Both the BBC and ITV have confirmed they won't be broadcasting live coverage of Princess Beatrice’s royal wedding later this year.
The BBC announced on Saturday it would not be offering live coverage of Beatrice’s marriage to property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in place of normal programming.
Instead, the broadcaster said it would provide “news coverage” of Beatrice’s nuptials, across BBC services.
Normally, the BBC is offered rights to broadcasting royal occasions for free.
ITV – who screened the wedding of Beatrice’s sister, Princess Eugenie in 2018, to an audience of three million – also said they “definitely won’t” be covering the event in their daytime schedule.
Neither a date or venue has been announced for Beatrice’s wedding, but it is expected to be in late May or early June.
The news follows intense media coverage of alleged involvement of Prince Andrew – Beatrice’s father – in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal earlier this year.
The Duke of York, who is said to have heavily lobbied ITV to screen Eugenie’s wedding in 2018, has come under intense scrutiny after being accused of forcing then-17 year old Virginia Giuffre into sex in 2001.
The prince was removed from his public royal duties after he took part in a Newsnight interview about his association with Epstein that was described as “disastrous”.
During the grilling, he claimed he could not have engaged in the sexual activity alleged by Ms Giuffre because he was taking Beatrice to “Pizza Express” that day.
He also claimed to suffer a condition that prevented him from sweating as supposed evidence that Ms Giuffre’s accusations were false.
Andrew was also criticised heavily for showing little to no apparent remorse for Epstein victims during the interview, despite enjoying a close friendship with the disgraced billionaire for several years.
