Prince Edward says bringing family together would be ‘chaos’

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Philip, who died in April this year, held the title for 73 years and created a landmark awards scheme for young people named after it. For most people alive today, the title Duke of Edinburgh is synonymous with the Queen’s loyal consort. Yet, the Earl of Wessex is set to be given the title by Prince Charles when the Queen dies.

Edward opened up about what that means to him in an interview with his wife Sophie in which he explained that, while it is an honour, it is also sad because both his parents have to die before it comes to him.

He said: “It’s a very bittersweet role to take on because the only way the title can come to me is after both my parents have actually passed away.

“It has to go back to the Crown first.”

He admitted that, theoretically, the title should have gone to his brother Prince Andrew.

However, the conversation was not had until later and by then Andrew had been made the Duke of York.

Edward explained: “My father was very keen that the title should continue, but he didn’t move quickly enough with Andrew, so it was us who he eventually had the conversation with.

“It was a lovely idea, a lovely thought.”

In their interview with The Telegraph this month, Sophie described the moment Philip offered the title to his youngest son.

It was two days after their engagement was announced and Philip popped round to ask him a question.

Sophie said: “We sat there slightly stunned.

“He literally came straight in and said: ‘Right. I’d like it very much if you’d consider that’.”

After marrying Sophie, Edward took on the lesser title of Earl of Wessex, in anticipation of the greater title of Duke of Edinburgh later in life.

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Edward reportedly chose this title because he wanted to be named after Lord Wessex, a character in his favourite film, Shakespeare in Love.

A royal insider told The Telegraph in 2010 that he “liked the sound of it”.

According to etiquette expert Debrett’s, this was the first time since Tudor times that a child of a monarch had been made an earl instead of a duke on marriage.

Sophie and Edward also decided that their children would be styled as children of an earl, even though they would be entitled to HRH prince or princess status.

Sophie Wessex and Edward: 'Spotlight' on couple says expert

So, when Louis was born in 2003, instead of becoming Princess Louise of Wessex, she was styled as Lady Louise Windsor.

Her brother James, born in 2007, was styled as James, Viscount Severn, one of Edward’s subsidiary titles.

This makes Louise and James the first male-line descendants not to have royal titles and therefore the first to have the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

Fittingly, Edward has increasingly taken on responsibilities related to the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

He is a trustee of the scheme and chairman of the International Duke of Edinburgh Award and is expected to become its royal patron at some point.

A spokesman for the Award told the i after Philip’s death: “There’s no immediate need for the Duke of Edinburgh Award to appoint a patron.

“What we’re doing is really focusing on how we can continue the Duke’s legacy.

“We’ve just launched a new fund last week which is to reach one million young people in the next five years.”

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