King Charles has shown his unwavering support for one of the longest serving members of the Royal Family with an impressive image to mark a milestone.
As the Duke of Kent turned 90 on October 9 2025, Buckingham Palace shared a powerful photo of The King with his cousin, taken at the Coronation in May 2023.
The picture shows the newly crowned King Charles III gently touching the hand of the Duke of Kent, who has been a working member of the Royal Family for decades.
There’s a real royal resonance to this image which invokes, in some ways, the portraits of medieval Monarchs bestowing their approval through the simple gesture of placing one hand on those they favoured.
It’s also a strong show of family support for the Duke on one of the saddest birthdays he has had. Just a month ago, he lost his wife of 64 years. The Duchess of Kent died on September 4 2025 at the age of 92.
The photo has an added meaning, too. For Edward, The Duke of Kent was once considered a potential heir to the throne now held by King Charles III.
In the heady autumn of 1936, as it became clear that King Edward VIII was determined to marry Wallis Simpson, the Royal Family and leading politicians began to consider what that meant for the Monarchy and the countries that Edward reigned over.
While the then king pushed for marriage and his Crown, the final decision was that he should give up his throne if he really wanted to marry the twice divorced Mrs Simpson.
That meant that a new Monarch would be needed. Edward VIII’s heir was the brother closest to him in age, Albert, the the Duke of York. Bertie, as his family called him, was well liked and his wife, Elizabeth, was very popular. But the Duke of York was also shy and nervous and had to deal with a stutter at a time when such conditions were less well understood and could generate criticism.
When faced with the possibility of becoming king, Bertie fell on his mother’s shoulder and wept at the enormity of the task ahead of him. We also know that he took on that task with gusto and became one of the country’s best loved kings. But in the anxious days before the Abdication, with the throne teetering on the unknown, the prospect of him being passed over was raised.
That possibility was put into the spotlight again after Christopher Wilson examined newly released government papers about the Abdication. His work, published in The Daily Telegraph, shows there was even a discussion about the mother who held a weeping son taking on the role of Queen Regent.
Mary was considered as a caretaker ruler but Christopher Wilson says that, implicit in that, was another question. And that was whether she would eventually hand the throne, not to her second son, but to her fifth child, George, Duke of Kent.
In 1958, a book by Dermot Murrah, a noted historian with an in depth knowledge of the royal situation in the 1930s, revealed that the possibility of the Duke of Kent becoming king was seriously considered. In ‘The Work Of The Queen’, he noted that those preparing the Abdication bill seriously considered the processes involved should the Duke of Kent be named as the successor to Edward VIII.
It would have involved leapfrogging two other royal dukes. At the time of the Abdication, Albert, Duke of York was first in line to the throne, followed by his two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. But in fourth place was another royal brother, Henry, Duke of Gloucester. As he had no children at the time, fifth in line was George, Duke of Kent.
Choosing George would have been another, huge decision for a monarchy already shaken to its core by the decision of a king to give up his throne. However, the reasoning behind it focused on two important issues. Firstly, George was confident and charismatic. While Albert struggled with public duty, George appeared to relish it. Henry was dull and plodding while George was dashing and a real personality.
For all his dubious behaviour behind palace walls, Edward VIII was a popular figure who was so certain of his own place in the affections of the public that he wanted to broadcast to them to explain why he should reign with Wallis at his side, believing they would back him. Putting George on the throne in his place would give a shell shocked kingdom a monarch with star quality to replace the much loved king who was leaving them behind.
But the second reason was seen as equally important at the time and if it had held sway, it would mean that the birthday photo we’ve just seen could have been of the Duke of Kent as king and his cousin as a much appreciated royal relative.
For George, Duke of Kent, had something that none of his other brothers had. A son and heir. In December 1936, as the Abdication loomed, George and his wife, Marina, were expecting a second baby. But already installed in the royal nursery of their home was a little boy, then aged fourteen months. Baby Edward was sixth in line to the throne but the only male descendant of George V in the male line. And this, in the 1930s, was crucial.
Britain had had female rulers and the reign of Victoria was a living memory. But still, the mores of the times meant that a man was always preferable to a woman when it came to the Crown. As politicians and royal advisers surveyed the prospect of a monarchy ripped apart by the decision of a king to leave for love, they sought what they thought might be the most solid option for the future. And for a while, that was very much the charismatic duke with a son of his own.
It was already evident that Albert and his wife, Elizabeth, had completed their family while Henry and his new wife, Alice, were yet to have children. George came compete with a Prince of Wales in waiting. It was, momentarily, enough to persuade some that the Duke of Kent should be king rather than the Duke of York.
It means that the man we now know as the Duke of Kent, the 90 year old Prince Edward, was, briefly, on the brink of a throne. Had George, Duke of Kent become king, his own son would immediately have become Duke of Cornwall and would, at some point, have been made Prince of Wales by his father. Prince Edward would have been raised to reign. The man who chose a military career before taking on endless duties on behalf of the Monarch would have been Monarch himself, in time. A different George VI would have reigned, with Queen Marina at his side, before being succeeded by a king who could have been Edward IX.
Instead, that Edward became what his namesake, King Edward VIII, had never really managed, a loyal servant of the Crown. He continues to take on duties even today and was back to work just weeks after the loss of his Duchess.
In another world, he might once have worn the Crown seen in the birthday photo on the head of King Charles III. However, in 2023, he bowed his head as his cousin, King Charles, walked past, newly crowned. More poignantly, he had insisted on sitting in the chill drizzle in the courtyard of St. James’ Palace on September 10th 2022 to hear that same cousin proclaimed as king.
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent was always one of the most devoted members of the Royal Family of Queen Elizabeth II. He represented her for decades at a huge range of events. And her decision to ask him to stand alongside her at one of the most important moments of recent royal history, as she took a salute following Trooping the Colour at her Platinum Jubilee, is another reminder of the strange bond that united them. Her historic reign was a reality but in an alternative royal universe, the man at her side became king and another story unfolded completely.
Now, he remains one of the most steadfast supporters of the King who celebrated his milestone birthday today with such a strking image.
