Prince Edward was proud – and relieved – when King Charles finally appointed him the new Duke of Edinburgh last year, fulfilling the expressed wishes of their parents.
And now Edward and his wife Sophie have gone to extraordinary lengths to emphasize their similarities to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in their Christmas card.
The card features a photo of Edward’s late parents during the brief, blissful 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.
Underneath the images, the couple writes: ‘The Edinburghs in Villa Guardamangia, Valetta on Malta, about 75 years apart.’
Closer inspection reveals that in an attempt to mirror the Queen and Philip, Edward and Sophie – in a practice known as ‘flipping’ – inverted the original image, showing Edward on the left and Sophie on the right.
The clue is in Edward’s double-breasted suit, which now looks as if it is buttoned from right to left, as a woman’s jacket would be.
Prince Edward and his wife Sophie have gone to extraordinary lengths 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, pictured at Villa Guardamangia in Malta in November 1949
The card features a photo of the Edinburghs ‘then and now’, with Prince Edward and Sophie on the right and the then Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Elizabeth and Philip on the left – both taken at Villa Guardamangia in Valletta
In March, a photo released by the Princess of Wales on Mother’s Day caused a stir after it was found to have been edited.
It was the first time she had been photographed publicly – officially at least – since undergoing abdominal surgery in January.
In an extraordinary development, foreign photo agencies including Reuters, AP, Getty and AFP withdrew the photo last night, claiming 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 photo released of Catherine after she underwent ‘planned abdominal surgery’ in January.
The princess admitted that she “occasionally experiments with editing” photos and apologized for any “confusion.”