The $400 million luxury development on Sydney’s harborside, which boasts royal associations, was expected to be its standout feature. However, these connections have cast a shadow over the prestigious Darling Point project in the city’s upscale eastern suburbs.

Italian aristocrat and property developer Edo Mapelli Mozzi, who is behind this ambitious venture, is not only of noble European descent but is also linked to British royalty through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.

Nevertheless, this royal connection includes a less favorable association, as his father-in-law is the controversial former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Prince Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the subsequent scandals have somewhat overshadowed Mapelli Mozzi’s ambitious plan for the development at 81 Yarranabbe Road, which includes six opulent $40 million apartments, an expansive $82.5 million sub-penthouse, and a $77.5 million penthouse.

Potential billionaire buyers were also given the option to merge both penthouses into a single grand residence for a hefty $160 million.

Eager billionaires were also invited to tweak the plan to combine both penthouses into one, a snip at $160million. 

As recently as last November, the glossy sales pitch bragged the plan was for ‘a prestige-defining development that will become a landmark for future generations’.

With 45m of absolute water frontage, the ‘unicorn Sydney Harbour site, a rarity almost unheard of in the eastern suburbs’ was ‘a vision that has been shaped over several decades’.

The boutique block is designed by celebrated Australian architect Alex Tzannes in association with Mapelli Mozzi’s Banda property development group.

The royal connections of a $400million harbourside trophy home development on Sydney’s waterfront should have been the exclusive unit block’s biggest selling point 

Just three years ago Princess Beatrice and her designer husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi rode triumphantly into Royal Ascot with the Prince and Princess of Wales

Edo and Beatrice (front) with Princess Eugenie, her husband Jack Brooksbank and Prince Harry at the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey in 2023

The most expensive development in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, it has taken that apartment market into new price territory.

Mapelli Mozzi is the son of Anglo-Italian nobleman, Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, a former Olympic skier and heir to the family seat, Villa Mapelli Mozzi in northern Italy. 

After a whirlwind romance, Edo and Princess Beatrice married in a 2020 lockdown wedding attended by the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and have two daughters together.

He has been a regular on the British royal social scene, attending weddings, funerals, race meetings, and church services on Princess Beatrice’s arm. 

But those high-profile public appearances have diminished since the release of three million files detailing Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, including startling new pictures of Edo’s father-in-law.

In February, British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He was not charged, and denies all wrongdoing, but the brother of King Charles III was held for almost 11 hours. On release, he looked haggard and haunted.

Edo’s mother-in-law, Sarah Ferguson – who has also been linked to Epstein – has since vanished from public life, and Beatrice and her sister Eugenie have been formally excluded from royal events.

The princesses Eugenie (left) and Beatrice (right) attend the 2018 weddding of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry with their since disgraced father who was stripped of his titles by brother, King Charles

The prestige development with the interiors designed by Princess Beatrice’s husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi is ‘a landmark for future generations’ according to agents who are no longer talking up its ex-prince Andrew connection

Edo and Princess Beatrice married in a 2020 lockdown wedding attended by the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (above)

These include Royal Ascot in June and this weekend’s Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.

Just three years ago, beaming widely, Edo and Beatrice triumphantly arrived by carriage to Royal Ascot with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Now Mapelli Mozzi is reportedly ‘distancing himself’ from his wife’s troubled family.

While avoiding the construction site at 81 Yarranabbe – where the selling agent is said to be wary of any mention of the project’s Royal connections – Edo has been seen jetting off to other locations.

Just before Andrew’s arrest, Mapelli Mozzi escaped on a solo trip to Palm Beach, Florida, representing Banda at the local Design Days industry event, where he posted videos of himself walking alone among palm trees on the coast.

The multi-millionaire lives with Beatrice and their daughters, and his son Wolfie from a previous relationship, in a $6.8million farmhouse in England’s Cotswolds, north-west of London. 

It remains to be seen if there is any further fallout for Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, since the latest Epstein document dump, which mentions them lunching with Epstein after his release from prison and acting as Buckingham Palace tour guides for his associates. 

Tellingly, on the ultraluxe website to sell the bougiemax Sydney homes to the mega rich, Mapelli Mozzi’s bio makes no mention of his royal ties

Mapelli Mozzi (above with Princess Beatrice) has been a regular on the British royal social scene, attending weddings, funerals, race meetings, and church services since their marriage six years ago

Edo Mapelli Mozzi flew solo to Palm Beach in February amid the deepening scandal of his father-in-law, the former prince Andrew as the Epstein files dump continues

It has also emerged that Beatrice helped advise her mother on how to placate Epstein after Fergie called him a paedophile while apologising for accepting a £15,000 bailout from the child sex offender in a 2011 interview. 

She also played a key role in facilitating her father’s disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview.

Tellingly, on the ultraluxe website to sell the bougiemax Sydney homes to the mega rich, Mapelli Mozzi’s bio makes no mention of his royal ties.

One might reasonably suspect that is no oversight.