Prince Edward attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding with his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and kept up with a purr-fect personal tradition he has stuck with for years now! The Countess of Wessex Blog on Twitter recently pointed out that the Prince attended the ceremony wearing a bright, cat-patterned tie, which he is clearly a huge fan of, as he has worn versions of the same one at official events over the years. He wore a cream tie with the yellow and purple printed cats for the wedding of his nephew to Meghan at the weekend, and also wore the exact same print, only with a lilac background, to his own wedding back in 1999. He wore it for a third time at Zara Tindall's rehearsal dinner ahead of her wedding to Mike Tindall.
Prince Edward regularly opts for cat-patterned ties
The Queen's youngest son is also a fan of a matador-printed tie, which he wore at the photocall of his engagement announcement, on Zara's wedding day (since he had already worn his cat one the night before) and during a library opening in Liverpool back in 2013. His decision to wear the bullfighting-related tie caused controversy following the library opening, as the League Against Cruel Sports condemned the promotion behind the sport. A spokesperson said: "Bullfighting is an incredibly cruel and outdated spectacle. We are very disappointed to see such an influential public figure wearing an item of clothing that symbolises the barbaric bloodsport." He hasn't worn the tie since.
He also caused controversy by wearing a matador tie
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The decision to wear jaunty ties at these official events is a nod to Prince Edward's light-hearted and vibrant personality – indeed, the Prince had a career in entertainment for several years after leaving the Marines, and worked at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company as a production assistant, working on musicals including Starlight Express, Phantom of the Opera, and, yes, Cats.
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