The Duke of Edinburgh described feeling a “weight of expectation” when he took the title from his father in a rare television interview.
A year after taking on the role, Edward admitted that he still doesn’t recognize where to sit in a room when his title is written in a place with his name.
In a rare TV interview, the Duke told gardener Alan Titchmarsh on ITV’s Love Your Weekend about the challenge of taking on the role of his “extraordinary” father, Prince Philip, who died in 2021 aged 99.
“It was a great privilege, but also a lot of expectations,” said Edward, celebrating his 60th birthday.
“I mean, there’s a huge legacy that came with that title and everything my father had done, especially when you don’t inherit it; this is a choice.”
The Duke of Edinburgh described feeling a “weight of expectation” when he took his father’s title in a rare television interview.
Getting used to his new title, Edward said: ‘It’s just the strangest, strangest feeling.
“You walk into a room and, especially nowadays, there are places with names on a card and I still look around and say, ‘Yeah, but where am I sitting?’
During the interview, Edward praised his father for being “brilliant with people,” even if at times “it didn’t necessarily seem that way.”
“He always, always encouraged everyone,” she said. ‘You kind of needed to get to know him.
“Everyone always commented on my dad’s sense of humor, but that’s what he was doing.
‘He was simply an extraordinary man. He was the Prince Albert of our time. He had an extraordinary mind. ‘He loved design, he loved innovation, he was brilliant with all kinds of people.’
The duke said his father was much more comfortable talking about the organizations he supported and “refused to talk about himself”.
During the interview, Edward (pictured with Labardor puppy Teasel) praised his father for being “brilliant with people” even if at times he “didn’t necessarily seem that way.”
Edward continued: ‘Never ask him to blow his own trumpet, he would never do that.
‘You had to get him to talk about the organizations he supported and then what he had done in relation to them, and that’s how the problem was solved.
‘And for the love of God, don’t say, ‘What do you feel?’ Because he would never have shared something like that.’
Edward also said his wife Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, is his “rock”, adding: “I’m incredibly lucky to have found Sophie and that she found me.”
He and Sophie, 59, have been married since 1999 and met at a promotional photo shoot for the Prince Edward Summer Challenge two years earlier.
When asked what he does to unwind and relax, the duke said he likes to “go out into the countryside.”
‘The garden, dogs,’ he continued: ‘The garden is the brightest place to do all sorts of things.
“Plus, it can be a great place to escape and think and understand certain things.”
The Duke carried out a series of engagements with the Duchess of Edinburgh earlier this week, ahead of the milestone birthday.
He was presented with a Leeds Rhinos rugby shirt with ‘HRH 60′ on the back to mark the date, during a visit to Leeds’ Headingley Stadium on Friday.
Prince Edward noticed the detail on the back and told his wife: ‘Yours is more subtle than mine.’
He told the young players: ‘Thank you very much. I really need to be reminded of that.
Sophie then paid a tearful tribute to Edward at the end of the Community Sport and Recreation Awards, saying he was “the best dad, the most loving husband and remains my best friend” and that she was “so proud of the man “. he is’.
On Tuesday, the Duke and Duchess visited an amateur boxing club and a community church in Stafford.
In the images, Prince Edward wears a red sweater under a dark button-down vest and smiles with his three dogs: Labrador Teal, cocker spaniel Mole and puppy Labrador Teasel.
The King’s brother, the youngest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, will celebrate his 60th birthday on Sunday
The Duke carried out a series of engagements with the Duchess of Edinburgh earlier this week, ahead of the milestone birthday.
The thinning working monarchy has been under increasing pressure, and some prominent members of the royal family have been excluded from their public duties.
Charles, 75, is receiving cancer treatment and the Princess of Wales is recovering from abdominal surgery.
It comes as Edward praised Prince Philip as an “extraordinary mind” as he shared his favorite memories of his father in a rare interview to mark his birthday.