Dropping out of the Royal Marines is a big decision to make, especially if you are the Queen’s son.
It was the scenario Prince Edward faced back in 1987, when he decided to leave the Force after just four months.
While his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, was ‘icily displeased,’ according to Tina Brown in her book, The Palace Papers, his father took a different view.
The Queen saw Edward’s decision as a ‘dereliction of duty, but Prince Philip was unexpectedly supportive,’ the former editor in chief of Tatler wrote.
Philip had actively served in the Royal Marines for 14 years and held the title of Captain General of the Royal Marines for 64 years – but ‘he never thought Edward should have joined the Royal Marines in the first place’, Ms Brown revealed.
The late Duke of Edinburgh instead ‘wanted him to do something perhaps even worse, as far as arts-loving Edward was concerned: become an accountant’, the royal author wrote.
Edward was the most academic out of his sibilings at school and acheived nine O Levels and three A Levels, according to Tatler. His A Levels included a C in History, D in History and D in Politics which saw him get into Cambridge to study History. He left with a 2:2 degree.
Prince Philip and Prince Edward pictured together at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 2016
Edward pictured in camouflage military gear during Royal Marine training
The Prince running during a commando assault course back in the 1980s
A brief statement from Buckingham Palace concluded Edward’s military career. It read: ‘Prince Edward has decided to resign from the Marines.
‘Edward leaves the Marines with great regret but has concluded that he does not wish to make the service his long-term career.’
Days after rumours of Edward’s departure, a fellow Marine who also went to Cambridge with the Prince left, the Mail reported at the time.
Lieutenant Peter Fraser decided to quit the training course to return to university and pursue a Master’s degree instead.
However, his choice was unrelated to Edward’s and he said: ‘The news of Prince Edward’s decision came as a complete shock to me.
‘Obviously, I got to know him a lot better when we went to Lympstone in September. Although we shared the same corridor together at the barracks, he never confided in me about his problems and quite honestly, I didn’t speak to him about my own decision to leave, although I did chat it over with other officers.’
In April 1987, the Mail reported how Edward said the decision had been a ‘surprise to everybody – most of all to myself’.
Prince Edward wearing his Royal Marines uniform at RAF Benson
Queen Elizabeth and Edward at RAF Benson, the Prince wearing his Royal Marines uniform
He added: ‘I do not regret it but I was in a no-win situation and someone was going to come off badly in it. I have now to live in limbo until I get rid of the label “ex-Royal Marine”.’
Later that year, in an attempt to find his feet, Edward thought up the idea of It’s A Royal Knockout.
The show aired in June and was filmed at Alton Towers, it involved four teams of celebrities battling against each other in games — including John Travolta, George Lazenby, Toyah Willcox, Gary Lineker and Barbara Windsor – with a royal team captain.
Edward, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson all participated and it ended with the Prince reportedly ‘storming off’ over the press’s poor reaction to the show.
For a short amount of time, Edward also joined Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Really Useful Theatre Company in 1988.
The Prince worked on productions including Phantom Of The Opera, Starlight Express and Cats.
Eventually, Edward found his passion in the television industry when he set up his own company, Ardent Productions, in 1993.
However, there was trouble when the production company set up their cameras at St Andrews and were apparently attempting to film Prince William leaving a lecture hall on his first day in 2001.
The Queen, Prince Philip and Edward smiling together in 1976
Sarah Ferguson, Princes Edward and Andrew and Princess Anne on It’s A Royal Knockout in 1987
The Daily Mail’s front page when Edward left the Marines in 1987
Edward and his wife, Sophie, reportedly apologised to Charles personally for the incident afterwards.
The then Prince of Wales was said to have been so furious that he refused to take Edward’s calls for several hours.
It was announced that Ardent would stop making television programmes about the royals, the Daily Mail previously reported.
At the time, the company had made 22 shows and half had been on the royals, including a documentary about the restoration of Windsor Castle following the fire in 1992.
In 2002, Edward stepped down as joint managing director of Ardent and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, left her public relations firm. Both then became full-time working royals.
