Prince Edward's unusual request to late Queen that affected wife Sophie and Kate Middleton

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Prince Edward and Sophie Ryhs-Jones were given new titles last month by the King ahead of his Coronation. The royal couple, who married in 1999, are now the Duke and Duches of Edinburgh after Charles granted the wishes of the late Queen and Prince Philip by offering his younger brother the title on his 59th birthday.

The couple previously held the titles The Earl and Countess of Wessex, which was somewhat out of the ordinary for a royal couple in modern times.It had been expected that The Queen's youngest son would be given a traditional Dukedom like his two elder brothers when he married more than 20 years ago and it was a surprise when it was announced he would be The Earl of Wessex, reports the Mirror.

But the unusual title wasn't a snub from The Queen at all, and it was actually his request to be titled the Earl of Wessex. And the reason for his choice was unexpected.It later came to light that The Queen had offered Edward the Dukedom of Cambridge (the title which Prince William and Kate were eventually granted when they married in 2011), but he refused it for a very surprising reason.

The Earldom of Wessex had not been in use since the 11th century, however Edward reportedly asked the Queen to be named after a character called Lord Wessex in his favourite film, Shakespeare in Love.A royal insider told The Telegraph in 2010: "Prince Edward was going to be the Duke of Cambridge, but he watched the film Shakespeare in Love, which had a character called the Earl of Wessex.