Prince Edward | |||||
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![]() The Earl at the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O'Neill in Stockholm, June 2013
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Earl of Wessex (more) | |||||
Heir apparent | James, Viscount Severn | ||||
Born | Buckingham Palace, London, England |
10 March 1964 ||||
Spouse | Sophie Rhys-Jones (m. 1999) |
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Issue | Lady Louise Windsor James, Viscount Severn |
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House | House of Windsor | ||||
Father | Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh | ||||
Mother | Elizabeth II | ||||
Religion | Church of England |
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO ADC(P) (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964)[2] is the third son and fourth and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of his birth, he was third in line to succeed his mother; he is now eighth in the line of succession.
Royal family of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms |
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Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis was born at Buckingham Palace, on 10 March 1964, the third son and fourth and last child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Baptised on 2 May 1964 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle[3] by the then Dean of Windsor, Robin Woods; the Prince's godparents were: Prince Richard of Gloucester (his mother's first cousin); the Duchess of Kent (his mother's first cousin by marriage, for whom Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, his mother's aunt by marriage, stood proxy); Princess George William of Hanover (his paternal aunt); the Prince of Hesse and by Rhine (his cousin); and the Earl of Snowdon (his maternal uncle by marriage).[4] As a child of the Sovereign, Edward was styled from birth as His Royal Highness The Prince Edward.
As with his older siblings, a governess was appointed to look after the Prince and was responsible for his early education at Buckingham Palace. At the age of seven, Edward was then sent to Gibbs School before attending, in September 1972, Heatherdown School, near Ascot in Berkshire. He then, as his father and elder brothers had done before him, moved to Gordonstoun, in northern Scotland, and was appointed Head Boy in his last term. Edward obtained a C-grade and two D-grades at A-level,[5] and after his schooling spent a gap year abroad, working as a house tutor and junior master for two terms in September 1982 at the Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand.
Upon his return to Britain, Edward matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge, to read history. His admission to Cambridge caused some controversy at the time, as his A-level grades were far below the standard normally required, "straight As", for entry to the university.[6] Edward graduated in 1986, with lower second class honours,[7] and, as is customary at Cambridge, proceeded Master of Arts (Cantab) in 1991, making Edward the fourth of only five members of the Royal Family in history to have obtained a university degree.
Prince Edward made two very public attempts to pursue a career but, after failing at both, returned to the life of a full-time member of the royal family.
On leaving university, Prince Edward joined the Royal Marines to train as an officer cadet; the Marines had given the Prince £12,000 to pay his tuition at Cambridge as a condition of future service.[8] However, in January 1987 he dropped out of the grueling course after completing just one third of the 12-month training. Media reported, at the time, that the move prompted a berating from Prince Philip who "reduced his son to prolonged tears." The Sunday Times declared Edward was "a mama's boy who still took his two-foot teddy bear to bed and had no business being in the Marines."[9][10] At a subsequent Royal Tournament, British commandos wore T-shirts that read "You can turn a frog into a Prince, but you can't turn a Prince into a Marine." (Nonetheless, on his 43rd birthday, Edward was appointed colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry and has, since, received eight other military titles, including the colonelcy of Canada's Saskatchewan Dragoons. As with other members of the Royal Family, he frequently appears in uniform at public occasions. [11][12])
After dropping out of the Marines, Edward decided to pursue a career in entertainment. He commissioned the 1986 musical Cricket from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, for his mother's 60th birthday celebration, which led to a job offer at Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company, where he worked as a production assistant on musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, and Cats. His duties reportedly involved making tea for the artistic staff.[13] While there he met actress Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for two years.
Edward's first foray into television production was the programme The Grand Knockout Tournament, informally known as It's a Royal Knockout, on 15 June 1987, in which teams sponsored by himself, Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of York competed for charity. The media attacked the programme; it was later reported that the Queen was not in favour of the event and that all her courtiers had advised against it.[14] In March 1988, Edward was invited to make a cameo appearance in Silver Nemesis, the 25th anniversary storyline of Doctor Who, but declined.[15]
In 1993, Edward formed Ardent Productions, under the name of Edward Windsor from 1995,[16] and later Edward Wessex. Ardent was involved in the production of a number of documentaries and dramas,[17] but Edward was accused in the media of using his royal connections for financial gain,[18] and the company was referred to by some industry insiders as "a sad joke" due to a perceived lack of professionalism in its operations. The Guardian opined that "to watch Ardent's few dozen hours of broadcast output is to enter a strange kingdom where every man in Britain still wears a tie, where pieces to camera are done in cricket jumpers, where people clasp their hands behind their backs like guardsmen. Commercial breaks are filled with army recruiting advertisements." [19]
Ardent's productions were seemingly more kindly received in the United States[20] and a documentary Edward made on his great uncle, Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor) in 1996,[17] sold well around the globe.[21] Nonetheless, the company reported losses for every year of its existence except one, and only then because Edward did not draw a salary.[16] An Ardent two-man film crew invaded the privacy of his nephew, Prince William in September 2001, while he was studying at the University of St Andrews, against industry guidelines regarding the Royals' privacy.[22] The Prince of Wales was reportedly angered by the incident.[23] In March 2002, the Prince announced that he would step down as director of production and joint managing director of Ardent[16] to concentrate on his public duties and to support the Queen during her Golden Jubilee year. Ardent Productions was voluntarily liquidated in June 2009, with assets of £40.[24] Edward's original backers in the venture were reported to "have lost every penny."[25]
The Prince met Sophie Rhys-Jones, then a public relations executive with her own firm, in 1994.[26] Their engagement was announced on 6 January 1999. Edward proposed to Sophie with an Asprey and Garrard engagement ring worth an estimated £105,000: a two-carat oval diamond flanked by two heart-shaped gemstones set in 18-carat white gold.[27]
The wedding itself took place on 19 June, of the same year, at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. This was a break from the weddings of Edward's older siblings, which were large, formal events at Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral. On his wedding day, the Queen conferred on Prince Edward the titles of Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn, again breaking with the tradition that the son of a sovereign is created a duke. It was also announced that the Earl of Wessex would be created Duke of Edinburgh when that dukedom, held by Edward's father since 1947, reverts to the Crown[2] (which will happen only after "both the death of the current Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales' succession as King"[28]), and that any children of the Earl and Countess would be styled as the children of an Earl, rather than as Prince/ss and Royal Highness (as they would otherwise have been under the Letters Patent issued by King George V).[29]
The couple have two children: Lady Louise Windsor, born 8 November 2003, and James, Viscount Severn, born 17 December 2007. The family resides at Bagshot Park in Surrey.
The Earl has taken on many roles from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is reducing some commitments owing to his age. The Earl replaced him as President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (since 2006 its Vice-Patron) and opened the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand and the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. He has also taken over the Duke's role in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, attending Gold Award ceremonies around the world.[30]
In February and March 2012, The Earl and Countess visited the Caribbean for the Diamond Jubilee. The itinerary consisted of Saint Lucia; Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Grenada; Trinidad and Tobago; Montserrat; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda. Highlights included Independence Day celebrations in Saint Lucia,[31] a joint address to both houses of the Barbados parliament,[32] and a visit to sites affected by the recent volcanic eruptions in Montserrat.
The Earl's appointment as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2014 was announced in November 2013.[1]
Edward has been a British prince from birth. His present style and title in full is: His Royal Highness The Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis, Earl of Wessex, Viscount Severn, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty. The Earldom of Wessex has a distinguished royal history, the Kingdom of Wessex having played the leading role in the unification of Anglo-Saxon England. The last person to hold the earldom was Harold Godwinson, prior to his accession to the English throne in 1066.
For 17 to 23 May 2014 only, Edward became entitled to be called (albeit academically) His Grace The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
As Edward's 1999 marriage approached, experts suggested the former royal dukedoms of Cambridge and Sussex as the most likely to be granted to him. Instead, the Palace announced that Prince Edward would eventually succeed to the title Duke of Edinburgh, currently held by his father.[33] In the meantime, in keeping with the tradition of a monarch's son receiving a title upon marriage, but preserving the rank of duke for the future, Prince Edward became the first British prince in centuries to be specifically created an earl, rather than a duke. The Sunday Telegraph reported that he was drawn to the historic title Earl of Wessex after watching the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, in which a character with that title is played by Colin Firth.[34]
See also List of honours of the British Royal Family by country
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He was baptised on 2 May 1964, at the private chapel at Windsor Castle by the Dean of Windsor and was given the names Edward Anthony Richard Louis.
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Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Cadet branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Born: 10 March 1964 |
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Lines of succession | ||
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Preceded by Princess Eugenie of York |
Line of succession to the British throne 8th position |
Succeeded by Viscount Severn |
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
New creation | Earl of Wessex 2nd creation 19 June 1999 – present |
Incumbent Heir apparent: Viscount Severn |
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded by The Duke of York |
Gentlemen HRH The Earl of Wessex |
Succeeded by The Duke of Cambridge |
Gentlemen in current practice |
Succeeded by Prince Harry |
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Academic offices | ||
Preceded by Lord Tugendhat |
Chancellor of the University of Bath 2013-present |
Incumbent |