Duke of Edinburgh: Sometimes I forget the title is mine now

The role of Duke of Edinburgh is so closely associated with just one man that even his successor struggles to remember he now holds the title his father once made indelibly his own.

So much so that Prince Edward has confessed that he sometimes forgets that people are referring to him – and not his father, Prince Philip.

The Duke has even walked past chairs with his title on them to find what he assumes will be his correct place in a room.

Speaking on ITV’s Love Your Weekend about the difficulties of adjusting to his title, which he was bestowed a year ago, 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?’.”

The Duke told Alan Titchmarsh that his father was, quite simply, “an extraordinary man”.

He said that Prince Philip was “the Prince Albert of our age”, adding: “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.”

On a weekend when the role of mothers is being celebrated, Prince Edward said his father’s partnership with his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, was central to his own life growing up.

Speaking about Mothering Sunday, the Duke said: “Those days were, 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.”

Returning to the role Prince Philip played within the Royal family – the late Queen’s “strength and stay” – the Duke said his influence on his own children was incalculable.

He revealed the lasting memories his grandchildren had of the late Prince Philip, including teaching his daughter Lady Louise to drive a carriage – one of Prince Philip’s abiding passions.

“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.”

Prince Edward also spoke of the support he receives from his wife The Duchess of Edinburgh - which Titchmarsh suggested was similar to the loyal support the late Queen received from her husband.

“[The Duchess of Edinburgh is] critical, absolutely critical. She’s been an absolutely brilliant rock and I’m incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me,” said the Duke. “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.”

Prince Edward also discussed the achievements of young people recognised by This is Youth – a new initiative by the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh’s Award which includes prizes such as Planet Protector of the Year.

The Duke said: “[We are] trying to illuminate the fact that the award is more than just expeditions and walking up and down mountains and things like that. There’s far more to it than that.

“So, if we can just shine a bit of a light on people who have discovered a passion somewhere else, and a purpose somewhere else, whether that’s through the environment, or developing a skill somewhere, or pursuing a particular physical activity, or whatever it is… Lila was such a brilliant first recipient of that award. The brilliant thing about it is that it’s about young people being asked the question, ‘What is it that you want to go and do?’.”

The interview came as the King appointed his brother Edward to the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle on the occasion of his 60th birthday, along with Professor Baroness Black of Strome, Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws and Professor Sir Geoff (Godfrey) Palmer.

The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle represents the highest honour in Scotland

*Watch the full interview with Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday 10th March at 9:30am on ITV1 and ITVX.