Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi (born 19 November 1983) is a British property developer descended from Italian nobility. He is the founder and chief executive of Banda Property, a property development and interior design company. He became a member of the British royal family in 2020 when he married Princess Beatrice, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and a niece of King Charles III. He has two daughters with Beatrice and a son from a previous relationship with architect Dara Huang.
The BBC states that Mapelli Mozzi is a count;[5] although titles of nobility are not officially recognized in the Italian Republic, they can still be used out of courtesy.[6][7] The hereditary title of Count in the Kingdom of Italy was awarded to Mapelli Mozzi's family in 1913 by King Victor Emmanuel III, in particular to all legitimate male-line descendants bearing the surname of the noble family of Mozzi, which was previously incorporated into the noble family of Mapelli.[8]
Mapelli Mozzi's mother is Nicola "Nikki" Williams-Ellis MBE (née Nicola Diana Burrows), paternal granddaughter of businessman and Liberal party politician Sir Robert Abraham Burrows.[9][10] Nicola was later married to businessman and Conservative politician Christopher Shale.[11] In 2017, she married for the third time, this time to a sculptor David Williams-Ellis.[12] Mapelli Mozzi has an older sister, Natalia Alice Yeomans (born 1981),[13] and a younger half-brother, Albemarle "Alby" Shale (born 1991).[14]
At the age of 23, with the support of his family,[15] he started Banda, a property development and interior design company, which claims to develop homes in "undervalued" parts of London.[15] This has been challenged by property experts on Twitter and Forbes, who argue that "there is nothing undervalued in Notting Hill", where Mapelli Mozzi's latest project is located, and describe the district as "a super prime residential destination".[16]
Mapelli Mozzi holds directorships in a number of companies, some of them with his mother, Nikki Williams-Ellis, and his brother-in-law, Tod Yeomans.[17] Ahead of the 2016 London mayoral election, Mapelli Mozzi wrote an article for Property Week, urging the future mayor to insist on redevelopment projects in central London. He has also criticised politicians Andrea Leadsom and Jeremy Corbyn.[12]
Mapelli Mozzi is a co-founder of the British-Rwandan charity "Cricket Builds Hope", which aims to use cricket as "a tool for positive social change" in Rwanda, East Africa.[12] Previously known as the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation (RCSF), the charity was founded in 2011 to build Rwanda's first grass wicket cricket ground, now known as Gahanga International Cricket Stadium.[18] Mapelli Mozzi's stepfather Christopher Shale (1954–2001), British businessman and a Conservative politician came up with the idea for the charity but died before he could get it off the ground.[19] Shale's family and friends set up the foundation after his death; Mapelli Mozzi's maternal half-brother, Albemarle "Alby" Shale (born 1991), is on the board of trustees.[18] There are six charity's patrons. They are: Jonathan Agnew, Brian Lara, Heather Knight, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Sam Billings and Makhaya Ntini.[18] In 2012, Mapelli Mozzi cycled 100 kilometres (62 mi) overnight in London in the Nightrider Challenge to raise funds for the Cricket Builds Hope foundation.[20]
Personal life
Mapelli Mozzi was engaged to American architect Dara Huang until 2018. They have a son Christopher Woolf "Wolfie", born in 2016.[21]
In March 2019, Beatrice attended a fundraising event at the National Portrait Gallery, London, accompanied by Mapelli Mozzi.[22] Following his proposal in Italy,[23][24] the couple's engagement was announced on 26 September 2019.[25] Mapelli Mozzi was reported to have designed the engagement ring along with British jeweller Shaun Leane.[26]
Beatrice gave birth to their first daughter, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi,[30] on 18 September 2021 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Sienna is currently 10th in the line of succession to the British throne.[31] Their second daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, was born on 22 January 2025 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, several weeks prematurely.[32] Athena is currently 11th in the line of succession.
The couple initially lived in a four-bedroom apartment at St James's Palace, but they reportedly moved to a manor home in the Cotswolds in late 2022.[33] In an August 2021 interview, Beatrice revealed that Mapelli Mozzi, like her, is dyslexic.[34]
^"Telegraph Announcements 2012". Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 15 March 2019. The engagement is announced between Tod, son of Mr and Mrs Michael Yeomans, of Winchester, Hampshire, and Natalia, stepdaughter of the late Mr Christopher Shale and daughter of Mrs Christopher Shale, of Over Worton, Oxfordshire, and Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, of La Garde Freinet, France.
^Libro d'Oro della Nobilta Italiana, M-Z (22 Volume 26 ed.). Rome: Collegio araldico. 2000–2004. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 1 October 2019. [Translated from Italian to English] – The title of Conte [Co.] was created in 1913 in the Kingdom of Italy by King Victor Emmanuele III to all male descendants imposing the surname and noble family of Mozzi and is incorporated into the family of Mapelli ... *Mozzi (Mapelli-Mozzi) ... Co. Alessandro, n. 17 lug 1951 sp. 18 March 1978 Niky Durrows da cui: (a) Natalia, n. a Londra 28 ag. 1981; (b) Co. Edoardo, n. a Londra 19 November 1983
^"Sir Robert Abraham Burrows (1884–1964), Businessman". National Portrait Gallery (London). Retrieved 21 July 2020. Sir Robert Abraham Burrows is the father of Robert David Burrows whose daughter is Nicola Diana Burrows (b. 1956) who was appointed Member, Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) in 2016.
^"Country Life". 13 October 2005. Countess Natalia Mapelli Mozzi, aged 24, is the daughter of Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, of St Antonin du Var, France, and of Mrs Christopher Shale, of Hundley House. Her brother, Count Edoardo, is...
