Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones on 19 June 1999 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The couple met in 1994 when Sophie was working as a public relations executive with her own firm.

Their first child, Lady Louise Windsor, was born on 8 November 2003. They welcomed their son James, Viscount Severn, on 17 December 2007. Together, they live at Bagshot Park in Surrey while their office and London residence is based at Buckingham Palace.

Prince Edward was born on March 10, 1964 at the Windsor Castle in London, England. He is the fourth and the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

He was home-schooled by a tutor till the age of seven before enrolling into Gibbs School. He then attended the Heatherdown Preparatory School in Berkshire in 1972.

In 1977, he joined Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland where bagged the Gold award as a part of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award program. After passing out from school, he spent a gap year teaching English and History at Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand.

He then enrolled with the Jesus College, Cambridge where he studied history. His admission into the prestigious college stirred up a controversy as he did not have the required grades to get into the college. However, he passed out in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

After completing college, Prince Edward joined the Royal Marines as a University Cadet with a sponsorship of £12,000 towards his tuition at Cambridge University. However, within three months of training he decided to quit and pursue his love for theatre.

For his mother’s 60th birthday, Prince Edward authorised the 1986 musical ‘Cricket’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, as a result of which, he got a job of production assistant at Lloyd Webber's ‘Really Useful Theatre Company’.

He worked on musicals such as ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Starlight Express’, and ‘Cats’. It was while working as production assistant that Prince Edward met actress Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for three years.

‘The Grand Knockout Tournament’ was his first television production and it went on air on 15 June 1987. The show consisted of four teams, each of which was sponsored by him, Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of York. The event was played for charity. However, the programme ended up becoming a spectacle after the media heavily criticised it. It later came to surface that the Queen had fiercely disapproved of it which explains her absence from the event.

In 1993, Prince Edward started his own television production company, Ardent Productions, under the name Edward Windsor. His company created documentaries based on the lives of the British Royal Family. His documentaries however, were slammed by the critics accusing him of using the Royal Family to make money.

Prince Edward was supposed to have the title ‘Duke of Cambridge’ but he requested the Queen for the title of ‘Earl of Wessex’ inspired by the character named Lord Wessex in ‘Shakespeare in Love’.

He directed the show ‘The Tale of Toothache City’ which was written specially for kids with learning difficulties.

The Earl of Wessex has his own personal heraldic flag for use in Canada.