Could the Princess of Wales become a mentor to James, Earl of Wessex, the teenage son of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh?

Prince Edward and Sophie, formerly the Earl and Countess of Wessex, have raised their children largely out of the spotlight. They have also forgone some of the pomp and ceremony to which their son and daughter are entitled. Although it’s customary to assign princely status and the style of His or Her Royal Highness to all children of a monarch’s sons, it was announced by Buckingham Palace on Edward and Sophie’s marriage in 1999 that any future children would be styled as the children of an earl, rather than children of a prince. ‘We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living… Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles,' the Duchess of Edinburgh once explained.

James, Earl of Wessex, arrives alongside his father, Prince Edward, for church on Easter Sunday in 2025

James was styled as James, Viscount Severn until March 2023 when he inherited his father's title of Earl of Wessex when King Charles III made Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh to mark his 59th birthday.

James lives with his parents at the family home of Bagshot Park in Surrey, 11 miles from Windsor – conveniently close to Windsor Castle, and now near to the Prince and Princess of Wales's new home at Forest Lodge. James has reportedly been educated at two nearby independent, co-educational prep schools.