Why You Rarely Hear About the Queen’s Youngest Son
By ALEXANDRA SIMON
History - Science
The four children Queen Elizabeth II had with her husband, Prince Philip, were Charles (born in 1948), Anne (born in 195), Andrew (born in 1960), and Edward (born in 1964). While King Charles III, Princess Anne, and Prince Andrew have made headlines from time to time, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, has not made as many as his older siblings.
Prince Edward, who has been slightly more visible since the death of his mother, initially came into the spotlight when the Cambridge graduate decided to leave the Royal Marines to pursue performing arts. The ex-Marine ended up in television production and even created his own production company, called Ardent Productions, in 1993.
He grabbed some attention in 1999 when he got married to Sophie Rhys-Jones in a small-scale ceremony, just two years after Princess Diana's tragic death. The couple chose the titles of The Earl and Countess of Wessex over the titles offered to them because of Prince Edward's love for Colin Firth’s character Lord Wessex in the film "Shakespeare in Love."
After Edward’s television career came to an end in 2002, he continued to stay out of the limelight until his father, Prince Philip, retired in 2017 and passed on most of his responsibilities to his youngest son. The Earl of Wessex is currently 13th in the line of succession, followed by his son and daughter, who precede Princess Anne, as Edward is a male child.