Bird flu

Princess Beatrice‘s and Edoardo Mozzi’s Cotswolds home has been threatened by a bird flu outbreak after a case was confirmed near the couple’s £3.5 million farmhouse. 

Beatrice, Mozzi and their daughters Sienna and Athena live in the property near the Blenheim Palace Estate which they bought in 2021 and have been gradually renovating.

The Mail On Sunday reported at the weekend that the family has also renovated a cattle shed next to the six-bedroom house.

The shed has been mooted as a potential option for her mother Sarah Ferguson to move into when she is ejected from Royal Lodge in the coming weeks over her and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Avian flu is a type of influenza considered particularly harmful because it causes high mortality rates in both domestic and wild birds and can cross the species barrier to infect mammals like cattle and seals.

It also poses a severe, albeit rare, threat to human health.

Blenheim Communities, a Facebook page which shares updates about the estate and the surrounding area, issued a warning to visitors.

The post read: ‘Sadly, today, an incidence of bird flu has been confirmed on our Estate.

Beatrice’s father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor last month had all of his royal titles stripped over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein 

‘Currently, we only have a case within the park, but we continue to monitor both the park and wider estate.

‘We are working hard to limit the spread to the wider population by following DEFRA guidance and best practice.

‘We know many of you walk the park and value local and visiting birdlife and we want to thank those of you who have reported seeing an ill or dead bird.’

The social media page said it understood the news would be ‘distressing’ for those in the area but urged people to avoid any ill or dead birds they see.

It comes after Witney Town Council – the nearest town to Blenheim Palace – confirmed bird flu had broken out at the town’s award-winning lake the day before.

A dead swan was tested for avian flu and came back positive. A second swan also died.

Last week, a spokesperson for the council said: ‘Witney Town Council is saddened to confirm that a deceased swan retrieved from Witney Lake has tested positive for avian (bird) flu -Avian Influenza (H5N1).’

The council added: ‘We know how much our community cares about the wildlife at the lake, and this news will be upsetting for many.

Beatrice’s cattled shed has been mooted as a potential option for her mother Sarah Ferguson to move into after she is ejected from Royal Lodge, pictured

Andrew and Sarah are divorced but live together in Windsor and remain very close to their daughters, pictured

‘We are working closely with the appropriate agencies and will continue to carefully monitor the health of our wild birds.

‘Please do not attempt to collect or touch dead birds, or birds that appear sick or behaving unusually.’

If anyone sees dead birds they are encouraged to report them directly to Defra via its website or the helpline on 03459 33 55 77.

Beatrice has been trying to continue life as normal, as her father’s world caves in around him.

The elder daughter of the disgraced royal, who had all of his royal titles stripped over his links to paedophile Epstein, became deputy patron of The Outward Bound Trust, an organisation encouraging young people to spend time outdoors, earlier this month.

That came after it emerged that Beatrice, who is ninth in line to the throne, and her sister Princess Eugenie, who is 12th, will retain their titles despite Andrew’s fall from grace. 

Amid the controversy Charles is said to be very keen to ‘protect’ nieces Beatrice and Eugenie, 35, who remain Her Royal Highnesses as granddaughters of Queen Elizabeth. 

‘He wouldn’t have wanted to sign off on anything that would impact them,’ a source told the Daily Mail. 

Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in a photo reportedly taken in 2001, when Ms Giuffre was 17 years old. Andrew denied having sex with Ms Giuffre, but forked out millions in an out of court settlement in February 2022

‘His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew,’ the palace said.

The latest humiliation for her father came after the line of succession on the Royal Family’s website was finally updated to reflect the removal of Andrew’s titles this week.

Buckingham Palace announced on October 17 that Andrew would stop using his remaining titles and honours and would no longer be known as the Duke of York.

Three days later Andrew’s title was scrubbed out on his profile page on the royal website to reflect the loss of this dukedom over the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.

On October 30, it was revealed that Andrew would lose his prince title, before this was officially actioned on November 7 by the King, who also removed his HRH style.

But Andrew was still listed until recently on the website’s line of succession page in eighth as ‘The Duke of York’, behind Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

Now, with his public life having been effectively ended, the website has finally been updated and the line of succession entry appears as ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’.

His profile page was already taken down at the start of November, with a message on royal.uk/the-duke-of-york now saying: ‘The requested page could not be found.’