Princess Beatrice has disclosed that she refers to her stepson as her “bonus son”, as she discussed the challenges of home schooling.

       The Princess became stepmother to Christopher Woolf Mozzi, known as Wolfie, last year when she married his father, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

       “Bonus child” and “bonus parent” are relatively new ways of describing such a relationship, and are considered to be warmer than “stepchild” or “step-parent”.

       Princess Beatrice referred to four-year-old Wolfie in an interview with Hello! magazine, in which she spoke of her dyslexia as a “gift” that children should feel lucky to have. She is patron of the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity.

       “Home schooling, that was definitely not my forte. Not going to lie. Sadly, I can’t blame that on dyslexia,” she said.

       “But I’ve felt very lucky to have had the chance to work with my bonus son over the course of the school closures. It was a huge learning curve for all of us.”

       Wolfie was best man and page boy at the Princess’s socially distanced wedding to Mr Mozzi in July 2020, where the handful of guests included the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, alongside the couple’s parents and siblings.

       Some retailers have begun selling “bonus son” and “bonus daughter” greetings cards as the term becomes more popular.

       Another celebrity to use the term is Gisele Bundchen, the supermodel, who refers to her stepson, Jack, as her “bonus child”.

       Bundchen has explained: “I don’t like the word ‘stepmom’. I use ‘bonus mom’ because I feel like it’s a blessing in my life.”

       Princess Beatrice is expecting a baby in the autumn. In the Hello! interview with Giovanna Fletcher, the podcaster and author, she said: “If any child, any bonus son, or future babies that are on their way, are lucky enough to be diagnosed with dyslexia, I feel incredibly grateful to have tools such as the Helen Arkell Centre to be able to tap into, to give them that extra support.

       “I think it’s really important for every parent, that they feel they are not alone in this. My husband’s also dyslexic so we’ll see whether we’re having this conversation in a couple of months’ time with a new baby in the house, but I really see it as a gift.”

       The full interview appears in the latest edition of Hello! magazine. Click here to read it.