Prince Edward’s Net Worth Includes Small Earnings From Failed Production Company

He loves the "the razzmatazz of show business."

By Lea Veloso

Lea Veloso

What is Prince Edward’s net worth?

What is Prince Edward’s net worth? Prince Edward’s net worth is estimated to be around $10 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. In 1999, he married Sophie Rhys Jones with who she has two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

His eldest brother King Charles’ net worth is, in comparison, $600 million. According to Forbes, Charles inherited the Queen’s $500 million in personal assets after her death. Those assets include her personal investments, art collection, jewelry, rare stamps and real estate holdings, which include Sandringham House in Norfolk, England, and the Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the Queen died. Charles also inherited the Queen’s $70 million in assets from the Queen Mother, which included a stamp collection, fine china, jewels, horses, and even a valuable Faberge egg collection and paintings from artists like Monet, Nash and Carl Fabergé. Charles also didn’t have to pay an inheritance tax on his inheritance from the Queen due to an a 1993 agreement between the British royal family and former Prime Minister John Major. Under the agreement, inheritances from sovereign to sovereign is exempt from the United Kingdom’s 40-percent inheritance tax. The agreement was created to avoid the erosion of the British royal family’s wealth.

According to i24 News, Prince Edward, as well as his siblings Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, will inherit a share of the Sovereign Grant, which is now owned by their oldest brother, King Charles III, though the exact amount of his share isn’t known.

Prince Edward had an eye for entertainment from a very young age. After he served briefly in the Royal Marines, he became a production assistant at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. On why he chose the entertainment business, “I love the razzmatazz of show business,” Elizabeth and Phillip’s youngest said in 1987. “It’s a wonderful world of fantasy and make-believe.”

He staged a Royal version of British television gameshow It’s a Knockout featuring his relatives which turned out to be a public relations disaster. However, according to the youngest Royal at the time, he wrote it was “the most extraordinary day of my life.” The showraised £1,500,000 for its selected charities

He then pivoted into leading his own production company Ardent Productions in 1993, with the production company standing for “ambition, motivation and strength.” According to the Guardian, Edward invested £205,000 (about £534,000 or $665,000 today). Another £700,000 (about £1,824,000.00 or $2,274,000 today) came from an assortment of businessmen.

However, Ardent seemed to be continuously failing. “They’re a sad joke in the industry, really,” a head of Ardent’s much more successful counterparts told The Guardian. “As time has gone on, their incompetence has become more and more obvious. There have been very small examples of vanity TV companies before, but not on this scale. Any company, in any industry, that had burned through that much share capital without making a profit would’ve been closed down by its investors years ago.” Ardent seemed to have a more valuable place in the US, where President George Bush was reportedly a fan and ordered a private screening for one of their documentaries.

According to the outlet, Prince Edward’s salary at Ardent only peaked at £119,000 in 1998 (about £267,916.95 or $334,000.00 today.) Every year, the company experienced a loss of a total of £2 million in 2002 (about £4,162,714.79 or $5,200,000 today). The only year that the company gained a profit was in 2001 when Edward did not charge Ardent the £50,000 annual rent for the stables at Bagshot Park. Edward stepped down from Ardent in 2002 to focus on his public duties and the production company dissolved in 2009.

In the early 2000s, he stepped up to his public duties as a Royal. Prince Edward is an avid supporter of dozens of charities like the National Youth Theatre, the Sport and Recreation Alliance, and the British Paralympic Association. Edward is regarded as a Patron of the Production Guild of Great Britain and has been widening access to opportunities in the film and TV industry. He presented the inaugural ‘Earl of Wessex Award’ in January 2023– a prize recognizing efforts to promote diversity in production and make the sector more inclusive.

The Royal is also Vice-Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation, having attended every Commonwealth Games since Edinburgh hosted the event in 1986. Edward was created the Duke of Edinburgh on his 59th birthday on March 10, 2023, after it was inherited by his brother King Charles after their father’s death in 2021. The title transition to Edward was deemed worthy by former Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip himself before his death and Edward said it was a “pipe dream of his father” to attain it.

In a post on the British royal family’s Instagram account in September 2022, Prince Edward revealed what he learned from Queen Elizabeth after her death. “As a family, we have grown up learning to share our parents, especially our beloved mama, with the Nation, her Realms and the Commonwealth,” he wrote. “While it has been lovely to have spent time saying our own farewell privately at Balmoral, it is now time to allow others to be able to say their farewell. We have been overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that has engulfed us and the sheer number of people who have gone out of their way to express their own love, admiration and respect to such a very special and unique person who was always there for us. And now, we are there for her, united in grief. Thank you for your support, you have no idea how much it means.”

He continued, “The Queen’s passing has left an unimaginable void in all our lives. Sophie and I have taken huge pleasure in seeing our James and Louise enjoying the places and activities that their grandparents loved so much. Given that my mama let us spend so much time with her, I think she also rather enjoyed watching those passions blossom. Those times together, those happy memories, have now become massively precious to each and every one of us. May God bless Her Majesty and may her memory be long cherished even as the baton she has carried for these past 70 years now passes to the next generation and to my brother, Charles. Long Live The King.”

King Charles: The Man, the Monarch, and the Future of Britain

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