The badboy who Beatrice wanted to meet 'granny' but broke her heart: Paulo ... trends now
He was the self-professed New York playboy who became Princess Beatrice's first love when she was 17 - and despite the seven-year age gap her parents are said to have 'encouraged' the relationship until his past caught up with him.
Paolo Liuzzo, who has died in tragic circumstances aged 41, revealed he was asked to kneel in the drawing room of their Windsor mansion for a mock knighting ceremony where the Duchess of York gave a 'bizarre' impersonation of the Queen and nicknamed him: 'Sir Fixit' after he bailed out Prince Andrew with $10,000.
Paolo, the son of an Italian plastic resin tycoon, was an almost total stranger to the Royal Family when he was offered astonishing access to the Duke of York's home.
In his year with 'Bea' he became so close to Fergie that she called herself his 'second mother' and would come out drinking partying with her daughter and boyfriend in London and New York - even though her daughter was underage, he claimed.
In fact he said the relationship was so comfortable that marijuana was smoked in the presence of Beatrice, her sister Eugenie and their mother while holidaying in Jamaica.
He also enjoyed a close relationship with Prince Andrew - so much so that he claimed the Duke of York woke him up early one morning to ask for $10,000 and a removal firm in New York to move his on-off girlfriend Angie Everhart from the home she shared with her then fiance.
Princess Beatrice with her then boyfriend Paolo Liuzzo on holiday in Jamaica, where he claimed marijuana was smoked in from of Beatrice, Eugenie and their mother
Paolo Liuzzo at a probation hearing in the US after a holiday with the Yorks in Switzerland got him in hot water
Paolo Liuzzo watches the court procedings before his arraignment for attempted murder. He later admitted assault in an altercation where a boy died
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York, where claimed to have initially approved of the relationship
In recent years, Liuzzo has been living a 'very fast lifestyle,' according to his close friend. Insiders have revealed that Liuzzo struggled with gambling as well as drugs, and claimed he had racked up debts with loan sharks before he died
After the rescue mission was completed - Paolo said that Fergie joking knighted him in front of Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice, declaring: 'I name you Sir Fixit!'
Mr Liuzzo claimed that Andrew never fully paid him back after he learned that his daughter's boyfriend had a criminal record after being charged with manslaughter before pleading guilty to assault following a drunken brawl in which another youth died.
Rumours of his weakness for women and cheating were also circulating.
'I'm not a bad person. But it's like putting heroin in front of Pete Doherty. Women are my flaw', he said later.
Paolo and Beatrice, who he called his 'best friend' Bea, managed to keep the relationship secret for almost a year - but they split in May 2006 when reports of the manslaughter charge surfaced, causing a sensation.
He claimed that the Queen - who he had been close to meeting - had stepped in and called a crisis meeting with the Yorks and Beatrice, who was ordered to break off the relationship.
When he chased the debt he called the Duchess of York who apparently told him: 'Paolo, call the Duke. Calm down' - to which he replied: ''I did him and Angie a favour because you were my girlfriend's mother. Have a nice life. F*** off'.
Today Beatrice is said to have been left 'heartbroken' by the drugs overdose found dead from a suspected overdose in a Miami hotel room. And no doubt Beatrice's close family will be upset too - having brought him into their inner circle.
Paolo claimed he let Prince Andrew borrow $10,000 to help Actress and model Angie Everhart - an on-off girlfriend
Princess Beatrice's 'first love' Paolo Liuzzo (left) was found dead inside a Miami hotel room of a suspected overdose aged 41 after a long battle with drugs, gambling and violence
Despite a seven year age difference and Liuzzo's questionable history, Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah Ferguson (pictured left with her daughter Beatrice) approved of the pair's relationship
In recent years, Liuzzo has been living a 'very fast lifestyle,' according to his close friend. Insiders have revealed that Liuzzo struggled with gambling as well as drugs, and claim he had racked up debts with loan shark.
His death in February was a tragic end to someone who could perhaps have found himself marrying a royal had his life choices been different.
The New Yorker and the British royal, then fifth in line to the throne, met through mutual friends and started dating in July 2005 when he started working in London and was living in the largest and most exclusive square in London.
In that year he said he became best friends with Beatrice - but hinted later on that she was more keen than him.
'We'd started joking about getting married and having kids', he said.
'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 afterwards because of Bea.
'I'm not a bad person. But it's like putting heroin in front of Pete Doherty. Women are my flaw.'
In an interview with the Mail in 2007, he said by the end of 2005 their affair was being taken so seriously by Beatrice that she spoke longingly of introducing her boyfriend to 'Granny'.
'She said, 'I'd love you to meet Granny',' Liuzzo recalled at the time. 'But she said Chelsy wasn't allowed to meet her and usually you don't get introduced to her until you are engaged.
'Bea wanted to fly to New York to visit my mother but, I'll be honest, I've never brought a woman back to my house to meet my family unless it was someone I would be proposing to'.
At one point described a bizarre scene when As Paolo Liuzzo went down on one knee on the drawing room floor, a giggling Sarah Ferguson stood in front of him and raised her arm above his head.
With Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice looking on - and both laughing heartily - Fergie brought down her hand, tapped Paolo on each shoulder and jubilantly proclaimed: "I name you Sir Fixit!"
And the fact that it was Fergie's way of "rewarding" Paolo for helping out one of the Duke's girlfriends, flame-haired American model Angie Everhart, made it even more peculiar.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, he claimed Andrew had woken him and asked him to help move his girlfriend Angie - and lend her $10,000, promising to pay him back.
Liuzzo was found dead on February 7 in a room at the citizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel
Princess Beatrice is pictured with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Describing what happened he said: "I woke at about seven to a tap on my shoulder. The Duke was standing over me.
'He said, "There's a dear friend of mine who may or may not be my girlfriend. She needs to get out of her relationship with her fiance. It's an unbearable situation.
"Her stuff is at his place and she wants to get it out of there while he is at his office. At 9.30am New York time she needs a moving company to collect her belongings and put them in storage.
'"And she needs $10,000 in cash to be brought to her in New York. Can you action this for me?".
Paolo went on: 'I got in touch with an old school friend. He arranged for a truck and I gave my name as a guarantee for the storage people.
'I told my friend to pay the rental downpayment which was nearly $700 and I'd pay him back, and then I called my mom and said, "I need $10,000".
'She said, "What is this about?"
'I said, "It's to do with Bea's dad. I can't go into it". She got the cash and gave it to my friend who delivered it to Angie.
'Andrew kept coming and asking me, "How is it going?". Finally, I told him it was fixed.
'Later that weekend, we were all in the drawing room. I went down on one knee and Sarah
