In the Windsor family, Prince Edward would almost look like a UFO.
No tabloid headlines to his credit, no thunderous divorce - no divorce at all -, no "problematic" child, not a crazy pace, honestly... Who can say, apart from the fervent fans of royalty, to what he looks like ?
Who could give the first name of his wife - who is not Diana, nor Camilla, nor Sarah?
His older brother, Charles, is none other than the King of England.
The sentimental escapades of the latter, from his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles – who became his wife in 2005 – to his lack of regard for Lady Diana, still make headlines today.
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His other brother, Prince Andrew, has also had his share of scandals.
The Duke of York was 26 years old when he married Sarah Ferguson, a daughter of a British major, on July 23, 1986. Their separation will also be resounding.
In August 1992, the Duchess appeared
topless
by a swimming pool in the south of France, in the company of her financial adviser John Bryan, in photos released by the
Daily Mirror
.
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Divorces and sex scandals
Elizabeth II did not appreciate this kind of publicity.
She had therefore summoned her daughter-in-law to leave the family mansion.
The divorce of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson would be finalized four years later.
And the ups and downs of the York family don't end there.
In 2019, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, accused of multiple rapes and sexual assaults, was found hanged in his prison cell.
It won't be long before the name of her friend, Prince Andrew, is mentioned in the case.
The Duke of York will himself be accused of having sexually assaulted a woman named Virginia Roberts, when she was only 17, before concluding an amicable agreement with her.
The controversy is such that in November 2019, the father of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie is forced to give up his official commitments.
The Wessexes
Princess Anne, older sister of Prince Edward, will also see her union shattered.
The rider married Captain Mark Phillips in November 1973, with whom she had two children, Peter and Zara.
The couple divorced in 1992, following an extramarital affair of the soldier, which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter.
The princess remarried the same year to Commander Timothy Laurence.
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In the midst of this chaos, only the couple of Prince Edward, the youngest of the siblings, married to Sophie de Wessex for twenty-three years, seems to survive the onslaught of time.
After celebrating their union, on June 19, 1999, Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones, former press secretary for London radio
Capital
, inherited the titles of Earl and Countess of Wessex.
A beacon in the storm
Full screen
The marriage of Prince Edward and Sophie of Wessex is celebrated on June 19, 1999. (Windsor.) Abaca
A particle name that the newlywed would have chosen because of his attraction for the film
Shakespeare in Love
(1998).
Colin Firth indeed plays a man named... Lord Wessex.
Prince Edward and his wife will give birth to two children: Lady Louise, in November 2003, and James, Viscount Severn, in December 2007.
Their family will become, for the Queen of England, like a beacon in the storm, between the desertion of Prince Harry, the sex scandal around the Duke of York and the global pandemic.
In January 2020, the Wessex supported the Cambridges at a reception given in honor of African heads of state at Buckingham Palace.
During confinement, they multiply the commitments, provided by videoconference.
Read alsoSophie de Wessex, new asset of the British royal family
An artist's soul
Edward, the discreet son of Queen Elizabeth II
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow27 photos
See the slideshow27 photos
The future Duke of Edinburgh is used to taking a different path from that of his elders.
Born on March 10, 1964 at Buckingham Palace, Prince Edward enjoys the affection of his mother, Elizabeth II - which would hardly have been the case with Prince Charles and Princess Anne, according to Peter Morgan, the creator of
The Crown
.
“She was a much more relaxed mother with the second team (
Princes Andrew and Edward, editor’s note
),” he said, explaining that the sovereign was previously concerned about her new status.
If we are to believe the portrait drawn by season 4 of
The Crown
, Prince Edward, played by Angus Imrie, is not, however, a model child.
He appears there as an arrogant and vengeful student, harassed by his classmates.
Unlike his brothers and his sister, the young boy cultivated an artistic soul very early on.
He first studied at Gordonstoun, before leaving to teach for a year in New Zealand.
If he joined the Navy for a while, he quickly abandoned the idea of a military career.
The heir prefers by far to devote himself to his passion for the theater.
At 23, after twelve months offshore, he became a production assistant with the Andrew Lloyd Webber company.
It was at this time that he met actress Ruthie Henshall, with whom he would have a three-year romance.
Building on this experience, Prince Edward launched his own production company, Ardent, in 1993.
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The business will go bankrupt in 2009. But the godson of Antony Armstrong-Jones - the ex-husband of Princess Margaret - already has his mind elsewhere.
Prince Edward left the company in 2002, in order to become an active member of the royal family.
He then devoted himself, alongside his late father, to the development of
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
(DofE) programme, which encourages teenagers and young Britons to develop their talents to enter the university.
He has also been president of the foundation of the same name since 2015, and supports the Paralympic Games in England.
In his spare time, the youngest of Elizabeth II devotes himself to his passion for sport, between tennis, badminton, and horseback riding with his daughter Louise.
A couple not so exemplary
Did you say exemplary?
Not quite.
As an adult, Prince Edward also triggers some controversy.
In 1996, the
Radio Times
asked him about the date of his future marriage proposal.
"If you shut it up, mind your own business, and let me do it when I want, it's much more likely to happen," he retorts.
Three years later, shortly before his union with Sophie Rhys-Jones, old photos on which his fiancée appears
topless
in
the company of DJ Chris Tarrant are published in the columns of the
Sun.
Prince Edward begs the tabloids to stop 'destroying' the couple's private life, 'especially Sophie's'.
But the intrusions are increasing.
In 2001, Sophie de Wessex allowed herself to be fooled by journalist Mahzer Mahmood, a reporter for
News of the World
– who disappeared after a telephone hacking scandal – who posed as a client of her communications company.
During a conversation recorded by the journalist, the countess tailors a suit to the prime minister at the time (Tony Blair, renamed for the occasion “President Blair”), and to his wife (described as “absolutely horrible”) .
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The scandal breaks out, the Wessex disappear.
The Countess' company goes bankrupt.
The couple will not reappear until a few years later.
And will suffer a new scandal, at the end of December 2020, after an alleged breach of the “rule of six”, which imposed not to meet with more than six people from different households during a pandemic.
The Wessex have understood this well: the spotlight can (often) burn your wings.
After the death of Elizabeth II, the couple nevertheless reappeared in front of the cameras to meditate in front of the flowers laid at Windsor Castle, and to attend the mass in honor of the queen, which takes place at St. Gilles from Edinburgh, this Monday, September 12.