The youngest brother of King Charles III, Prince Edward is stepping up in his royal
duties now that his brother is king. He's been in the public eye for a long time,
though, and a few folks have noticed a few unusual aspects of Edward.
Prince Edward is the youngest of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip's four children. The eldest,
King Charles III, was born in 1948, Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960,
and Edward in 1964. It seems the two youngest had a bit of a sibling rivalry while growing up.
According to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, Andrew was much more boisterous than his younger
brother and would often pick on the quieter Prince Edward. In her book Royal Children, Seward wrote,
"Andrew bullied everybody and would constantly swipe his younger brother.
If he saw Edward going for a particular cake, Andrew would try and grab it first."
The boys' natures remained very different throughout the years. Edward was sweet and
quiet in comparison to his brother, who would often throw tantrums. In school,
Edward outperformed his older brother. excelling in sports and drama. After school,
Edward went to Cambridge, while Andrew went straight into the military.
At most royal engagements, the royals will take a
little time for a "walkabout," where they greet onlookers and
shake hands with members of the crowd. This tradition actually started fairly recently,
with Queen Elizabeth II. In the documentary "Queen of the World," Princess Anne explained,
"We never shook hands. The theory was you couldn't shake hands with everybody, so don't start."
But after Queen Elizabeth decided she wanted to meet the public more personally, shaking hands
became more common and a bit of an expectation for working members of the royal family.
Even so, one member of the royal family still chooses not to shake hands with the public. When
greeting a crowd, Prince Edward has tended to wave and speak to people, but not shake anyone's hand.
Despite his mother establishing this tradition, it seems Edward has concerns about the time it
takes. According to The Mirror, Edward and his wife, Sophie, were happy to speak to well-wishers
outside Buckingham Palace after the queen's death in September 2022. Edward apologized
that he wouldn't be shaking anyone's hand because he wanted to speak to as many people as possible.
In March 2023, King Charles granted Prince Edward the title of Duke of
Edinburgh for his 59th birthday. Up to that point,
Edward was the Earl of Wessex. He was only one of his male siblings not to be a duke for many years.
It's customary for members of the royal family to receive titles on their wedding day. Some
royal fans were surprised when Edward was named the Earl of Wessex when he got married in 1999
rather than receiving a dukedom. According to The Mirror, it was Edward who requested the title
because of a character in the film "Shakespeare in Love." A source spoke to the Telegraph in 2010,
"Prince Edward was going to be the Duke of Cambridge,
but he watched the film 'Shakespeare in Love.' [...] He liked the sound of [Earl
of Wessex] and asked the Queen if he could have that instead."
The Queen obliged and gave him the title.
When Edward got the title of Duke of Edinburgh 24 years later, it was an especially significant
gesture because it was the one held by his father, Prince Phillip, for more than 70 years.
A source had told The Daily Mail that The Queen had promised the position to Edward
before her passing. But there were reports that King Charles considered
saving the coveted position to give to his granddaughter, Princess Charlotte,
when she was older. A source close to Edward called the reported move "a slap in the face."
Eventually, Charles did elect to make his younger brother the Duke of Edinburgh. However,
some sources have speculated that Charles may request to have the title returned to
the Crown after Edward's death rather than passing it to his youngest brother's son.
Perhaps part of the reason Prince Edward didn't fight for a dukedom earlier is because he was
reluctant to be a full-time working member of the royal family. After their marriage
Edward and Sophie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex at the time, maintained careers
outside of their royal duties. According to Express, A\after a stint in The Royal Marines,
he pursued his passion for theater and opened his own television production company,
Ardent Productions. Meanwhile, Sophie worked in PR, opening her own agency.
However, a few years later, the couple gave up their private careers. Sophie's PR firm became
embroiled in a scandal when she was caught on tape making remarks about other members of the
royal family, and she left. In 2002, the couple became full-time working members of the royal
family for Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee year. They've continued working for the Crown
in the decades that followed, though often keeping a lower profile than other members
of the family. Sophie centered her work around supporting programs and charities for children and
women facing violence. Edward has used his royal position to continue his patronage of the arts.
In recent years, they've started to take on more public-facing responsibilities. As the
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, they'll play an even more significant part in royal affairs.
Prince Edward and Sophie initially did their best to keep their relationship a
secret. According to Tatler, the pair first met in 1987 at Capitol Radio,
where Sophie was working in public relations. It wasn't until meeting again years later that
they started dating. Sophie was hired to manage publicity for a charity tennis event
that Edward was organizing. The two hit it off and began dating out of the public eye.
Despite their efforts to keep their relationship private,
the press eventually learned about Sophie. In a 1993 statement, Edward wrote,
"I am taking this unusual step of writing to you directly in the hopes of stopping
your reporters and photographers from destroying that part of my life that
I am entitled to regard as private and more importantly, Sophie's life."
Once the news was out, Sophie accompanied Edward to weddings and other royal events.
Some began to raise the question of why the two weren't engaged, but they did not give
in to public pressure and dated for six years before getting married. Edward had witnessed
the failed relationships of his older siblings and didn't want to follow in their footsteps.
In his attempt to keep his personal life private in the early 1990s,
Prince Edward left a bad impression on some royal fans. When he started dating his wife Sophie,
the press reported and speculated about their relationship quite frequently. The spotlight on
his relationship was exactly what Edward had hoped to avoid. He gave a rare TV interview,
which gave some in the public a bad impression of the royal. Royal expert Ingrid Seward said,
"I think what he really would have loved to have done is do the whole thing completely secretly,
but he knew he couldn't, so it made him look a little bit pompous and arrogant."
Edward became increasingly irritated the more he was
asked about proposing to Sophie. He told reporters at the time,
"If you shut up and mind your own business and let me do it when I want, it's more likely to
happen. The more people second-guess, the more likely it is I just won't do it."
When Meghan Markle first married into the royal family, she and Prince Harry seemed to share a
special bond with Prince Edward and Sophie. Like Meghan, Sophie married into royalty. Sophie and
Meghan are also both passionate about charity work, particularly causes for girls' education
and seeking to end violence against women. Some believed Edward and Sophie could bridge the gap
between the new couple and other members of the royal family, but it didn't work out that way.
Indeed, it seems the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are filling the royal roles Harry
and Meghan would have had if they hadn't stepped back from being full-time royals,
according to The Irish Mirror. Edward and Sophie are also some of the only members of
the royal family who have spoken publicly about Meghan and Harry leaving royal life. Edward's
own history with the press seemingly gave him a lot of empathy for Harry and Meghan's situation.
"Weirdly, we've all been there before – we've all had excessive intrusion and
attention in our lives."
"We wish them the very best of luck."
With their 15-year age gap, King Charles and Prince Edward did not grow up together in the
way you might expect brothers to. Speaking of the less-than-brotherly bond between the pair,
a source told The Daily Beast that they "barely know each other."
It seems that Charles may have old resentments toward his younger brother and his wife,
Sophie. This likely goes back to 2001 when Edward and Sophie were still maintaining personal
companies instead of working full-time for the royal family. Charles and Edward had a public
disagreement after Prince Edward's film company attempted to film Prince William during his first
days at university. The scandal at Sophie's PR firm also didn't sit well with Charles,
who demanded his younger brother pick between his private career and the crown.
Charles may also be struggling with the public attention Sophie
and Edward have received recently. Writer Christopher Anderson told The Daily Beast,
"On a certain level, Charles must also hate the fact that Edward and Sophie have been
lauded for stepping up to fill in the void left by the departure of Harry and Meghan."
Prince Edward was a favorite for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. According to Express,
after Prince Philip retired from royal duties, Edward took over most of his work. This bond
with his father was also illustrated by Edward's portrait being the only one in Phillip's study.
The queen also became very close to her daughter-in-law Sophie. A palace
aide told The Daily Mail that Elizabeth thought of
Sophie like a daughter and relied on her heavily later in life, saying,
"Sophie has filled a terrible gap in the Queen's
life that was left when her sister and the Queen Mother died in 2002."
While this close bond between the couple and his parents is quite touching,
it may have only furthered resentments between Edward and King Charles. Writer
Christopher Anderson told The Daily Beast,
"Charles harbors varying degrees of resentment toward all three of
his siblings ... for the affection and attention that was lavished on
them by their parents and denied him from the very beginning."