Prince Edward has paid tribute to his wife, Sophie, as his ‘absolute rock’ as he discussed his family life with Alan Titchmarsh during an appearance on Love Your Weekend.
The episode, which is set to air on March 10, the Duke of Edinburgh’s 60th birthday, will see the Prince sit down with the presenter and open up about his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and their two children, Lady Louise, 20, and James, Earl of Wessex, 16.
Speaking of how much Sophie means to him, the Duke called his wife ‘critical, absolutely critical.’ He continued, ‘She's been an absolutely brilliant rock and I'm incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me. Hopefully we've been a really brilliant partnership. We're very lucky, we’ve got two, of what we would think are particularly brilliant children, who are forging such different paths for themselves. I think that's also equally fascinating.’
Here, Tatler brings you the Duchess of Edinburgh’s full speech for her husband, the Duke, during a visit in Leeds this week
Elsewhere he spoke about the significance of Mothering Sunday and described what the celebration means for his own family. Edward said, ‘Always and it's doubly so when you've got your own children - your own family is very important.’
‘Those days were [important growing up], and these days are really important to remember some very, very special people in our lives. There should be several times in the year when we make a special sort of effort and Mothering Sunday was very much one of those where you made a special effort just to say ‘thank you’. So it goes on and that's the lovely thing about it. That's the lovely thing about families and that's what it should be.’
During the discussion, Prince Edward also revealed the lasting memories his grandchildren have of the late Prince Philip, including teaching his daughter Lady Louise to drive a carriage. It's a hobby which was a passion of the late Duke’s, and has since been adopted as one of Lady Louise’s. He said, ‘It was entirely off her own bat. I mean, you know, just one day, ‘Can I go out with you and go sit on the boxes?’. He was like, ‘Absolutely’. He never was going to say no! He took her out with the team and I think it was only the second time, he was driving along and he said, ‘Do you want to have a go?’ and she didn’t have time to even answer the question, he just handed the reins across.’
Elsewhere in the discussion, Prince Edward spoke about how much it meant to him to be bestowed the title of Duke of Edinburgh. He said, ‘It was a huge privilege but also quite a lot of weight of expectation as well. I mean, there's an awful lot of legacy that came with that title and everything that my father had done. Especially when you're not inheriting it, this is a choice… that comes with all the expectations that people have. It's just the weirdest and strangest feeling. You walk into a room and, particularly still today, there are name places on a card and I still look around going ‘Yes, but where am I sitting?’.’
Explaining how he would describe his father Prince Philip, The Duke called him an ‘extraordinary mind’, adding: ‘He was the Prince Albert of our age. He had an extraordinary mind. He loved design, he loved innovation, he was brilliant with all sorts of people. Sometimes it didn't necessarily come across that way but he was actually brilliant with people. He was always, always encouraging everybody. You sort of needed to get to know him.’
The interview comes after Sophie gave her own touching tribute to Edward during a royal engagement earlier in March.
The Duchess gave a rare, gushing tribute to her husband, calling him ‘the best of fathers and the most loving of husbands’. Prince Edward looked deeply emotional throughout the speech, putting his hands over his face, as Sophie spoke about their love, saying, ‘I am so proud of the man he is’.
Watch the full interview with the Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh on
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday 10th March at 9:30am on ITV1
and ITVX
