Fitting visitors into available guest space is a familiar balancing act as families get together over Easter. In the case of the House of Windsor, it is a chore which comes heavily freighted with symbolism about the pecking order in the Royal Family.
It was reported this weekend that the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have been forced to stay in a house used occasionally as a holiday let because Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has yet to move out of the couple’s preferred accommodation on the King’s private Sandringham Estate.
The continued presence of the disgraced ex-duke of York at Wood Farm, the bolthole where he has been staying while his new home – Marsh Farm – is renovated meant his younger brother was unable to stay in his usual Sandringham accommodation.
The apparent contretemps sparked mutterings within royal circles that the former prince is dragging his feet when it comes to moving to a more modest abode and saw Prince Edward reportedly called upon to remind him of the Palace’s stance.
This game of royal musical chairs demonstrates the slow but inexorable emergence of Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, as fixtures on the very front line of working royals.
‘They are becoming a bigger part of the royal brand’
The transition of the late Queen Elizabeth’s youngest child – now 62 – from a diligent but largely low-profile royal into a more prominent role alongside the Duchess was underlined this weekend by two events which appear to signal his increased clout within the so-called Firm.
Firstly, Edward was noticeably to the fore of the annual procession of royals as the family attended the traditional Easter Sunday church service at Windsor, led by King Charles and Queen Camilla. The Duke, accompanied by his 18-year-old son, James Mountbatten-Windsor, the Earl of Wessex, followed closely behind the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children as they entered St George’s Chapel.
With not only former prince Andrew absent, but also his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also asking to be excused from appearing before the cameras, the visibility of the Duke of Edinburgh served to underline an important shift in the Royal Family’s public posture.
While Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s fall from grace has been long and all too public, the rise of his younger brother and his wife has been just how Buckingham Palace likes it: somewhat understated, founded in a strong work ethic and, most importantly of all, likely to win the approval of the British public.
Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, leave the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla (Photo: Kin Cheung/AP)According to an analysis of royal engagements last year, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were the third and fourth busiest members of the Windsor dynasty, racking up 548 appearances between them – figures exceeded only by the Princess Royal and the King Charles.
In terms of popularity, the Duke and Duchess rank seventh and fifth in a tracking poll run by YouGov with respective approval ratings of 39 per cent and 50 per cent. This places them above Queen Camilla and Prince Harry.
As one former royal aide put it: “The potential for the Edinburghs to take on a more active or prominent role was spotted some time ago. What is happening now is that this is being made ever more official. They are becoming a bigger part of the royal brand.”
Andrew visit
With higher visibility would also appear to come greater sway within the Firm.
In the second significant event of recent days, Prince Edward, who has shaken off the failure of his TV production company in 2009 to dedicate himself to full-time royal duties, was last week understood to have become the first senior royal to have visited Andrew during his exile at Wood Farm.
The purpose of the house call is unclear but according to one reading, the younger brother’s agenda included the delivery of a reminder to his older brother that he was expected to complete his move into Marsh Farm by the end of the Easter break.
After weeks in which a steady progress of workmen installing features from carpets to high-speed broadband, and others carrying boxes of belongings marked “HRH”, has been visible at Marsh Farm, this deadline would seem close to accomplishment.
But, notwithstanding Edward and Sophie’s difficulties over holiday accommodation, the real significance of relations between the two royal brothers would appear to be that it is now the Duke of Edinburgh who has sufficient clout within the Firm to make the family’s expectations known to his sibling.
Prince Edward, hitherto not known for his willingness to grasp the nettle of royal controversies, has also been outspoken on the subject of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal embroiling his older brother. In February, he became the first senior royal to speak out about the release of documents relating to the convicted sex offender by telling an audience in Dubai that it was “really important always to remember the victims”.
‘Down-to-earth’ Edinburghs can steady royal ship
It is an enhanced status which most royal watchers agree would not be possible without the Duchess of Edinburgh (who did not attend the Easter service because she was under the weather) and her own standing as not only one of the most popular members of the Windsor clan, but also one of its most quietly respected.
Lady Louise Windsor, fourth from right, with her mother and other senior royals (Photo: Scott Heppell/AP)After an early career in public relations, Sophie has become a diligent and effective advocate for raising awareness of sexual and gender-based violence against women in conflict as well promoting women’s role in peacebuilding.
It is a role which takes her on roads less travelled by senior royals. In February, she spent two days in Mogadishu, the capital of war-torn Somalia, meeting the survivors of sexual violence at the hands of al-Shabaab Islamist extremists.
When asked last year how she responded to being labelled the Royal Family’s “secret weapon”, the Duchess of Edinburg provided a rare acknowledgement that she – and by implication her husband – is moving with increasing force into the royal limelight.
She said: “I like to fly under the radar. It’s all very well being a secret weapon but if no one knows, maybe it’s too secret… I don’t see myself in a frontline position per se. That said, admittedly, there are fewer working members of the family these days so I suppose more and more I’m becoming less secretive.”
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