Royal watchers have been wondering for months when a date will be announced for Princess Beatrice’s nuptials to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and although we’re still waiting, news reports have confirmed the BBC will not be airing the wedding live.
According to The Mirror, the BBC will not air the impending royal wedding, and it’s unsure whether another network will, either. Whilst the wedding ceremony itself will not be carried by the BBC, they plan on providing “news coverage of the wedding across our services,” per the story.
ITV, who aired Princess Eugenie’s October 2018 wedding on This Morning, told the newspaper they would not comment on whether or not they’d be airing the wedding “until our teams are fully back in place next week.”
Although a date or location has not been confirmed, St George’s Chapel seems to be a likely choice, following in the footsteps of her sister and cousin Harry.
Typically, the BBC is offered the rights to royal events like weddings for free. It’s been reported that the broadcaster wants to stay away from airing the wedding in the wake of their recent interview with Prince Andrew regarding Jeffrey Epstein.
However, considering they didn’t air Princess Eugenie’s wedding, either (despite Prince Andrew allegedly trying to convince them otherwise), the choice seems in line with prior decisions about covering the weddings of more minor royals.
As for ITV, it’s definitely a toss-up whether the network will want to take on a York wedding. Despite the scandal surrounding her father, Princess Beatrice’s will be the last big royal wedding for decades, and a wedding always brings interest and an audience; Princess Eugenie’s live wedding broadcast brought in three million viewers to ITV.
However, the public outcry over the taxpayer security cost for Eugenie’s wedding, combined with outrage over Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview might seal the deal.
“Andrew is so toxic at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s going to be a private wedding with a couple of photos released afterwards,” royal author Phil Dampier said to The Mirror.
Princess Beatrice is currently ninth in line to the British throne.
