition of another little bundle of royal joy!
Princess Beatrice (33), the eldest daughter of Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, gave birth over the weekend to a baby girl, her first child with Italian husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (38).
In a statement Buckingham Palace announced: “Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter on Saturday 18th September 2021, at 23.42, at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.news. The family would like to thank all the staff at the hospital for their wonderful care.
Christopher – or Wolfie as he’s known – is Beatrice’s five-year-old stepson. His mother is Edoardo’s former fiancée, architect Dara Huang.
Baby Mozzi is the queen’s 12th great grandchild, and the second grandchild to arrive this year for the Duke and Duchess of York, who now have a pigeon pair to celebrate.
In February their youngest, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, welcomed son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank.
Certainly Beatrice’s birth would have provided a welcome distraction for the royal family from the ongoing drama that is Andrew’s sex-abuse lawsuit.
The 61-year-old is being sued by Virginia Giuffre (formerly Roberts), the most high profile of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who says the royal had sex with her three times when she was 17 and staying with his pal, Epstein.
The duke has ignored legal papers delivered by Virginia’s legal team at his Royal Lodge home in Windsor and failed to appear in a virtual court hearing with a judge in New York.
After playing a cat-and-mouse game for weeks, during which time he’s moved between his home at Windsor and his mother’s Scottish estate of Balmoral to evade summonses, he's now said to be in “crisis talks” with his family and advisers as to the way forward.
However royal insiders say the net is closing in on the disgraced royal despite his stone-wall tactics and “wall of silence”.
There is apparently much concern at the way his well-paid advisers on both sides of the Atlantic have been “outwitted and outplayed” at every turn by David Boies, the street-smart attorney employed by Virginia.
Royal insiders have claimed there may have been a “lack of communication and cohesion” between Andrew's UK legal team and newly appointed US lawyer about how to move forward.
With another court date set for 13 October, talk of a shake-up in the duke’s legal team may be on the cards if only to save his shattered reputation.
“The decision not to put out any kind of statement, even just to reiterate his denial of the allegations, has seen his reputation shredded in the court of public opinion,” says a source close to the situation.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, usatoday.com, nowtolove.com.au
