{"id":113048,"date":"2025-05-19T00:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/113048\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T00:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:48:24","slug":"prince-edward-attends-pope-leos-inauguration-on-behalf-of-king-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/113048\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Edward Attends Pope Leo\u2019s Inauguration on Behalf of King Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"

King Charles\u2019s brother, Prince Edward<\/a>, is representing the British head of state today at Pope Leo XIV\u2019s inauguration mass<\/a> in Vatican City. Following Pope Leo\u2019s election, King Charles sent a private message congratulating the new pontiff<\/a> and passing along his good wishes.<\/p>\n

At the inaugural mass today, the Duke of Edinburgh<\/a>, who was pictured wearing a hat, was not joined by his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Other royals in attendance included King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain<\/a>, Princess Charlene and Prince Albert of Monaco<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n

The Duke of Edinburgh\u2019s attendance at the papal inauguration is not without precedent; in 2013, at Pope Francis\u2019s inauguration, Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester<\/a>, attended on behalf of his cousin Queen Elizabeth, and in 2005, at Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s inauguration, Prince Philip represented his wife.<\/p>\n

\"PopeDaniele Venturelli\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prince Philip arrives for Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n

\"ThePeter Macdiarmid\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, and Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester at the Inauguration Mass for Pope Francis, 2013.<\/p>\n

Prince Edward, as a senior working royal, regularly steps in for his brother on important occasions, including recently the state funeral of former president Jimmy Carter<\/a>. He also joins the British royal family on all important occasions, such as the events surrounding the 80th anniversary of VE Day. As a Counsellor of State<\/a>, Prince Edward can also stand in for Charles on official occasions to carry out official duties of the sovereign.<\/p>\n

\"TheWPA Pool\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh lay flowers at the Innocent Victims\u2019 Memorial.<\/p>\n

\"TheMax Mumby\/Indigo\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Edinburghs depart Buckingham Palace to watch a military procession down The Mall.<\/p>\n

Prince Edward also carries out regular royal duties of his own; earlier this month, he hosted the Gold Award celebrations<\/a> for the Duke of Edinburgh\u2019s award recipients at Buckingham Palace. He\u2019s also president of the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which concludes today.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalMax Mumby\/Indigo\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Edward and Charles at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Home Park, Windsor Castle on May 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

\"BRITAIN-ROYAL-AWARDS\"YUI MOK\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prince Edward at Buckingham Palace, May 9, 2025.<\/p>\n

This is his first time visiting Vatican City in an official capacity; at Pope Francis\u2019s funeral, Prince William attended on behalf of King Charles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Play\"preview\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Emily Burack (she\/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"King Charles\u2019s brother, Prince Edward, is representing the British head of state today at Pope Leo XIV\u2019s inauguration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1380,51161,1331,1102,4884,1381,712,51160,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-113048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-content-type-news","10":"tag-contentid-7d9b8478-adeb-4f56-a50a-89e9ac2bc0d7","11":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","12":"tag-edinburgh","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-locale-us","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-shorttitle-prince-edward-attends-pope-leos-inauguration","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114531749528327482","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}