Princess Beatrice looks DOWNCAST after news of ex-boyfriend's death

Princess Beatrice made her first public appearance since the announcement of her ex-boyfriend's death.

Photographed looking somber in Dubai shortly after news broke of Paolo Liuzzo's passing, the Princess of York attended an event aimed at fostering collaboration between entrepreneurs from the UK and the UAE.

Despite the recent tragedy, the 35-year-old exuded regal poise in a blue satin dress. Earlier reports revealed that Paolo Liuzzo had been discovered deceased in a Miami hotel room in February, suspected to be due to an overdose.

In photos posted on Instagram by the Fiker Institute, which organised the event alongside OPUS (for which Beatrice is a board member), the royal delivered a speech at the event.

It emerged this week that, in February, the princess's ex-boyfriend was found dead in his hotel room in Miami.

Officer Michael Vega of the Miami Police Department said police arrived at the room in the citizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel at 3.22pm on February 7.

The cause of death was not officially reported, but Officer Vega said: "It was investigated as an overdose death. The investigation is open and ongoing."

Princess Beatrice began dating Liuzzo in 2005 when she was 17 and he was 24, but the pair separated in 2006.

A friend of Liuzzo told The Sun: "Paolo was not doing great on a personal level.

"He began using a lot of pharmaceutical drugs at first 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."