Princess Beatrice is said to be heartbroken over the death of her ex-boyfriend Paolo Liuzzo.
According to The Sun, the 41-year-old reportedly died of a suspected overdose in a Miami hotel back in February.
The British royal was just 17 when she started dating Paolo, who was 24 at the time, in 2005 – before they split the following year.
Their relationship caused a lot of controversy, as the New York native had several run-ins with the law – and had previously been charged with the manslaughter of a student in Massachusetts.
In 2002, 19-year-old Jonathan R Duchatellier died during an off-campus fight that involved Liuzzo.
Paulo’s charge was later downgraded to assault and battery, and he served 100 hours’ community service over the incident.
Officer Michael Vega, of the Miami Police Department, said Paolo was found dead after police were called to a room at the citizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel at 3.22pm on February 7.
He said: “It was investigated as an overdose death. The investigation is open and ongoing.”
The 41-year-old had been working as an art industry consultant, but its understood he struggled with drugs and had racked up big gambling debts.
A friend told the newspaper: “Paolo was not doing great on a personal level. He loved to party and gamble. He began using a lot of pharmaceutical drugs but that later led to cocaine and harder drugs.
“It was a very fast lifestyle and we all feared it would catch up with him eventually. He was always borrowing money to pay loans. It became a vicious cycle.”
Beatrice, then fourth in line to the throne, met Paolo in Jamaica when she was 17, and he was 24.
They kept their romance under wraps until he joined the York family on their traditional ski trip to Switzerland in 2006.
Despite the controversy surrounding their romance, Beatrice’s mother Sarah Ferguson backed their relationship and said: “We all have our own journeys and have to learn our way but Beatrice is a sensible girl, soon to be 18, with many friends including Paolo.”
However, their romance came crashing down when Paolo was ordered back to the US for flouting his probation conditions, and Beatrice ended their relationship.
After they split, Paolo made some cruel comments about their romance, telling the press: “I wasn’t sure I wanted to get in that deep with Bea. I loved her but I wasn’t in love with her.”
“Sometimes another lady friend of mine would come over to my place at Eaton Square in London. It was just messing around, never anything more, and I felt so bad after because of Bea.
“I’m not a bad person. But it’s like putting heroin in front of Pete Doherty. Women are my weakness.”
In September 2009, a 27-year-old Paulo was arrested in Australia after crashing his hired car into traffic lights. He pleaded guilty to motoring offences, fraud and cocaine possession – and was fined £2,600.
Princess Beatrice, the eldest child of Prince Andrew, is now happily married to property tycoon Edo Mapelli Mozzi.
The couple tied the knot in July 2020, and share a two-year-old daughter named Sienna.
