Edward was married in 1999. June 19th to be exact.
It was the biggest Royal event of my entire life. Hey, I wasn't old enough to care about Charles and Diana, and while I was old enough to care about Andrew and Sarah, for some reason, royalty wasn't on my list of priorities then.
But now...
Just because Edward is married doesn't mean we can't take a look into his past and talk about his ex-girlfriends. Sophie, I'm sure, knows everything, because husbands and wives don't keep secrets from each other, and besides, they dated for five years before getting married.
If she doesn't know by now, she never will.
And how's this for him being a great guy...he's still friends with all of his ex's.
How many of the rest of us can say that?
While rumors about his sexuality have added to the pressure on Edward, the real problem is, he's the monarch's son. It's not very easy to find a girl who is more interested in him than in his status. Sophie seems to be that kind of girl, but others have proven they just want to know him because he's a Prince.
Don't get me wrong, though. Edward has enjoyed relationships in the past, before he even knew Sophie.
As Peter Townend (not to be confused with Peter Townsend, old flame of Princess Margaret), veteran social consultant to Tatler (why oh why...?) once observed: "Prince Edward has always preferred girls with interesting careers. The Queen would have preferred him to marry someone titled, but Edward has never been interested in the deb scene. His circle is theatrical." (Gibbs & Smith, p. 83).
I'm not going to be evil and go into details on his past relationships, because the only one that matters now is the one he's got with Sophie. But I will tell you that his first girlfriend was named Shelley and he met her while at Gordonstoun. They dated for two years before it fizzled out, so to speak. Of course, she's not the only one I'm going to mention, but if you want details, get the book.
He is not like his brother Andrew, who was given the nickname "Randy Andy" by the tabloid press. Rather, Edward has never gone in for public relationships, he prefers to keep it quiet and not have everyone know everything about his girlfriends. Which is probably why it's been so hard to find information about Sophie up until this past year when her biography was published. Edward has, however, always been popular with girls. In an age where the old come-on line was "What's your sign?", Edward had a different approach. He would ask a girl to guess the color of his eyes. They always gave the same answer, blue, because at a glance they are. But after hearing their answer, he would ask them to take a closer look, because it appears that the corner of his left eye is, in fact, green. This probably got the girls laughing and feeling more comfortable around the young prince.
Edward's second major "affair" was with Romy Adlington when he was at Cambridge. Again, if you want details, buy the book. Or else ask the Sunday Mirror for any archived articles they have, because trust me, this girl talked. I'm not sure she should have, but she did. I don't have anything to say about Romy, except she was 17 when she started seeing Edward and they dated for about eighteen months, and even then, Edward was very into keeping things as private and under wraps as possible. Hey you gotta admire this man. You really do. How would you like it if everyone had their cameras in your private business? You wouldn't like it any more than he does. And he does something about it. He tries so hard. Gotta love him for that.
One of Edward's close girl friends was Eleanor Weightman, who he met at Cambridge as well. Rumors did fly, I've read, but in truth they were good friends, who turned out to support each other at sporting events, and studied together. Nothing major. As I've always said every guy needs at least one good girl friend and every girl needs at least one good guy friend. It helps in life, it really does.
I think the third really major affair was with Georgia May, a girl who Edward met at Cowes in 1986. They dated for two years (again, buy the book for the details...yeah, I'm really pushing this book; it's definitely a good investment if you want information!)
Edward is still friends with many of the girls he was reported to be dating before he met Sophie. I consider this to be a good thing, it shows that he's smart and has good taste in both friends and girlfriends. Aside from the one's I've mentioned already, he is friends with Ulrika Jonsson, Anastasia Cook, Anwen Roberts, Gail Greenough and Ruthie Henshall. Each of them was reported to be dating the Prince, but each on is and has always been friends with him. No biggie.
I promise.