Prince Edward Headed for Altared State

Perhaps the third prince’s marriage will be charmed.

Certainly that’s the wish of the British royal family, which has announced the engagement of Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son, to his longtime girlfriend, Sophie Rhys-Jones.

The last of the Windsor siblings to wed, Prince Edward hopes to be the first to make a success of it. The marriages of Princes Charles and Andrew, as well as Princess Anne’s first match, all ended in divorce.

Asked by an unabashed British press whether he thought they could break the royal jinx on matrimony, Edward said, “If anybody is going to get married, I think that they think they are going to get it right.”

The prince and Rhys-Jones are off to a good start. The thirtysomething professionals have been a couple for five years already, not living together, they insist, but developing a strong bond.

“We are the best of friends, and we happen to love each other very much,” Edward said, as the two showed off her diamond engagement ring at a photo call in the gardens of St. James’ Palace.

It was a deeply sentimental remark compared with the prenuptial declaration by Prince Charles that he loved his bride-to-be, Lady Diana Spencer, “whatever love is. . . .”

Edward, known as the royal rebel, is unlike his older brothers. He has eschewed royal tradition to live a more ordinary life, refusing to serve in the military and taking a regular job. Fifth in line to the throne, he dropped the title prince and calls himself Edward Windsor. He has his own television production company called Ardent.

Rhys-Jones also bears little resemblance either to the shy 19-year-old whom Charles married in 1981 or to Andrew’s rambunctious ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

“None of Diana’s chic and none of Sarah’s cheek,” the British media say cattily.

But Rhys-Jones also is more mature and down-to-earth. She is a media-savvy public relations executive with a middle-class, Middle England background. Her father is a former car salesman-turned-tire dealer, and he is still married to her mother--a unique feature for royal daughters-in-law.

Although she is not an aristocrat, Rhys-Jones has learned royal protocol during her five-year relationship with Edward. That gives her a leg up on what lies ahead--intense media scrutiny and a mother-in-law who is the queen.

Rhys-Jones said the idea of joining the royal family is “slightly nerve-racking in many ways.” But she added, “I am fully aware of the responsibilities and commitments, and I think now I am ready for it.”

No fairy-tale fantasies there. And no cathedral wedding. The couple hopes for a family ceremony at the smallish St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in the late spring or summer.

Great, says the press, which also does not believe in fairy tales anymore.

“Let Elton John fall silent. May the muse desert the poet laureate. Let the couple slip away unnoticed for a short honeymoon and return to their everyday lives,” the Guardian, a left-wing newspaper, said in an editorial. “God bless, and may you live happily ever after.”