In the quieter weeks of late summer, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi brought his two young daughters to a family-owned cottage on the North Welsh coast — a place where the beaches empty out and the evenings still hold enough warmth to eat outside. The visit, briefly documented on social media, offered one of those rare, unguarded windows into a royal family's private life: not ceremony, but childhood, stone paths, and a long table set for an alfresco meal. For Princess Beatrice and her husband, who have built their family through birth, blended bonds, and the particular tenderness that follows a difficu
Princess Beatrice's family enjoys quiet Welsh coastal getaway
Life is shaped by the challenges that make you.
Mark
What strikes you most about this story is how deliberately private it is—a holiday video posted by the cottage owners, not by Beatrice herself. Why does that distinction matter?
Mimi
It matters because it shows the family choosing a place where they have real roots and real privacy. Edoardo's mother owns the property. They're not performing for cameras; they're just there. The video exists because the cottage wanted to show what their space offers, not because the royals wanted attention.
Luke
But we should be careful here. We're seeing what the cottage owners chose to film and share. We don't actually know how much time they spent there, what the full experience was like, or whether this was a planned photo opportunity. The caption about "family all under the same roof" could be genuine sentiment or could be marketing language.
Mark
Fair point. So what we actually know is: they were there, there's video evidence, and it shows a relaxed family moment. What about the parenting angle—is that new information or is Beatrice just being consistent?
Mimi
She's been consistent. She's talked about dyslexia, about reading with Wolfie, about her approach to challenges. But the Wales trip is notable because it's one of the few times we see her actually living that philosophy—not just talking about it. She's there with her kids, away from duty.
Luke
Though we should note: Beatrice hasn't said anything new about parenting in this story. The quotes are all from previous interviews—2021, 2023, 2024. The Wales holiday is the news hook, but the parenting insights are recycled from earlier coverage.
Mark
So the story is really about the holiday itself—the fact that it happened, where it happened, and what it suggests about how she wants to live as a mother.
Mimi
Exactly. It's a small story, but it's honest. No grand statements. Just a family eating outside a stone cottage, kids on rocks by the water. That's the whole thing.
Luke
And that's worth reporting. But let's be clear: we're seeing a curated moment. The cottage owners decided what to film. We don't know if there were difficult moments, if the kids got bored, if the weather was actually nice the whole time. We're seeing the highlight reel, even if it's a genuine one.
The Pulse
- A family video posted by Wern Holiday Cottages pulled back the curtain on a side of royal life seldom seen — children crouching beside a dog, mini golf by the bay, a table full of food in the fading light.
- The destination itself is intimate: the cottage estate is owned by Edoardo's own mother and stepfather, making this not just a holiday but a return to family ground.
- Athena, born in January 2025 and still an infant, joined her nearly five-year-old sister Sienna for what was one of her earliest glimpses of the world beyond London's formal circuits.
- Beatrice's public voice has grown more candid in recent years — on dyslexia, on premature birth, on stepparenting — suggesting a deliberate choice to let the private philosophy behind her family life speak outward.
- The Welsh retreat lands as a quiet counterweight to the anxiety Beatrice described surrounding Athena's early arrival, a moment of stillness after weeks of worry she later wrote about for Vogue.
In the quieter weeks of late summer, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi brought his two young daughters to a family-owned cottage on the North Welsh coast — a place where the beaches empty out and the evenings still hold enough warmth to eat outside. The visit, briefly documented on social media, offered one of those rare, unguarded windows into a royal family's private life: not ceremony, but childhood, stone paths, and a long table set for an alfresco meal. For Princess Beatrice and her husband, who have built their family through birth, blended bonds, and the particular tenderness that follows a difficult pregnancy, such moments of ordinary retreat carry a weight that formal occasions rarely can.
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi spent part of the late summer in North Wales with his daughters Sienna and Athena, staying at Wern Holiday Cottages — a property nestled between Porthmadog and Criccieth that belongs to his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother. A video posted by the cottage's account offered an unguarded look at the visit: children on a garden path, a drive to the water, two small figures standing on rocks above the bay, and finally a long table spread with food outside a stone cottage as the evening light held on.
The family has stayed at the estate before. Sienna, who turns five this September, and Athena, born in January 2025 and still an infant at the time of the holiday, were joined by their father in what the cottage's caption described simply as a time when life slows down a little. Beatrice is also stepmother to Edoardo's son Wolfie, and by her own account, that role has been one she has embraced with particular care — reading together during the pandemic, reviewing children's books side by side as he grew older.
Beatrice has spoken openly about the values that shape her approach to family life. In interviews and on podcasts, she has discussed her experience of dyslexia — shared by Edoardo — as a way of seeing the world rather than a limitation, and has framed difficulty as something that forms rather than diminishes. After Athena arrived early, she wrote for Vogue about the worry that preceded her daughter's healthy birth, and later connected that experience to her work as patron of Borne, a premature birth research charity.
Close friend and nutritionist Gabriela Peacock described Beatrice in 2024 as deeply nurturing and actively involved in all her children's lives, and spoke warmly of the partnership she and Edoardo share. The Welsh holiday, then, was less an escape than a continuation — a family finding its rhythm in a place that already belongs to them, away from the formal occasions where the public usually catches a glimpse.
Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi spent a stretch of time in North Wales with his two young daughters, Sienna and Athena, at a holiday cottage owned by his own family. The visit was documented in a video posted by Wern Holiday Cottages, the property management account, offering the kind of unguarded glimpse of royal family life that rarely surfaces in public. The footage showed the ordinary texture of a coastal break: children crouched beside a dog on a garden path, the drive down to the water's edge, two girls standing on rocks overlooking the bay, a round of mini golf with a castle-topped headland visible across the water. The sequence ended with a long table laden with food outside a stone cottage, guests helping themselves to an alfresco meal as the light held.
The holiday destination carries its own family weight. Wern Holiday Cottages sits between Porthmadog and Criccieth in North Wales and is owned by Edoardo's mother, Nikki Williams-Ellis, his stepfather, sculptor David Williams-Ellis, and David's son Jack. The estate includes Carregfelen, a property that sleeps up to eleven guests and features traditional interiors and a rose garden, with Criccieth Beach nearby. Beatrice and Edoardo have stayed there before with their family. The caption accompanying the video spoke to something deliberate about the timing and the place: "The beaches are quieter, the evenings are still warm enough to eat outside, and life has just slowed down a little bit."
Sienna Elizabeth arrived in September 2021, making her nearly five years old at the time of this holiday. Athena Elizabeth Rose was born in January 2025, still an infant. Beatrice is also stepmother to Edoardo's son Christopher Woolf, known as Wolfie, whom he shares with his former partner, architect Dara Huang. Beatrice and Edoardo married in 2020. While Beatrice has kept her daughters' lives largely private, she has been willing to speak publicly about the philosophy that shapes how she parents, drawing on her own experiences and challenges.
In a 2021 interview with HELLO!, while pregnant with Sienna, Beatrice discussed her experience of dyslexia and revealed that Edoardo was also dyslexic. She framed it not as a deficit but as a lens through which to see the world. "Life is a little bit about the moments that make you; it's the challenges that make you," she said. She returned to this subject in 2023 on the Lessons in Dyslexic Thinking podcast, speaking about how grateful she felt to have a dyslexic thinking mindset, believing it pushed her to solve problems and help others. The perspective she brings to her own children reflects this same orientation toward difficulty as something that shapes rather than diminishes.
Becoming a stepmother to Wolfie was, by her own account, a great honor. During the pandemic, reading together became a particularly meaningful activity between them. She revisited favorite childhood stories with him and helped him engage with books while he was learning at home. That shared enthusiasm continued as he grew. In 2023, speaking about reviewing entries for Oscar's Book Prize, she described how much they both looked forward to receiving the books and going through them together. By that time, Wolfie was seven years old.
Gabriela Peacock, a nutritionist and close friend of Beatrice's, offered an outside view of her parenting in a 2024 interview with HELLO!. "She is extremely nurturing and involved with both kids' lives," Peacock said, describing Beatrice as a naturally caring mother and stepmother who took an active role. Peacock also spoke warmly about Beatrice and Edoardo's marriage, describing them as a supportive team. She noted that Sienna closely resembled her mother.
Athena's arrival in January 2025 came early, and Beatrice later wrote about the uncertainty she experienced during the final stages of her pregnancy. Writing for Vogue in March, she recalled the relief of welcoming a healthy daughter after weeks of worry. That experience informed her work as patron of Borne, an organization that supports research into premature birth. "I want to do all I can to reassure those families whose babies might arrive early that they are not alone," she wrote. The holiday in Wales, then, came as Athena was still very young, a moment of quiet time with both daughters and their father, away from the formal occasions where the public usually encounters the family.
Notable Quotes
Life is a little bit about the moments that make you; it's the challenges that make you.— Princess Beatrice, on her approach to dyslexia and parenting (2021)
She is extremely nurturing and involved with both kids' lives.— Gabriela Peacock, nutritionist and close friend of Beatrice (2024)
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