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Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, is blowing out 62 candles today, during a dark moment for the British monarchy. Reserved and discreet, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II didn\u2019t seek prominence as a working royal. But various events in recent years have turned him into a crucial figure for the future of the British Crown: his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsors\u2019s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case<\/a>; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle\u2019s move to the United States; and King Charles III and Kate Middleton\u2019s cancer diagnoses in 2024. Edward, a former actor who inherited the title of Duke of Edinburgh from his father, Prince Philip, suddenly found himself in a load-bearing role.<\/p>\n He has worked in the service of the Crown with his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, for more than 20 years. But the couple\u2014who are parents to Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn\u2014have had to step up like never before<\/a> as the ranks of working royals has started to thin. For the last few years, they have attended at least a hundred engagements and meetings annually. In fact, Edward has become one of the most active members of the royal family, especially abroad.<\/p>\n We recently saw him in Milan, where, having landed to support the British team at the Winter Paralympics, he visited a facility that cares for troubled teenagers<\/a>. He has also been active in various representative roles in recent months, including attending the World Governments Summit in Dubai as patron of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation<\/em>. Following his brother Charles’ accession to the throne, then, Edward became the King’s Councillor of State and Regent: he can deputize for the monarch<\/a> in his official and constitutional duties if he is abroad or ill.<\/p>\n The last of the Mountbatten-Windsor siblings, Prince Edward is currently 15th in the line of succession. Though his popularity was always low when compared to his better-known family member, his numbers have been on the rise. Among Britons, his favorability ratings<\/a> are among the highest in the royal family.<\/p>\n In the end, Edward\u2014\u201cthe artist,\u201d as he was called for his youthful ambitions in show business\u2014turned out to be the most centered, solid and stable of the Queen\u2019s four children. And the only one who could boast of a lasting marriage: he met publicist Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1993 and married her in 1999. Since then the couple, always united, have avoided becoming tabloid fodder.<\/p>\n Like his father, Edward attended the strict Gordonstoun School in Scotland<\/a>, then earned a bachelor degree from Cambridge, following after a gap year in New Zealand. His passion for art and entertainment also led him to work as a stage actor and television producer, and his business cards introduced him simply as Edward Windsor. In 1993, he founded his own company<\/a>, Ardent Productions, which specialized in documentaries. But in 2002, Edward left show business and his production company, specifically to focus on his royal duties.<\/p>\n