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The EdinburghsThe Yorks

Why did Princess Anne attend Prince Charles’s party, but Prince Andrew & Prince Edward didn’t?

On Tuesday, senior members of The Royal Family gathered at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Prince Charles becoming Prince of Wales.

In attendance was The Queen, the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke & Duchess of Sussex, the Princess Royal and of course the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

There were, however, three notable absences – the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.

Prince Philip’s absence is easily explained. He is now retired and therefore does not attend receptions of this kind.

Some readers, however, have expressed confusion as to why Prince Charles’s brothers were not in attendance, but his sister was.

A speculative explanation for their absence is that Princess Anne played a role in the investiture ceremony 50 years ago, whereas her younger brothers did not.

At the investiture of Prince Charles, Princess Anne was 18 years old and attended the ceremony in person at Caernarfon Castle in 1969.

Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, on the other hand, were too young to attend.

Of course, another explanation might be that Andrew and Edward simply didn’t get an invite, or they had prior commitments.

According to the Court Circular, the Earl of Wessex held a series of Meetings at St James’s Palace on Tuesday in his role as Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.