When Princess Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in July 2020, she became not just a wife, but a stepmother—still a rare occurrence in the royal family. (Queen Camilla, too, is a stepmother, of course, to Prince William and Prince Harry after marrying their father, then Prince Charles, in 2005.)
Dara Huang, who shares son Christopher Woolf—nicknamed Wolfie—with ex-fiancé Edo, broke her silence after co-parenting with Beatrice; the American architect and designer told Harper’s Bazaar that “Wolfie has had two sets of parents trying to help him on both sides, and I just think, ‘The more, the merrier.’”
When Beatrice and Edo started dating in 2018, he hadn’t been separated long from Huang, who is originally from Florida but now lives in London. In addition to Wolfie, Beatrice and Edo now share a daughter, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, born in September 2021.
“I feel lucky to have such positive people around him, who really embrace him—because it didn’t have to be so easy,” Huang said. “It’s all about your point of view. I don’t understand people who are divorced and then hold their children as collateral; that doesn’t make any sense. It’s about creating a happy home and lifestyle.”
Beatrice has embraced the role of being a stepmother, and has always spoken warmly of Wolfie. She recently brought him to the BBC Earth Experience in London and to the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham last year.
Beatrice said she and Wolfie enjoy reading bedtime stories together in particular: “My stepson (who is now seven) and I eagerly look forward to receiving the books and going through them together,” Beatrice said in a speech at Oscar’s Book Prize, of which she is patron. “Growing up in a world surrounded by books, we can take for granted that not everyone is so lucky. We need to remember in a world of screens and AI, it is moments of community, including between parents and children, that we need to keep alive. I was reminded this weekend—it’s been a bit of a big weekend—about the importance of community. I also know the importance of literacy to Her Majesty the Queen [Camilla].”
On parenting both Wolfie and Sienna, Beatrice told The Daily Mail that “Being a parent is such a busy thing, and building that connection through reading with the children makes me stop and think.”
