The Earl and Countess of Wessex shared an incredibly close bond with The Queen before her death aged 96 on September 8. Prince Edward met his future wife Sophie Rhys-Jones during a charity event at the Queen's Tennis Club in London before the pair announced their engagement six years later.
Ahead of their royal wedding, the palace announced their titles would be The Earl and Countess of Wessex. This came as a surprise to royal fans as many people expected that The Queen's youngest son would take the traditional title of Dukedom like his two elder brothers.
You may wonder why Prince Edward is an Earl while his brothers and nephews are all Dukes, reports the Mirror.Prince Edward was the first person in his position to become an Earl since the Tudor times, and should technically have received a Dukedom.
But, the title change wasn't a snub from her Majesty and was actually a request from her youngest son.It later came to light that The Queen had offered Edward the Dukedom of Cambridge (the title which Prince William and Kate were eventually granted when they married in 2011), but he refused it for a very surprising reason.The Earldom of Wessex had not been in use since the 11th century, however Edward reportedly asked the Queen to be named after a character called Lord Wessex in his favourite film, Shakespeare in Love.
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