However, she might have been titled the Duchess of Cambridge herself had it not been for a shock decision from her husband Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest child. While Edward was reportedly lined up to take the Duke of Cambridge title when he married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, but he had his heart set on an entirely different title. The prince asked to be named after a character called Lord Wessex in his favourite film, the 1998 comedy-drama Shakespeare in Love.

A royal insider told the Telegraph in 2010: “He liked the sound of it and asked the Queen if he could have that instead.”

The Queen agreed and gave him the title Earl of Wessex – he could not be the Duke of Wessex as there is no such dukedom or even a region known as Wessex in the modern UK.

Wessex was one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England before the country unified in the 10th century.

The area of Wessex is prominent in the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and is home to Winchester, which was the capital of England for some time.

READ MORE: Why Edward was first prince since Tudor times to be given lesser title

Sophie is therefore the Countess of Wessex, as Countess is the title given to wives of a Count or Earl.

According to Debrett’s, a publisher and authority on etiquette, this was the first time since Tudor times that the child of a monarch has been given the title of Earl instead of Duke on marriage and Royal Central confirmed it had been centuries since this last happened.

This is in contrast to Edward’s brothers Charles and Andrew, who have royal duke titles – the Duke of Cornwall and Duke of York respectively – although Charles is usually referred to as the Prince of Wales.

Charles’ wife Camilla is known as the Duchess of Cornwall, his secondary title, out of respect for the late Princess Diana of Wales.

Andrew’s former wife Sarah Ferguson is known as the Duchess of York.

This decision also affects Sophie and Edward’s children – while they are entitled to HRH prince or princess titles, they have instead been styled as children of an Earl.

Their daughter, 15, is known as Lady Louise Windsor and their son, 11, is known as James, Viscount Severn, one of Edward’s subsidiary titles.

This makes Louise and James the Queen’s first male-line descendents not to have royal titles.

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Prince Charles’ sons are known as Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Andrew’s daughters are known as Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York.

In accordance with Her Majesty’s 1960 Order-in-Council, Louise and James are the first to be allowed the proper use of the Mountbatten-Windsor family name.

However, there is another reason why Edward is not currently a duke – he is reportedly going to be the next Duke of Edinburgh after Prince Philip dies.

The Earl of Wessex has been taking an increasingly active role in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme in recent years and is poised to take over patronage of many of Philip’s 800 organisations.

A royal source told The Times in 2015: “The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is very much Prince Edward’s thing.

“This is a big part of what he does because he will be the next Duke of Edinburgh.”

Royal biographer Hugo Vickers added: “Prince Edward has never been personally ambitious.

“He has taken on the role with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to support his father, so it’s a wonderful thing that he could take on his title when the time comes.”

The tile will go back to the crown when Philip dies and would usually go to the next-in-line to the throne – Prince Charles – but the Queen has apparently decided it should be reissued to Edward.

It may be that the Queen will do this when Philip passes away or that Charles will when both his parents have died and he has succeeded Queen Elizabeth II to the throne.

After Edward is given the dukedom, his wife Sophie will become the Duchess of Edinburgh.

She will then have something in common with the Queen as she was known as Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh before she came to the throne.

The dukedom of Edinburgh was given to Philip by King George VI shortly before the wedding between Philip and then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947.

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