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Prince Charles proudly waved Prince William off to the University of St Andrews back in 2001 – where the young prince would go on to meet his future bride Kate Middleton within weeks. However, Charles’ younger brother Prince Edward would land himself in hot water with the Prince of Wales, when his television production company was caught filming at the university despite privacy agreement with the media. The incident would eventually lead to Edward giving up his career entirely – and according to an expert, it was Charles who made his brother choose a commercial life or a royal one.

Veteran royal correspondent Robert Jobson, in his 2006 book “William’s Princess”, takes a look at the debacle.

Mr Jobson writes: “The programme was understood to be keeping Ardent afloat.

“Desperate times seem to have called for desperate measures for Prince Edward.

“When the story emerged, Prince Charles understandably went ballistic.

“He berated his youngest sibling, furiously demanding form the Queen that Edward be made to to choose once and for all between his public duties and his television production company – itself many believed little more than a vanity project dependent on Edward’s title for what little success it had.

“Relations between the brothers plummeted to an all time low as St James’s Palace publicly criticised Edward for his idiocy and the behaviour of his production company. 

“In unusually blunt terms, a spokeswoman for Prince Charles said that he was: ‘Disappointed, very much so.’”

Mr Jobson adds: “Other officials more believably told me that Charles was in a rage about it.

“The word ‘incandescent was used and I learned that Prince Charles tore into his brother in a telephone conversation.”

However, it would not be until a year later that Charles would get his wish from the Queen.

In 2002, after the Countess of Wessex also faced questions about her commercial career, both Edward and Sophie stepped down from their working lives. 

The Queen gave the pair £250,000 at the time that they became “working royals” with a portfolio of royal duties to perform.

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Her Majesty also meets the costs of the pair’s private lives and upkeep of their residence Bagshot Park.

Edward’s production company Ardent finally closed in 2009, after reporting losses every year except one since it was founded in 1993. 

The prince’s filming gaffe did not just alienate William and his father, as Mr Jobson reports that the otherwise supportive Prince Philip was also displeased.

Mr Jobson continued: ”Even before the incident, Edward’s television programme had had little support from the Royal Family.

“Only the Duke of Edinburgh, who dotes on his youngest child, had agreed to be interviewed on camera as personal favour.

“But not even he could condone it now.”

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