Prince Edward gave himself an unusual two-word nickname after making the “disastrous” decision to make a TV show with the Royal Family. On June 15, 1987, members of the Royal Family were joined by a host of A-list stars to film a special edition of It’s a Knockout. Edward was joined by his brother Prince Andrew, sister Princess Anne, and Sarah Ferguson as team captains in a series of medieval-themed games.

Filmed at Alton Towers in North Staffordshire, The Grand Tournament - known more commonly as It’s a Royal Knockout - was a television success, watched by over 18 million people. It raised over £1.5 million for charity. The event’s defining moment came when Edward, addressing journalists in a press tent, said: "I can only hope that you've enjoyed yourselves... have you?"

Unbeknownst to the prince, they had not been allowed to watch the event and simply responded by nervously laughing. Edward responded with, "Well thanks for sounding so bloody enthusiastic," before getting up and walking out of the press conference.

At the time of It’s A Royal Knockout, Edward, who turns 61 today, was just carving a career in showbusiness having left the Marines. Arthur Edwards, who has spent years photographing the royals for The Sun, recalls a moment the following year when Edward was spotted carrying a box of PG Tips when he started work at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company.

Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive podcast, Edwards said: “Edward had just come out of the Marines and he wanted to go into showbusiness, I remember him turning up for work at one of the theatres in London with a box of teabags, he was going to be the tea boy for a while. He was good fun.

“It was difficult for him. He started the Marine course and it was difficult for him, it wasn’t for him, and he pulled out. I think that was quite brave of him.

 “He works very hard for the Royal Family, keeps a very low profile, but then he wanted to go into showbusiness and this was showbusiness. He put it on and it was a bit of a disaster.”

Despite Edward’s reputation taking a hammering after the TV show, which the late Queen Elizabeth II is said to have viewed as a “terrible mistake”, historian Dr Tessa Dunlop believes he is now well on his way to becoming a national treasure.

Speaking on Channel 5’s Edward: 60 Years a Prince, she said: “He’s come good has our Edward, the young ‘un, who had a few difficulties in his time, lest we forget. And now, I think he’s almost on track to become something of a national treasure, which no one would have predicted in the 1980s.”

Richard Kay, a close friend of Princess Diana, says Edward has now become a “safe pair of hands” for the Royal Family. He added: “It’s hard to believe that only a couple of decades ago Edward’s prospects of any kind of major role in the Royal Family seemed remote to say the least but he has come through. He has become the original safe pair of hands.”