10 things you didn’t know about Princess Beatrice

Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, who has tried to maintain a lower profile than her sister, HRH Princess Eugenie, blew it recently when she married multi-millionaire property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret ceremony – which makes these fun facts about Princess Bea even more interesting.

Like her mum, Sarah, Duchess of York (the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York), Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice is a natural redhead. Her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, appeared to have red hair at her wedding, but that’s because she dyed it shortly before the big day.

The firstborn child of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and his then-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice was born on the eighth day of August in 1988 and was eighth in the line of succession to the throne of the United Kingdom – and its 15 other Commonwealth realms – until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had their first baby, Archie Harrison.

When she was born, Princess Beatrice was the fourth in the line of succession to the throne and the first female. But when Prince William began having children, Beatrice lost her spot first to Prince George, then to Princess Charlotte, then to Prince Louis and now to Archie.

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While Princess Beatrice is a grandchild of the Queen (the fifth, after Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, Prince William, and Prince Harry), and can often be seen at important royal family events, she doesn’t carry out duties in the Queen’s name (nor does her sister, Princess Eugenie). Rather, she has used her BA in History to work full-time in finance and consulting, previously at a venture capital firm Sandbridge and later AI company Afiniti.

Princess Beatrice’s mum, Sarah, is the ex-wife of Prince Andrew and has had somewhat of a contentious relationship with some members of the royal family. But Bea’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, does not hold that against her and is actually quite close with the princess. For example, the Queen was on hand to help Princess Beatrice celebrate her 30th birthday at Balmoral in Scotland in 2018.

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Princess Beatrice, baptised Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York, was named after Queen Victoria’s youngest child (out of nine) and dearest companion in her later years as well as the editor of her personal diaries: Princess Beatrice, who later became Princess Henry of Battenberg, and whose only daughter was Princess Victoria Eugenie. Of course, Bea’s middle name, Elizabeth, was after Queen Elizabeth II and her second middle name, Mary, after Queen Mary of Teck (the mother of King George VI and Elizabeth II’s grandmother).

Princess Beatrice played a lady-in-waiting in the 2009 film, The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria. The film was produced by Martin Scorsese and by Sarah, Duchess of York, and it drew the ire of Queen Elizabeth II for perpetuating certain historical inaccuracies.

Princess Beatrice is dyslexic and as such is interested in charities involved with dyslexia and learning difficulties. Beatrice’s openness in discussing her learning disability has proven an inspiration to many, including singer Tina Turner. Her struggle with dyslexia was pivotal not only in her choice to support charities involved with learning disabilities but also in educating the needy.

Princess Beatrice’s mum, Sarah, is famous for her struggles with her weight and even worked as a Weight Watcher’s spokesperson. “I think over-eating sort of runs in the family,” Sarah told the press in reference to the fact that she had put Princess Beatrice on a diet at the age of eight. And Princess Beatrice admitted to struggling with her weight and body image issues in her teen years.

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Princess Beatrice is known to take Ubers, and has even shared an Uber with Hollywood couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, whom she met through her ex, Dave Clark. She even spent a holiday with them in St Tropez on the French Riviera. Beatrice is also close with model Karlie Kloss.