Buckingham Palace has responded to reports that the Earl and Countess of Wessex have scaled back their public duties for the remainder of 2001 in order to concentrate on their private careers.
The Palace clarified the couple’s schedule, stating that Edward and Sophie have several upcoming engagements planned, including a trip to Gibraltar on September 1 for a Duke of Edinburgh Award conference, and the wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit Tjessem in Norway this weekend. Edward also has a hospital visit scheduled for later in the year.
“They are fulfilling their royal duties as well as pursuing their business interests,” said a Palace spokeswoman.
The couple’s schedule was questioned when their names appeared only once in the list of the royal family’s confirmed engagements for the remainder of the year. In contrast, Princess Anne is scheduled for 166 functions and the Duke of York has 27 on his calendar in the same period.
“The Earl and Countess take their royal engagements very seriously. But unlike other members of the Royal Family, they still have their own careers to pursue,” said a spokesman for the couple. “There is no question of them giving up their royal duties completely, but they are still very much involved in their own companies.”
Edward heads a TV production company, Ardent, which announced earlier this year that it had made a profit for the first time in its nine-year history. Sophie is sole owner of public relations company R-JH, which made headlines when the Countess and her ex-partner, Murray Harkin, were taped making embarrassing comments to a bogus sheikh while attempting to drum up business for the firm.
The ‘fake sheikh’ sting sparked a Buckingham Palace investigation which concluded that minor royals could maintain outside careers.
Reports of the Wessexes' light schedule had initiated debate about whether minor royals should continue to receive money from the Queen if they neglect public engagements. Labour MP Paul Flynn said, “Ordinary members of the public will clearly want to know why these minor royals are still being paid by the Queen from the public purse while doing next to no public duties whatsoever.”
Some reports said that the couple, who receive £141,000 of taxpayers’ cash from the Queen annually, are boycotting public duties in response to scrutiny over their personal finances. A Palace official said, “An outsider might conclude that the Wessexes were on strike. I could not possibly comment.”
Last year the couple carried out a total of 229 royal engagements, while Prince Edward reportedly earned a £61,500 salary from Ardent and Sophie received a salary and dividends totalling £65,000 from her PR company
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
