Prince Edward: Why is he just a count, not a duke like Charles and Andrew?

Prince Edward
Why the Queen’s youngest son is “just” a count, not a duke

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In contrast to his brothers, Prince Edward does not have a duke title, but the lower-ranking count title. However, this is not because his mother, Queen Elizabeth, does not grant him the same status as Prince Charles and Prince Andrew.

Traditionally, male children of the British monarch receive a duchy on their wedding day. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have three sons: Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex. Why are there two dukes but only one count? That could explain both a glimpse into the past and a glimpse into the future of the royal family.

Prince Edward wanted a Wessex one

According to The Telegraph, it was Edward’s own decision not to be a duke. He was said to have been named Duke of Cambridge when he married Countess Sophie in 1999, but Edward turned it down because he admired a character named Lord Wessex in the film “Shakespeare in Love”. “He liked the sound and asked the Queen if he could be called that instead,” said a palace employee in 2010. The Queen wanted her son to grant her son the wish. The problem: Edward couldn’t become the Duke of Wessex because there is no duchy with that name in modern Britain. The solution: a count title. The title Duke of Cambridge thus went to Prince William in 2011.

Will Prince Edward be Duke of Edinburgh?

Also on the occasion of the wedding, the palace announced that Prince Edward would one day inherit his father as Duke of Edinburgh. Another reason why he first became a count. But when Prince Philip died on April 9, 2021, the title passed to his eldest son Charles. This is what a decree of King George V from 1917 wants. But one day Prince Charles will become king and the title of duke will revert to the crown – and thus be free for Edward. The decision was allegedly made in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Award, founded by Prince Phillip in 1956. Under the motto “You can do more than you think!” the prize aims to motivate, guide and support young people in their self-development.

Source used: own research

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