Princess Beatrice was said to be heartbroken after her ex-boyfriend was found dead from a suspected overdose in a Miami hotel room.
The body of Paolo Liuzzo, 42, was discovered at the citizenM Worldcenter hotel shortly after 3pm on February 7, the Miami Police Department said.
The cause of death has not been disclosed due to Florida records law but officer Michael Vega, of the Miami Police Department, said that the incident “was investigated as an overdose death” and an investigation is open and ongoing.
Sources told The Sun that Mr Liuzzo had struggled with drugs and racked up big gambling debts.
Princess Beatrice, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, started dating Mr Liuzzo in 2005 when she was 17 and he was 24. Their relationship became public the following year when he accompanied the Princess and her family on a skiing holiday to Verbier, Switzerland.
It emerged that he had travelled there in defiance of a probation order related to the manslaughter of a student during a drunken fight in Worcester, Massachusetts, four years previously.
Beatrice was reported to have ended the relationship later that year.
The princess, now 35, is believed to have found out about Mr Liuzzo’s death shortly after her mother Sarah Ferguson was diagnosed with cancer and was “heartbroken” by the news.
Mr Liuzzo’s death certificate said he had been working as an art industry consultant. He was listed as living at an apartment building near the hotel.
His body was taken back to his native Long Island, New York, for a funeral on February 16.
A friend told the The Sun that Mr Liuzzo “loved to party and gamble. He began using a lot of pharmaceutical drugs but that later led to cocaine and harder drugs.
“It was a very fast lifestyle and we all feared it would catch up with him eventually,” the friend said.
Princess Beatrice married the multi-millionaire property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020. They have a daughter, Sienna.
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