Prince Edward pictured alongside TV stars as he receives special prize to celebrate Queen

Prince Edward was the guest of honour at the Radio Times' annual Covers Party on Tuesday night.

By Emily Ferguson, Digital Royal Editor

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attended a star-studded event at the Claridge's Ballroom in London to celebrate those who have featured on the front cover of the Radio Times in the previous 12 months. The Earl of Wessex, the late Queen's youngest son, was presented with two commemorative Radio Times covers featuring Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the annual event.

The late Queen was featured on the cover of Radio Times 53 times, more than any other person in Radio Times’ 100-year history, including 10 as Princess Elizabeth and 43 times during her 70-year reign.

The two commemorative covers included the first ever to feature the then Princess Elizabeth in October 1940 and Radio Times’ Platinum Jubilee cover from May 2022, with an image of the Monarch by David Bailey.

Broadcaster Kirsty Young presented Edward with the special covers.

Speaking ahead of the presentation, she said: “This year marks the 100th anniversary of Radio Times and throughout that century Britain and the world have changed, in some ways beyond recognition, but for majority of that time one thing remained constant.

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Prince Edward attended the Radio Times Cover Party on Tuesday evening (Image: Radio Times Cover Party )

prince edward radio times cover party

Prince Edward was presented with two commemorative covers (Image: Radio Times Cover Party)

"Elizabeth II was the first sovereign of the television age. A medium she mastered so completely, that by the last year of her life she was as comfortable performing a two-hander with Paddington Bear as she was delivering her annual Christmas message

"In 2011 when the then Director General of the BBC presented Queen Elizabeth with a framed presentation of all her Radio Times covers she said she was struck by the record it provided not just of big ceremonial occasions but also of her family’s life.

"She was, reportedly, a keen tv viewer and, if the evidence of a photograph once used in a feature in the magazine is to be believed, a reader of the Radio Times.

"In September I was privileged to be broadcasting for the BBC, and as we brought the television coverage of the funeral to an end, I remarked that the “Queen made history. She was history” and it’s our good fortune that all her reign was captured on film and in so many memorable and era-defining images that we can enjoy for generations to come.”

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The Queen first featured on the cover of the Radio Times in 1940 (Image: Radio Times Cover Party)

prince edward radio times cover party

Prince Edward with the cast from the BBC's Call the Midwife (Image: Radio Times Cover Party)

The event, hosted by Sir Lenny Henry, was attended by cover stars from across the decades as the Radio Times prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in September.

Past stars included Monty Python’s Sir Michael Palin, Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson, Wimbledon and Question of Sport presenter, Sue Barker, Doctor Who’s Peter Davison and Steven Moffat, Have I Got News for You regulars Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, newsreader Angela Rippon, and Sir Lenny Henry, Richard Curtis and Emma Freud, marking their work for Comic Relief.

Guests also included cover stars from 2022, including Ashley Jensen, Diane Morgan, Lizzy Yarnold, Jo Whiley, Warren Brown, Professor Brian Cox, Jenny Agutter, Heidi Thomas, Phyllis Logan, Lesley Nicol, Dame Denise Lewis, Douglas Henshall, Alison O' Donnell, Nadiya Buchkova, Richie Anderson, James Bye, Damian Lewis, Dafne Keen and Louis Theroux, plus the cast of Call the Midwife and contestants from the Great British Bake Off.

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prince edward radio times cover party

The event was hosted by Sir Lenny Henry (Image: Radio Times Cover Party)

The Radio Times was launched by the BBC on September 28 1923 and is the longest-running radio and TV listings publication in the world.

It has documented all the major moments in UK broadcasting and society over the last 100 years, including the birth of both radio and television, the Second World War, the Queen's Coronation, the Moon landings and the advent of colour television.

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