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# The English press debates whether Prince Charles will defy the wishes of his late father: who is to inherit the title of Duke of Edinburgh, Edward, Earl of Wessex, as Prince Philip bequeathed it, or Charles after all, to whom it belongs by seniority?
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-angliiskoi-presse-obsuzhdaiut-poidet-li-prints-charlz-protiv-voli-svoego-pokoinogo-ottsa-a-imenno-kto-unasleduet-titul-gertsoga-edinburgskogo-edvard-graf-uessekskii-kak-zaveshchal-pri/
- Published: 2021-07-14T14:19:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:40:51.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, In the Press, London, Monarchies

It was said as long ago as 1999, immediately after his wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones, that Edward would receive his father's ducal title. Nevertheless, barely three months after the death of Philip Mountbatten, Prince Charles, according to an unnamed source, reminded those concerned that it is he who has inherited ALL of his father's titles, and that it is for him to decide whether the comital couple, Edward and Sophie, are to be raised to the rank of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. And, if rumour is to be believed, Charles has no intention of sharing the title with the Wessexes. What is more, only very recently he was already planning to use it officially during a trip to Scotland, but was informed there that, in those parts, the style of Duke of Rothesay, his own title, carries more weight.

All this talk is, of course, a heavy blow to the modest Edward, who is nonetheless a most active and conscientious member of the royal family, performing, together with his wife, a great many important duties. And Edward has already mentioned in several interviews that, by the will of his beloved father, the title is to pass to him, his beloved son. Charles's pretensions are, to be sure, only aggravated by the universal affection for the Earl of Wessex, whom the court, together with his wife, holds in high esteem and invariably describes as indispensable members of the family; the Queen, too, is uncommonly well disposed towards them, as Prince Philip was in his day.

Of course, should Prince Charles, known as he is for pettiness and jealousy, yet a personage who is, after all, already extremely well supplied with titles, really stoop to such meanness, then yet another scandal will flare up around the royal family. And it is a big question who stands to gain from it, on top of the string of unlovely episodes involving Harry and his beloved, and the whole horror surrounding Prince Andrew.

One should not suppose that all this fuss is merely over a name. What difference does it make, Earl or Duke, when he is a member of the royal family either way? The difference is, of course, considerable, both for material standing (and today Edward is very nearly the most financially restrained in the family) and with regard to later generations. In the case of the Wessexes, the title, created by George I and revived first by Queen Victoria and then by George VI, could pass to Edward's son James, Viscount Severn; otherwise Charles might, for instance, hand it to his grandson Louis, the son of William and Catherine. But most likely, if Charles keeps the title of Duke of Edinburgh for himself, in time it will vanish once more