Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi


Edoardo Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi is a British property developer. He is the founder and chief executive of Banda, a property development and interior design company. He is married to Princess Beatrice, a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.

Background

Mapelli Mozzi was born at the Portland Hospital in West End, London. He is the son of Alessandro "Alex" Mapelli-Mozzi, British Olympian and member of an Italian noble family whose ancestral seat is the Villa Mapelli Mozzi in the Bergamo province of Italy. The BBC describe Mapelli Mozzi as being a count. The title was given to his family in the nobility of Italy in 1913 by King Victor Emmanuel III to all male descendants imposing the surname and noble family of Mozzi and is incorporated to the family of Mapelli.
Mapelli Mozzi's mother is Nicola "Nikki" Williams-Ellis MBE, granddaughter of Sir Robert Abraham Burrows. She was later married to businessman and Conservative politician Christopher Shale until his death in 2011. In 2017, she married the sculptor David Williams-Ellis. Mapelli Mozzi has an older sister, Natalia Alice Yeomans, and a younger half-brother, Alby Shale.

Career

Mapelli Mozzi attended Radley College before obtaining an M.A. in politics - at the University of Edinburgh. At the age of 23, with the support of his family, he started Banda, a property development and interior design company, which claims to develop homes in "undervalued" parts of London. 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".
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. 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.

Cricket Builds Hope

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. Previously known as the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, the charity was founded in 2011 to build Rwanda's first grass wicket cricket ground, now known as Gahanga International Cricket Stadium. Mapelli Mozzi's stepfather Christopher Shale came up with the idea for the charity but died before he could get it off the ground. Shale's family and friends set up the foundation after his death; Mapelli Mozzi's half-brother, Alby Shale, is on the board of trustees. The charity's patrons are Jonathan Agnew, Brian Lara, Heather Knight, Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent, Sam Billings and Makhaya Ntini. In 2012, Mapelli Mozzi cycled overnight in London in the Nightrider Challenge to raise funds for the foundation.

Personal life

Mapelli Mozzi was engaged to American architect Dara Huang until 2018. They have a son, Christopher Woolf, born in 2016. In 2018, Mapelli Mozzi started a relationship with Princess Beatrice of York, whom he had known since childhood. His family have been close friends with her parents, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York, for decades. Following his proposal in Italy, the couple's engagement was announced on 26 September 2019. Mapelli Mozzi was reported to have designed the engagement ring along with British jeweller Shaun Leane. They intended to marry at the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace on 29 May 2020 but postponed the ceremony in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A private wedding took place at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park on 17 July 2020.