As Prince Edward is made the Duke of Edinburgh, a look at his relationship with his late father Prince Philip

Something about being the baby of the family really establishes a deeper connection to your parents, and in the case of Prince Edward, the now Duke of Edinburgh, he too had a special relationship with his late father Prince Philip.

As Prince Edward celebrates his 59th birthday, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying that he would take his father’s title the Duke of Edinburgh for his lifetime, as his wife Sophie Wessex will become the Duchess of Edinburgh and their 15-year-old son James Viscount Severn becomes the new Earl of Wessex.

Since Prince Philip’s passing in late 2021, Prince Edward has taken on many of his responsibilities including the evolution of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, but notably even took on some of his father’s roles in society since 2017 when Philip retired from public service. 

While the late Prince Philip always wanted Edward to receive the dukedom, Charles briefly inherited the title before deciding to pass it on to his younger brother as he never used the dukedom.

In light of Prince Philip’s eagerness to hand Edward his title, PeopleWorld takes a look at their relationship:

Although every parent says they don’t have a favourite, over the years it has been reported that the late Queen Elizabeth II seemingly had a close relationship with Prince Andrew while Prince Philip may have favoured Prince Edward.

Philip was only present for Edward’s birth unlike his former three children, and he became the first royal father in modern history to ‘witness the arrival of one of his children’.

The then-Duke of Edinburgh may have been asked by Elizabeth to be at the birth due to the late monarch stressing the importance of fatherhood, but in the royal book ‘My Husband and I: The Inside Story Of 70 Years Of Royal Marriage’, it was stated that “the Duke of Edinburgh was actually holding his wife's hand as their youngest was born.”

Being present at his birth seemed to bond Philip and Edward closer as the former notoriously ‘tough’ parent was much easier on his youngest when he decided to opt out of the marines in 1987.

Prince Philip apparently thought of Edward’s decision to leave and work in entertainment as a ‘brave one’, after the former Earl of Wessex said he was never going to fit into the marines as well as he had imagined due to his security.

The same year that Edward left the marines, he met his now-wife Sophie Rhys-Jones while at Capital Radio, and the pair are the only lasting marriage of Elizabeth and Philip’s children.

As a result, Elizabeth and Philip grew close to their daughter-in-law, with Sophie even being counted as part of Elizabeth’s inner circle and labelled ‘The Queen’s Favourite’.

In addition to Edward’s family having a close relationship to his parents, it also must be noted that Good Housekeeping reported that Prince Philip only had one picture of his children in his study, and that was of his youngest son.

Despite stepping away from royal duties when they first married due to their passion for commercial careers, and being somewhat quieter than Edward’s older siblings and their respective partners, the now-Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were always ‘favoured’ by the late Elizabeth and Philip.