Here are some photos of Prince Edward on Monday, where he visited the Reading Rep Theatre. He loves the theater and he probably should have all of the theater/acting/dramatic-arts patronages, but unfortunately he does not. On a superficial level, it’s kind of remarkable to see how much Edward and Charles are both taking after their father as they get older. Edward turned 60 last month, while Charles turns 75 later this year. They both have angles where they look so much like Prince Philip. Anyway, as the Windsor clan has been a ball of chaos this year, the British media has been trying to make “Steady Eddie” stick. They’re running embiggening commentary and positive articles on his work for a while. Ingrid Seward just had yet another piece about Edward in the Mail. Some highlights:
According to a recent YouGov poll, Edward – now a key figure in the Monarchy – has seen the greatest rise in popularity over time of any member of the Royal Family. The Prince has been just been appointed Colonel of the Scots Guards, succeeding the 88-year-old Duke of Kent – an honour bestowed upon him by his elder brother, the King. It is one of several.
Last year, on Edward’s 59th birthday, Charles made him the Duke of Edinburgh, the title their father had held. This year, Edward was awarded the Order of the Thistle, Scotland’s highest royal honour. It is all a fitting reward not just for plain hard work, but thorough-going decency.
Edward, who has just celebrated his 60th birthday, has seldom enjoyed much positive media attention. When he married Sophie Rhys -Jones in 1999, he was accused of making money from the TV coverage of the wedding. Two years later when Prince William started at the university of St Andrews, Edwards TV company Ardent filmed the student Prince while other media had agreed to back off.
Being very much a private person, Edward was humiliated by the ticking off he received. His calm exterior masking a less confident individual than he cares to portray. Marriage and fatherhood have matured him – he credits much of this to his wife Sophie – but he still lacks the spontaneous warmth deployed so successfully in public by his elder brother the King.
He can certainly come across as rather thoughtless, much like his siblings, but that is not entirely his own fault. The royal offspring of his generation were raised to have everything done for them from the complicated to the mundane. No wonder Edward likes order and expects things to be done properly.
He is said to find the whole business of being royal very constraining at times but has learnt to live alongside it, unworried that everything is done for him. He can sometimes be arrogant but he is never openly condescending towards people. He is kind and has a self-deprecating sense of humour. He writes his speeches himself and delivers them with humour. If his words seem to be falling flat, he simply presses on, protected by the mantle of royalty and secure in the knowledge that sooner or later he is certain to raise a laugh.
Oof. “He still lacks the spontaneous warmth” and “He can certainly come across as rather thoughtless” and “He can sometimes be arrogant but he is never openly condescending towards people.” Lord, this was supposed to be a positive piece about how he’s coming into his own as a man of 60. No, this is really his nature – arrogant, cold, thoughtless. I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but I might have to defend Edward a little bit? He does come across as awkward and uncomfortable most of the time, but he also comes across as someone who’s probably better one-on-one. He just seems ill-suited, temperamentally, for royal life. But then again, they all seem ill-suited for it. Which is why they were so mad when Diana and Meghan married into the family and were brilliant at the public-facing side of it.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.