ROYAL MISSION:
On a frenetic visit to Australia, Prince Edward talks exclusively to Juliet Rieden about why his father’s famous awards still matter, his gap year in New Zealand and the one question his children keep asking.
exclusive interview with Prince Edward
Prince Edward has visited Australia 11 times and never with his family. While his eldest brother, Prince Charles, and his nephew, Prince William, regularly take their children on official overseas tours, for Edward, 11th in line to the throne, leaving Lady Louise, 15, and James, Viscount Severn, 11, at home somehow seemed more practical.
“It’s always difficult with school and I know I’m a bit strange that I didn’t travel with my children when they were smaller but what was the point? They weren’t going to be able to appreciate the country and the schedules are so busy, we actually never get much time to see them, so why disrupt their lives for that?”
It’s a very pragmatic approach and totally in keeping with Prince Edward’s head-down attitude to royal work. For the Prince, also titled the Earl of Wessex, family and work are separate. He’s fiercely protective of his privacy and has worked hard to keep his children out of the media spotlight. But it’s something the royal admits he may have to change in the future – at least in relation to visits Down Under. “They now ask me, ‘Oh, are you going to Australia, could we come, too?’… They’ve now got to the point where they are genuinely interested in the places I’m going to, so one day, hopefully.”
We are settled on the sofas in the refined but comfy living room at Government House, in the heart of Sydney’s lush Royal Botanic Garden. The Prince, who is friendly and gracious, rarely gives interviews but this visit is special and he’s agreed to his first ever chat with The Australian Women’s Weekly. He’s in Australia on an exhausting six-day, 25-engagement visit to celebrate 60 years of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.
The Prince’s father, the Duke of Edinburgh, first established his award in 1956. Just three years after his wife became Queen, Prince Philip decided to set up a scheme to bring the sort of outdoor education he’d enjoyed to children from vastly different backgrounds.
The award, which was honed by the Duke and Sir John Hunt, an army officer and the man who led the successful 1953 British ascent of Everest, is about leadership and teamwork, resilience and a plucky thirst for the great outdoors.
It’s something Prince Edward is extremely proud of. “They devised something that has endured for 60 years without really much change because it changes from within. Young people tell us what to do, as opposed to the other way round, which is really important,” he explains.
The award started as a pilot scheme for boys, but in just two years expanded to girls and the following year, 1959, spread around the globe. To date more than 1.3 million young people have been involved, with 55,000 Australians and New Zealanders taking part each year. So, it’s fair to say Prince Philip was on to something.
True to his ideal, the award continues to evolve. The framework reflects the work of adventure educationalist Kurt Hahn, who founded Gordonstoun in Scotland, the tough boarding school the Duke of Edinburgh and all three of his sons attended. Hahn wanted to address what he called the “Six Declines of Modern Youth” – decline in fitness, initiative and
enterprise, memory and imagination, skill and care, self-discipline and compassion.
Edward thrived at Gordonstoun, so it feels apt that he is carrying on his father’s scheme. Yet Edward is more than a torch bearer, and as the 55-year-old royal travels around Australia talking to hundreds of students, it’s clear he is still bowled over by the transformative process of the award.
With our children sucked into a world of computer screens and social media, the scheme is more relevant than ever. “The need for the award is probably greater, for all sorts of reasons. Yes, there’s screen time… but actually I think a much bigger issue is the fact that more young people are leaving school into a very uncertain world,” he says. “There are some jobs which will always be required… but a lot of other jobs are changing. Building much more flexible, adaptable, resilient young people… and a more balanced curriculum that recognises what kids do outside of the classroom [is paramount].”
Businesses are already recognising the award’s X factor and look out for it in job candidates. “It makes you stand out from the crowd,” explains Prince Edward, who completed his own Gold Award in 1986.
The Gold Award sets challenges in five categories – service, physical recreation, skills, adventurous journey and residential project. The Prince recalls on the day he finished, feeling an overwhelming sense of “relief – partly because it had taken me quite a long time,” he admits. “I started it when I was at school but didn’t finish until I was at university. I’m jolly glad I did that because I was able to turn it more into something that was relevant to me.”
In Sydney Town Hall, the Prince hosted an event for almost 400 Gold Award recipients. It was an impressive
Lady Louise has already started the award.
occasion, with a host of high-profile ambassadors from Olympic swimmer Dawn Fraser to actor Jack Thompson.
In 1982 when Prince Edward was part way through his Gold Award, he took a gap nine months and came to New Zealand to work as a tutor at Whanganui Collegiate School. “I had a fantastic time,” he recalls, beaming. “Having vowed I would probably never become a teacher, I then ended up working in a school, which was quite funny. I don’t think I was any good as a teacher, to be honest… The fantastic bit was the network of parents and people connected with the school.
“In those nine months, all the time I travelled round New Zealand, I think I only stayed in a hotel or motel two nights. Otherwise there was always somebody who was willing to put us up. I really got to know the country, I really got to know the people, and I really understood what made the whole place tick. I made some very good friends in New Zealand. Although the distance is quite great, we still try to keep in contact. I got the chance to do some pretty amazing things, not just in New Zealand. I managed to get down to Antarctica, to the South Pacific islands and to Australia.”
Back home, Prince Edward says he felt his world had “completely changed”.
I ask if the Prince’s children have shown interest in the award. “They’ve already started. Well, the older one
[Lady Louise] has. Frankly, she did that off her own bat. There was absolutely no pressure. That was what she wanted to do, which is great, I’m delighted.”
His wife, the Countess of Wessex, missed out. “Although Sophie didn’t do the award herself, she is a passionate advocate. She started a Women’s Forum in direct support of the award in the UK, which has grown into a much wider network of women in business and the workplace. Sophie often speaks far more passionately and eloquently than I ever can on the positive impact the award has on young people and the way it changes their lives.”
And back at home, Prince Edward fills in his father about the award’s progress regularly. “He’s still the patron and he’s still the founder. It’s still his,” he adds. And is the Duke happy with his work? “So far. I haven’t blotted it too much yet,” he chuckles. AWW