Career

In 1987 Edward devised the idea of the The Grand Charity Knockout Tournament.  The charity event was seen as a great idea, as shown by the fact that fifty celebrities and four royals were willing to come abroad.  Edward was involved in everything, from the customs to cameras.  The two hour programme raised over a million pounds for charity and continues to still today.  The one matter that Edward failed to pay attention to was the media.  They had been kept away from the tournament to safeguard the rights of the sponsors and were growing increasingly frustrated.  Edward arrived at the press conference to ask the press what they had thought about the tournament, tired after the long day.  As the press complained about their day and of missing their deadlines, Edward failed to understand the confusion and walked out of the press conference.  The incident was all the furious press reported on. 

In 1988 Edward joined Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group.  He was anxious to work his way up from the bottom of the company and even noted that he was looking forward to chipping in with the tea making.  Lloyd Webber promoted him to Overseas Coordinator and he helped to get many productions ready for Broadway.  Two years later Edward was among the group that left Lloyd Webber with Biddy Hayward to from Theatre Division.  Edward served as Technical Director, but the recession closed many West End Shows and Theatre Division closed in 1991.  Edward were once again unemployed.  The Duke of Edinburgh advised him to follow a career in accountancy or management training.  Edward however was adamant to continue his efforts into show business.

In 1993 Prince Edward established Ardent Productions with Malcolm Cockran and Eben Foggitt.  Edward started at the time that he had no intention of making royal programmes as it would give the wrong impression.  Although he intension were honourable, it was unworkable.  Royal programmes are the bread and butter of any British production house, especially due to the hungry American market.  Television companies are also likely to approach people whom are knowledgeable in the field to produce them.  Royal programmes coming from a royal would thus be in high demand.  This can be seen in the way the Ardent documentaries were viewed.  A soap, Annie's Bar was unsuccessful, while historical and royal documentaries were highly sort after.  The Edward on Edward documentary reportedly won Ardent a  two million pounds contract from CBC for further historical documentaries.  It should be noted that series made by Ardent contained nothing that any other production house was unable to gain access to.  Edward thus became successful at making documentaries about what he knew.  His success did not sit well with the media, many of whom were owned by rival production companies.  In 2001 the Press accused him of purposely intruding on Prince William at St. Andrew University, Scotland.  Although Edward had no knowledge of Ardent's intention to shot the footage, as chairman of Ardent he took the blame.  Edward admitted that the Ardent crew had in error been at the university and handed in the footage.  The Media Complaints Commission viewed the tapes and agreed that no images of William appeared on them and Ardent was fined accordingly.  The media however continued to report that Edward was hounding William at university and that his television company had asked students for information.  In 2002 Edward decided to retire from his efforts to make a successful company after persistent media reports that Edward was trading in on his status as a royal prevented the company from working and was placing great strain on Edward.