He is the baby of the family – the fourth child of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, born when his oldest brother Charles was already 16.
The age gap between Prince Edward and Charles was there for all to see in the Royal Family documentary of the 1960s when Charles, 21, was playing his cello and little Edward somehow got in the way. A broken cello string twanged his face.
On Sunday, the youngest of the King’s siblings will reach his landmark 60th birthday – yet, in a much reduced Royal Family, Edward and his wife Sophie, 59, stand out as relative youngsters in an elderly House of Windsor.
The age gap between Prince Charles and Prince Edward is there for all to see in the documentary The Royal Family. So is the broken cello string which hit Edward
The Queen with her three sons on holiday in Balmoral in 1979. Edward stands on the right
Prince Edward is pictured at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire alongside his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in the uniform of the Royal Marines
Today, there are just four working royals under the age of 70: the Prince and Princess of Wales and Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
With the King laid low by his cancer treatment, the Princess of Wales out of action as she recovers from her abdominal surgery and even her husband, Prince William unexpectedly missing from last week’s memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece ,Edward and Sophie are more important than ever to what some perceive as a perilously small Royal Family.
Moreover, Edward – Steady Eddie – and Sophie are among the most dependable members of the Royal Family, working hard up and down Britain on public engagements, and abroad too.
The prominence of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – they were given the titles by the King a year ago on Edward’s 59th birthday – is a far cry from the dramas of earlier times.
For years, the couple were among the lower profile members of the Royal Family.
Even Edward’s wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones was a more subdued affair than those of his older brothers, Charles and Andrew, whose marriages to Diana and Fergie were media circuses at St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
By the time Edward married Sophie at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in 1999, however, both brothers’ marriages had ended in divorce. A more low-key ceremony was thought appropriate.
In his early adult years, Edward grabbed the headlines with a series of embarrassments.
First came his departure from the Royal Marines in 1987, dropping out after completing just a third of the commando course and saying he did not want to make the service his long-term career.
It didn’t help that his father was then Captain General of the Royal Marines.
Edward left the marines after only four months of the training programme. His father, Prince Philip, was then Captain General of the Royal Marines
Prince Edward is pictured turning up to work for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. He once said: ‘I want to be judged by what I do, not who I am’
Prince Edward at Alton Towers for a royal edition of the TV show, It’s a Knockout in 1987
Walking behind the scenes at Alton Towers for the Royal edition of TV show It’s a Knockout. The resulting show was watched around the world – but derided
Prince Edward with the Duchess of York, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew with – subsequently disgraced – presenter Stuart Hall
Prince William at his university St Andrews when his privacy was said to have been threatened by a camera crew working for his uncle, Prince Edward
After that, he attempted a life in the entertainment industry, joining Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company and working on productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express and Cats.
Theatre life brought him a girlfriend: the musical star Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for three years.
Next came the world of television and his own company, Ardent Productions. This produced little of note except a programme about Edward’s great-uncle Edward VIII and his abdication, although that sold well abroad.
The entertainment business also brought him something approaching notoriety thanks to the Grand Knockout Tournament, known forever afterwards as It’s A Royal Knockout.
Devised by Edward, this involved four teams led by Andrew, Anne, Fergie and Edward himself going head-to-head in a series of silly games televised at Alton Towers. A well-meant attempt to raise money for charity, it was derided.
There was further embarrassment a few years later, in 2001, when nephew Prince William was studying at St Andrews University.
A crew working for Prince Edward appeared to break an understanding reached between the media and the University of St Andrews by continuing to film in the town .
In its defence, Ardent said that it had permission to be there and had not attempted to film Prince William.
The fuss blew over but one year later, in 2002, Ardent was wound up and Edward announced that he would instead focus on supporting his mother, the Queen.
Around the same time came the sting that trapped his wife Sophie and her PR business. She was filmed appearing to trade off her royal connections and referred to her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth as ‘the old dear’.
She gave up her business, joining Edward as a full-time working royals.
Marriage brought domestic happiness with the birth of two children, Louise and James. They were particularly precious after Sophie suffered an ectopic pregnancy – one that takes place outside the womb.
The family moved to the rambling mansion of Bagshot Park 11 miles south of Windsor and for many years they seemed somewhat in the royal shadows.
Edward, who began life as third in line to the throne after his brothers, slid down the pecking order as Charles and Andrew married and had children.
He is now 14th in the line of succession, below not only William and Harry but their children and those of his brother Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie and their offspring.
Happier days with Sophie Rhys Jones on the day of their engagement in 1999
They went for a low-key wedding at St George’s chapel in June 1999 – after all his siblings had divorced
The birth of Lady Louise was difficult. It was two weeks before Sophie left the hospital
Prince Edward with his mother at the Commonwealth Day Service in Sydney
Living in Bagshot Park meant that the couple were among Elizabeth II’s closest neighbours when she lived at Windsor Castle.
Sophie in particular was said to be a firm favourite of the Queen while their daughter Louise learnt carriage driving from her grandfather Philip.
Louise and her mother would also spend time at Windsor with the late Queen, often enjoying watching old movies together.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth II knew that she could rely on Edward to deputise for her: she sent him to represent her as Supreme Governor of the Church of England at General Synod in 2021.
The Prince can often be seen attending events at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, such as its Christmas services of carols and lessons.
Just how close the couple were to the late Queen was apparent when they were photographed arriving at Balmoral on the day Queen Elizabeth died. Sophie Wessex looked stricken.
The couple were part of the family’s key ceremonials to mark the Queen’s demise, with Edward joining his two brothers and sister Anne to keep watch around the catafalque as the queen lay in state in Westminster Hall.
Since Charles acceded to the throne Edward and Sophie have continued a regular round of duties, becoming two of the Royal Family’s most well-travelled working principals, clocking up thousands of miles around the globe.
Much of the travel for Edward is linked to his work with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme, founded by his father in 1956.
His work as its international trustee and Chairman of Trustees for The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation – a position he has held since 2015 – means he is one of the most well-travelled of the royals – only rivalled by his wife.
Much of her work involves a focus on women’s rights and she has focused often – at the request of the Foreign Office on conflict-related sexual violence, travelling to Baghdad and South Sudan.
Diplomats have come to rely on the Duchess as a safe pair of hands: someone who does her homework, shows great empathy for the ordinary people she meets who have been caught up in conflicts but can also put on the glamour when needed.
Earl of Wessex and and Sophie, Countess of Wessex pose with their children James, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, 2009
A devastated Sophie takes her place in the family gathering at Balmoral the day after the Queen passed away in September 2022
Prince Edward walks, second from left, with his siblings for the vigil at the late Queen’s lying-in-state
Prince Edward with elder brothers Andrew, centre, and Charles, at the Vigil
Duke of Edinburgh the punch bag for Lacey Douglas, 11, on a visit to Staffordshire this week
The couple’s links to the Commonwealth, which have been carved out through their visits to many of its member nations, will be apparent the day after Edward’s 60th birthday when they are due to attend the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. The royal turnout will be much depleted.
In 2017, there were seven of them, led by Elizabeth II; in 2020 there were nine, although the service was marred by the evident froideur between the Waleses and the Sussexes as Meghan and Harry took part in their last ever public engagement.
This year there will be no King, and no Princess of Wales either, as she recovers from surgery. But Sophie and Edward are due to be there, never hogging the limelight, always reliable, steeped in a sense of duty that Elizabeth II always insisted upon.
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