After decades of discretion, being the perfect sidekick and even dabbling in private enterprise for a while, Prince Edward turns 60 tomorrow and is a more needed asset than ever to the British royal family because of permanent and temporary layoffs that have diminished it lately. With Charles III in treatment, Princess Catherine recovering, Prince Henry in the United States and Prince Andrew without honors due to the Epstein case, Edward, and also his wife, have climbed the hierarchy to an importance that they had not imagined some time ago.
It was already seen last year at the coronation of Charles III, when Edward and his family were among the few invited to go out with the new kings on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, something that promises the couple’s collaboration during the reign of his brother. This new position acquired is also due to the fact that Edward is the son of Elizabeth II who has caused the least inconvenience to the British crown, and that he and his wife are, together with the Princes of Wales, the only Windsors with less of 70 years who fulfill official commitments.
According to his mother, the little prince was “the quietest of my children”. Before marrying Sophie Rhys-Jones in his early thirties, the prince’s apparent reluctance to marry and settle down had many wondering what was going on with Edward. It was believed that the divorces that had already ravaged the family in those years (he is the only one still married to his first wife) and the unwanted media attention towards Lady Di had delayed his decision to walk down the aisle. In the nineties he also faced doubts about his sexuality, but his childhood girlfriends, such as the singer Ruthie Henshall, took it upon themselves to refute the rumours.
He always stated, both publicly and in front of his family, that he would only marry when it suited him. And this happened on June 19, 1999, at the age of 35, in the chapel of Sant Jordi in Windsor Castle with his longtime partner, in front of an estimated audience of 200 million television viewers. “We are the best of friends and that is essential and it also helps that we love each other very much”, said Eduard months before the wedding.
As a young man, when he was the most handsome son of the queen, he was a great fan of the theater, he collaborated in several productions and this led him to start a career in the audiovisual world as a presenter of documentaries. He filmed Crown
When he turned 59, King Charles III fulfilled his mother’s wishes and granted him the Dukedom of Edinburgh, the title the Queen’s husband had held since their marriage. In the last years of Philip of Edinburgh, the youngest son grew closer and closer to the foundations that his father looked after and now presides over them from his current 14th place in the line of succession, behind his brothers and all the their children and grandchildren.
They explain that in a room in Bagshot Park, his residence near Windsor, hangs a caricature of his mother singing to a group of penguins about her displeasure with the media. Eduard has always been allergic to the press and has sometimes faced it, which is why he is the least known of the brothers, despite the fact that he is the one who takes the most risks with ties.
Until last year, he and his wife were known as the Earls of Wessex, a title now held by the couple’s youngest son, Jaume (16). His eldest daughter, Lluïsa (20), has inherited her grandfather’s love of horse-drawn carriage racing, and was a star at the coronation with her mauve floral dress.
