Prince Edward was proud (and relieved) when King Charles finally named him the new Duke of Edinburgh last year, fulfilling his parents’ stated wish.
And now Edward and his wife, Sophie, have gone out of their way to emphasize their similarities to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in their Christmas card.
The card features a photograph of Edward’s late parents in the brief, happy days they spent in Malta before Elizabeth succeeded her father at the age of 25.
At the time, they were also known as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
Next to it is a photo of Edward and Sophie in an almost identical pose also in Malta during a visit to the Mediterranean island in October.
Below the images, the couple write: “The Edinburghs at Villa Guardamangia, Valettta in Malta, about 75 years apart.”
Closer inspection shows that, in an attempt to mirror the Queen and Philip, Edward and Sophia, in a practice known as “flipping”, reversed the original image, which showed Edward on the left and Sophia on the right.
The clue is in Edward’s double-breasted suit, which now appears buttoned from right to left, as a woman’s jacket would be.
Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, have gone out of their way to emphasize their similarities to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in their Christmas card.
The late Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, photographed at Villa Guardamangia in Malta in November 1949.
The card features a photograph of Edinburgh “then and now”, with Prince Edward and Sofia on the right and the then Dukes of Edinburgh, Elizabeth and Philip on the left, both taken at Villa Guardamangia in Valletta.
In March, an image posted by the Princess of Wales on Mother’s Day caused a stir after it emerged it had been edited.
It was the first time she had been photographed publicly (at least officially) since undergoing abdominal surgery in January.
Last night, in an extraordinary development, foreign film agencies including Reuters, AP, Getty and AFP removed the image, saying it may have been digitally manipulated.
It showed the mother-of-three beaming with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis and was the first official photograph released of Catherine after she underwent “planned abdominal surgery” in January.
Admitting that she “occasionally experimented with editing” photographs, the princess apologized for any “confusion.”