And according to one Palace courtier, Edward, who was originally going to be given the dukedom of Cambridge, liked the Earl of Wessex title more and it’s all down to a film.
The source told The Telegraph in 2010: “Prince Edward was going to be the Duke of Cambridge, but he watched the film Shakespeare in Love, which had a character called the Earl of Wessex.
“He liked the sound of it and asked the Queen if he could have that instead.”
Since then, the dukedom of Cambridge passed on to William and Kate.
Years later, Edward and Sophie changed their titles again and a few months after Charles’s ascension, they became the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
The duke was awarded the title on his 59th birthday as an honour to his late father Prince Philip.
But the title is not hereditary which means that it won’t be passed down to his son James, now-Earl of Wessex, when Edward passes away.
