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Why aren’t Prince Edward’s kids titled Prince and Princess?

Via

News Desk

Updated on April 14, 2021

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They have the same claim to a princely title as the children of Prince Charles or Prince Andrew since they are male-line grandchildren of Queen Elizabeth II.

On the day Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones, Buckingham Palace issued a statement announcing his future titles, as it did on Prince Harry’s wedding day.

Prince Edward’s comment, though, was full of surprises. To begin with, it broke with a centuries-old custom of the monarch’s children being made Dukes upon marriage. Prince Edward was made Earl of Wessex, but the statement made it clear that after Charles’ accession and Prince Philip’s death, the Royal Family intended for him to be made Duke of Edinburgh.

It also stated that the Queen had agreed, with Edward and Sophie’s permission, that any children the pair may have together would be styled as children of an Earl rather than His or Her Royal Highness. Prince Edward’s children are the Queen’s first male-line heirs without royal titles, and they are the first to be able to use the Mountbatten-Windsor family name properly, thanks to Her Majesty’s 1960 Order-in-Council.

As a consequence, their daughter is known as The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, rather than HRH Princess Louise of Wessex, and their son is known as James, Viscount Severn, rather than HRH Prince James of Wessex.

Who Is Prince Edward?

He is Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son.

On March 10th, 1964, Prince Edward was born. He was third in line to the throne at the time of his birth, behind his two older brothers, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, but ahead of his older sister, Princess Anne. Following the birth of baby Archie, he is now eleventh in the line of succession.

Countess Sophie née Rhys-Jones is Prince Edward’s wife.

Edward is the sole one of his family who has never divorced. He married Sophie Rhys-Jones in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in a surprisingly private ceremony (by royal standards) in June 1999, and the pair shared their 20th wedding anniversary in June 2019. Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, are the happy couple’s two children.

He now works as a full-time royal.

Following a stay in the navy and a failed attempt at a career in television production, Edward is beginning to carry on much of his father’s roles and engagements, which he declared his resignation from public duties only a few years earlier.

In addition to Prince, Edward also holds the titles of Earl of Wessex and Earl of Forfar.

The monarch usually bestows a dukedom upon royal princes who marry; nevertheless, Edward was granted the title of Earl of Wessex on his wedding day. When Prince Philip dies, he is expected to inherit his father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh.

As a birthday present from his mother in March 2018, he was also granted the title of Earl of Forfar to use in Scotland.