I love Edward. I've never hidden that. I used to wish I was Sophie, but now I have my own boyfriend and I wouldn't trade him for any prince in the universe. No way. But Sophie is lucky.
Very lucky. She's got Edward.
But you know what? People who know Sophie don't see it that way. All of Sophie's ex-boyfriends, most of whom are still on good terms with her, claim that Edward is the lucky one. As Sophie's friend Jo Last puts it "People have said to me 'Isn't she lucky to be marrying a handsome prince?' My reaction is that Edward is the lucky one for getting her. She is a normal, wonderfully down-to-earth, decent girl. She'll be the best thing to happen to the Royal Family in years." (Gibbs & Smith, pp 26-27)
However, this isn't about Sophie. That's what her page (and the page here about her) is for. Back to Edward.
Even when Edward was a teenager, he loved acting and drama. I'm guessing his term at Gordonstoun, which, while not quite as harsh as it was when Charles was there, was still quite unbearable when Edward was there. His love of acting stemmed from the fact that he loved playing make-believe when he was a child. This whole thing is still in his life today, I'll explore that later in the essay.
In school, like his father Prince Philip and brother Charles before him, Edward became head boy, or as it's known at Gordonstoun, "Guardian". He was also head of his house. Aside from the more relaxed atmosphere of Gordonstoun when Edward was there, the other big difference from when Charles was there was the fact that in 1972, the school went co-educational. And yes, I'm going to discuss girls and Edward later too.
As a teenager, Edward loved the band Abba and when he gathered his cousins Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, Lady Helen Windsor and Marina Ogilvy with him at Windsor Castle, he turned one of the drawing rooms into "Eddie's Nightclub" after dinner and they would try their hand at disco dancing to the likes of Abba and Boney M.
As the youngest in his family, Edward has a deep bond with his mother and shares her desire for privacy where the family is concerned. Something that rather surprised me, is the fact that Edward is also his father's favorite son; he learned to shoot at age seven and often went out with Prince Philip to hunt, even at that young age.
As he grew older, Edward was very unassuming about his appearance, and didn't really conform to the fashions. It seems he is still that way today, a fact which I think is good, because it makes him appear more normal.
Edward wants to be a normal man, and who can blame him? He's been quoted as saying that he thought being born Royal was a black mark against his name. I think that's a little extreme, but if he wants to say it, that's his perrogative (sp?)
More about who Edward really is will be included later when I get time to do some more analyzing.