• March 13, 2006
• Vol. 65
• No. 10

Beatrice's Bad Boy

Fergie's Daughter Is Linked to a Handsome American—with a Criminal Past

Prince Andrew and his ex, Sarah Ferguson, dote on their daughters Beatrice, 17, and Eugenie, 15. So it's not surprising that they were supportive when Bea began seeing a 23-year-old Long Islander named Paolo Liuzzo—even if the only empire he was destined to inherit was a Woodbury, N.Y., plastics fortune. "We trust her judgment and see no reason why we shouldn't," said Fergie, who invited Liuzzo, then recuperating from a broken shoulder he sustained while skiing in France, to join the family in Switzerland last month. Perhaps a parental about-face is in order. When royal security did a background check on the '00 graduate of Long Island's Syosset High, they picked up some unregal data on his record. To wit, in '02 Liuzzo was charged with manslaughter after a Worcester, Mass., apartment brawl led to the death of a fellow student at the College of the Holy Cross, where he was a sophomore. In exchange for pleading to assault and battery, he received three years probation and 100 hours community service and last fall was allowed to work in the U.K. for a now defunct nonprofit. Liuzzo met Beatrice through society pals in September, and the pair hit it off. "He's charming," says his attorney Joseph Oteri. "He is dating her, and the family treats him well." Now the royal treatment could be over: Liuzzo is back in the U.S. for a hearing to determine whether he violated his probation by traveling to France. But as controversy raged, the Yank showed chivalry. "People can hang me," he told The Sun newspaper. "But it would be wrong and tragic for this to reflect on Bea."