It was at Heatherdown that Edward began to develop his enthusiasm for the theatre, and he secured a starring performance as Mole in Toad of Toad Hall. Nicholas Tate was Toad, Andrew Wills was Badger and Alexander Cameron was Rat (while David Cameron, his younger brother, was one of the rabbits). As Edwards recalled, it was a show that had it all: ‘I remember Andrew Wills as Badger and his younger brother was sitting on the aisle in the third row. He was about nine and he laughed so much he fell off his chair and lay in the aisle absolutely convulsed! The Queen’s face was a picture as she looked at this boy rolling about! I was very worried because in one of the songs when they [the weasels] come to invade Toad Hall, they all had flails attached to their wrists by leather thongs. They were waving these clubs about right on the front of the stage with the Queen in the front row, and I thought please don’t break! They were absolutely lethal.’

Around the time Edward left the school in the summer of 1977, he wasn’t the only one moving on. For the Queen and Prince Philip, they were about to become grandparents for the first time as the Silver Jubilee got underway; his eldest brother, now the Prince of Wales, was beginning to develop his own career and charitable interests; his aunt would soon be caught up in divorce. And while people would be singing ‘God Save the Queen’, it wasn’t always the version that the royal family would appreciate. This truly was a period of change for the royal marriage.

Chapter 9

WATCHING THE FAMILY GROW

In November 1972, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. At a speech at the Guildhall in London, the Queen uttered those words which have made it into the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations: ‘I think everybody really will concede that on this, of all days, I should begin my speech with the words, “My husband and I”.’

She went on to say: ‘A marriage begins by joining man and wife together, but this relationship between two people, however deep at the time, needs to develop and mature with the passing years . . . When the bishop was asked what he thought about sin he replied with simple conviction that he was against it. If I am asked today what I think about family life after twenty-five years I can answer with equal simplicity and conviction. I am for it.’

For most people, family is the most important thing in their lives. It is what keeps them together and it is what keeps civilisation together. Life revolves around significant family events – education, career, marriage, children and grandchildren. Family life is also central to the monarchy, as Prince Philip explained. ‘If you have a monarchy, you have got to have a family and the family has got to be in the public eye.’