Here are some photos of the Duke of Kent on Sunday. The 88-year-old duke attended the Scots Guards’ Black Sunday parade. The Duke of Kent has been the honorary royal patron and colonel of the regiment for fifty years. Remember, the duke is one of the few “working royals” in King Charles’s slimmed-down monarchy. Only the duke is 88 years old and they’re slowly taking away all of his patronages and setting him up in some kind of semi-retirement. He clearly has mobility issues, but he continues to represent the Firm and do his work. After fifty years, they’re taking the Scots Guards away from him and giving the honorary colonel position to… Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh. A man who dropped out of the Royal Marines.
Prince Edward, who famously quit the Royal Marines after just four months, is set to head an elite infantry regiment that fought in the Battle of Waterloo. He will become the Colonel of the Scots Guards in a ceremony in London today after being chosen by King Charles.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 60, is taking over from the Duke of Kent, 88, who was appointed in 1974 following a 21-year military career.
Edward said he was accepting the post ‘with a degree of trepidation’ about being compared to his predecessor.
For years, the Prince was kept away from military patronages after leaving his Royal Marines training course in 1987. The Queen was reportedly livid when he swapped military service for the performing arts.
Although defence sources say Edward is qualified for this promotion, some observers believe it is a result of the increasingly slimmed-down monarchy. He has been taking on a growing number of senior roles, especially after Prince Andrew was stripped of his military titles in 2022.
“For years, the Prince was kept away from military patronages after leaving his Royal Marines training course in 1987.” Is that true? Because Edward makes sure to wear his unearned military dress uniforms for every occasion, especially occasions involving the military or veterans. Anyway, I agree that the poor Duke of Kent needs to be allowed to retire after working for the Firm for sixty years or longer. They also took Wimbledon away from him – he used to do the trophy presentations and attend a lot of matches, but now the Princess of Wales does that (except she rarely goes to matches anymore). But putting Edward in this role is kind of insulting, right?
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- HRH the Duke of Kent to attends Scots Guards’ Black Sunday parade in His 50th year as Colonel of the Regiment. Featuring: Duke of Kent Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Apr 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- HRH the Duke of Kent to attends Scots Guards’ Black Sunday parade in His 50th year as Colonel of the Regiment. Featuring: Duke of Kent Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Apr 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- HRH the Duke of Kent to attends Scots Guards’ Black Sunday parade in His 50th year as Colonel of the Regiment. Featuring: Duke of Kent Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Apr 2024 Credit: Cover Images
If there is any unearned medal or uniform to wear you know the Windsors are going to go straight for it.
I’m weirdly pleased when Harry only wears his earned medals.
I’m from a military family and unearned valour is not taken or accepted well.
The BRF need to stop.
Why would someone ever wear unearned military medals is beyond me. So insulting for those who do the job and wear the valour, and like, dont you have any pride?
I know what the royals do isn’t real work in comparison to anything that any of us on this site may do on a day-to-day basis, but seeing these pictures I don’t understand how William doesn’t feel an immense amount of shame. There is no way in hell this man should still be working in any fashion to prop up an institution when the person that’s 25 steps ahead of him( and a half a century younger) in the hierarchy is sitting on his ass and saying maybe I’ll do a zoom meeting today. No wonder the wider family can’t stand him.
Amen. Any person with half a degree of integrity would have cause for some introspection seeing these photos. William doesn’t, though.
My goodness, the photo of the Duke in uniform with the bearskin hat walking behind TQ is rather poignant. That hat looks almost too much for him. And yes, William should be ashamed of himself if he were to see this photo. I think he may have been at the event, though, was it a Trooping? He’s not making these connections in his head.
Your comment is so accurate. William should be ashamed of himself.
I honestly don’t believe William is capable of feeling shame.
I think we are all saying the same thing. William is an utter disgrace..This man and others in the Kent family have give fantastic service to the Queen, stepping up at times and stepping back when the more senior royals wanted the limelight. This very dear man needs to retire completely, with THE best seat in the Royal Box at Wimbledon whenever he wants it… Kate can step aside. He is all that is good in the RF, as are the Gloucesters. DoG is my all time favourite royal after Diana… not including H&M obviously.
Preach, Dee! He is such an embarrassment.
I am envisioning a master list of royal patronages with the current owner and planned future owner aligned – and the future owner list is filled in with a lot of strike throughs. This clearly would have been perfect for Harry.
My god that man doesn’t look alive he looks like he has been mummified. So Edward will take over this military duty even though he couldn’t get through military training. This is your slimmed down monarchy. Good job Chuckles.
Looks to me like the likely squamous cell cancer that took a bite out of his ear is metastatic. He’s entirely cachectic.
Yes, it’s concerning.
Just abolish the monarchy already.
KSI is probably giving the honors to Edward because he knows that the Duke of Edinburgh will actually make an effort to show up.
Maybe it’s insulting, but who’s left?
I don’t see it as any worse than giving Anne or Kate military patronages and honorary titles. Neither of them ever even tried service.
Exactly – and, unlike Kate, at least Edward will show up.
Came to say this. Kate is the worst one. At least Ann is seen often and she doesn’t waste tons of tax funds on clothes. And Edward is better than WanK.
I am damn sure William is not going to be the king.
Jeez Louise, let that poor man live out his last years without having the “honor” of “serving” King Charles! No issues for me with him getting a break at the young age of 88 (/s).
On it being taken over by Prince Edward, boohoo RF, if only you had a member of the RF with a similarly decades long, honorable military career who would be respected and appreciated by the military as their patron!! So sad!!
I’ve always felt very sorry for him. He did Wimbledon for so many years, but then it seemed like as soon as Kate wanted it, she got it.
I don’t remember what was going on at the time, but I do remember us speculating that the Queen gave it to her as a way to keep her in line after a William fckup— sort of the same way she finally got that honorary badge thingy she wears whenever she wears her sash to state dinners (sorry, not enough caffeine yet today!).
This man wasn’t going to live another 30 years; Kate couldn’t just wait until he retired? It was extremely likely that she would be the one it was given to next. From what I’ve read, the Duke (and I think his wife as well?) enjoyed the Wimbledon patronage and carried out all of his duties over the years— a lot more than Kate has done in the short time its been hers.
Historically, Kate goes only to men’s matches and the only time she shows interest in the women is at the finals, with infrequent exceptions here and there.
Didn’t she miss some big ceremony last year or the year before? Again, sorry I’m so fuzzy on details, but I remember us saying it was the sort of thing she should have attended and that the Duke of Kent likely would have been at gladly, but Kate is going to Kate so she was off doing something else.
And now he has something else that he’s done faithfully for years yanked away from him instead of KFC just waiting for him to retire? Clearly he still feels able and willing to serve the monarchy in some capacity, and his retirement isn’t too far off, for the love of god! Charles is such a pr!ck. Show the man some respect. Let him have the dignity of handing back his patronages when he feels he can no longer handle them.
tl;dr I feel sorry for this man because he’s worked hard for almost as many years as W&K have been alive, but he’s treated so poorly by the monarchs, IMO.
It might be that he asked to be replaced? He looks really fragile.
@Eurydice, of course, obviously if he asked Charles to pass it off to someone else, my entire comment can be disregarded. I was really only using Wimbledon as my frame of reference, and when that was taken away from him, he looked like he was a lot healthier than he does now.
I wish I could remember what was happening at the time, but it definitely seemed like it was given to Kate as a way to placate her.
ITA with everyone else that the pictures don’t look great, and if he asked Charles to start distributing his patronages to other people, then that changes things. I have no idea what the Duke’s health issues are, but he seems to want to keep up with some of his duties, and I feel like after so many years of service, he should be allowed to give them back when he feels ready.
Yes, looking at him, he seems like he would be in danger of losing his balance if a strong gust came along. He’s not entirely unfit for an 88-yr-old, but he’s also not blooming with health. Someone should be taking over for him, and as you stated, Edward seems likely to at least show up. This family is not bursting with veterans who can take over these duties.
I’m confused about the Wimbledon thing. I thought Elizabeth was the patron and she turned it over to Kate back in 2016 or 2017. And the Duke of Kent was the President of the Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, from which he stepped down a couple of years ago. Maybe the situation was who got to present the prizes? I think the Duke was presenting the prizes before Kate became patron.
I agree with you on Wimbledon, assuming he enjoyed doing it. The military guard stuff though, honestly I don’t think this is necessarily bad. Traveling, walking around like that, for 80+ person, that sh*t is exhausting! If there were a way to do the patronage or have him have a role that didn’t involve a bunch of walking, that might be nice for him. But, seriously, those pictures make me really uncomfortable for him.
The Duke (and the Duchess when she was working) were excellent patrons of Wimbledon. They always showed up.
He’s obviously in poor health but keeps carrying on because he has s strong sense of duty. IIRC he would keep going after Kate got the patronage.
Re the sash (royal Victorian Order) and the “Family Order” (special pin with Elizabeth’s portrait), the Brits have been weird about this and their practice does not follow other royal houses. Wives get an order with sash and, if the house uses them, a “Royal Family Order”, on marriage in other places – not years after.
(Other houses have also modernized usage so it’s Princess Firstname for married ins as well.)
I mean all of the royals wear a bunch of military uniforms and medals and I think it’s all insulting. So I don’t find Edward any more insulting than the rest. And yea, I know the rest of them did some sort of stint in the military while Edward didn’t but whatever. They all overdress in medals either way.
I don’t see why they would need to take away his patronages even if he is retired, he should be allowed to keep them until the end imo. It isn’t like these people visit or truly do anything for the patronages anyway. Wank go decade’s between visits with theirs, and aren’t there over 600 charities that have no Royal patrons after the Queen and Phillip’s deaths? Seems a little cruel to me.
@Cessily, same
Any remaining working royal in place of any of the duke of Kent’s patronages is kind of an insult. This man is obviously of the same generation and with the same sense of duty than his cousin the late queen. Taking out one by one his patronage is like assisting to the end of the monarchy.
i think they’re just slowly retiring him- something he obviously richly deserves. I think a reporter once asked him when he was going to retire, and he is supposed to have replied “when her majesty retires” so he is due.
Edward leaving the military was a big deal in gossip. I remember when it was announced and commented on in the news in California because it was so unusual.
The monarchy is so sad. Wow! Betty’s popularity really concealed a lot. That’s why, although I’m happy for all that’s happening for Harry and Meghan, my heart remains heavy for them. The weaker the leftovers are, the harder they will lean into the trolling.
‘Although defence sources say Edward is qualified for this promotion’???? This isn’t a ‘promotion’, it’s a military patronage. A gift. To him. A non-paying gift. It’s not military duty in any way, shape, or form–cereal-box sized row of unearned medals pinned to the Duke of Kent’s chest or not.
“Qualified for this promotion”
LMFAOOOOO
I have no idea whether those medals pinned to the Duke of Kent’s chest were earned — or not, but he did serve in the military for over 20 years, so he probably has some earned ones stashed away. It must be strange for someone with an extensive military career to see himself replaced by Edward — who probably IS the best choice out of the available options.
I checked, they’re the royal order of this or that, given to him by TQ; TQs Diamond Jubilee medal, TQs Golden Jubilee medal, TQs Platinum Jubilee medal;QEII Coronation medal, King George VI Coronation medal, KCIII Coronation medal, etc. I checked just to make sure, because I did note that 21 years of service. He was promoted to Field Marshall in ’93, the Army’s highest rank. Imagine that. 🙄
Very cool that you checked BeanieBean! It seems odd — to me — that he’d choose to wear those over (sorry for my ignorance re: proper vocabulary) more accomplishment types of medals. OTOH, it’s impossible for me to relate to how he might feel about the monarchy and his position in his family, so perhaps such commemorations matter even more? He must be one of the very few to have three coronation medals.
Wow, the bottom photo of the Duke of Kent – where you see him in profile – really looks like what I imagine Willy will look like in 30 years time. Some strong genes in that family.
Is this guy the husband of Princess Michael of the Blackamoor Brooch?
No this is the Duke, the wifey you mention is married to the younger brother, Prince Michael of Kent. The Duke’s wife was much loved and worked hard, but some time ago suffered some mental health issues and retired from public life. She is a gifted musician and taught music quietly in schools for many years. But she was a huge supporter of Wimbledon and gave out the woman’s trophy every year.
No, his brother, Michael is married to Princess Blackamoor. He’s married to Katherine Wolsey (sp?)! who retired from public life awhile ago.
I think the Duke of Kent and Princess Anne have a very strong resemblance. Absolutely not implying anything nefarious, but those Windsor genes are strong.
Prince Philip’s grandfather (George I of Greece) and QEII’s great-grandmother (Queen Alexandra) were brother and sister.
Prince’s Edward’s maternal great-grandfather was ……………George I of Greece! Prince’s Edward’s Paternal great-grandmother was Queen Alexandra
No wonder Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh looks the way he looks. The Duke of Edinburgh is a “spittin image” of the Duke of Kent.
AHHHHHHHHHH, sorry but fking what??? Another military patronage for a man who thinks a uniform is for show!!! It wasn’t just the Queen who was livid, it was prince Philip who wouldn’t speak to Edward for weeks he was so angry. This is just a further insult to every serving soldier and every veteran. How dare they give the man who couldn’t even get through fking basic another patronage and another fking chocolate box medal. Harry, your so better of away from this performative sht. I know you miss your military patronages, but not half as much as they miss you, a GENUINE soldier, not something out of Charlie wonkas chocolate soldier factory
🤣🤣Mary I was waiting for the chocolate medals from Charlie wonkas chocolate soldier factory comments. Every time I see a medal anywhere I think of you saying this.
Actually looks like Charlie’s grandpa from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
See, this lack of respect is just another cost of letting Harry and Meghan walk. Who would have been better, who would have been better respected, than Harry? The costs of letting Harry and Meghan go just keep mounting. Harry and Meghan are better off, but the RF is far worse off without them.
I actually thought this was Edward at first glance.
The stigma around stolen valor is so strong in the U.S. — it’s really seen as bottom-of-the-barrel shameful — that I will never be able to get over how casually the British royals pin on those fake medals.
The Duke (Prince Edward in his own right) of Kent ascended when his father. Prince George died in a plane crash. He was 6 years old. Duty has been pounded into him since forever. His Mother was also a Greek princess and her Mother was the grandaughter of Alexander II of Russia as well as a Greek princess. He is steeped in that royal life. His Duchess retired some time ago!
There’s nobody else to give the patronage to. My guess is that Harry would have gotten this or the one of those given to Camilla or Kate if he was still a working royal.
This poor guy. I have to say the Queen’s cousins really supported her for so many years. (Yes, we all know Princess Michael is a piece of work, not her.) I was surprised when the Duke of Gloucester walked in the cortege behind her casket as isn’t he close to 80 too? Yeah, the “slimmed down monarchy” has no one left.
Weird that the Wales don’t even do the fun thins. Bafta. Tennis.
Talk about elder abuse.
Does the firm have a pension plan, a 401k? Or do they expect everyone to work until they die?