Prince William title snub: How William received title meant for Queen’s son Prince Edward
Amalie Henden
PRINCE WILLIAM received a new title from the Queen when he married Kate Middleton in 2011, but the peerage was at first meant for William's uncle Prince Edward.
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Express.co.uk
But the title was actually offered to another member of the Royal Family before it was granted to the second in line to the throne - his uncle Prince Edward.

Edward, who is the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, was reportedly offered the dukedom in 1999, when he married Sophie Rhys-Jones.

Instead, Edward was created Earl of Wessex, a rank lower than Duke, while his wife became Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Younger sons of the monarch have customarily been given dukedoms at the time of their marriage, and experts had suggested the former royal dukedom of Cambridge as the most likely to be granted to Prince Edward.

According to the Sunday Telegraph he was drawn to the historic title of Earl of Wessex after watching the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, in which a character with the title Lord Wessex is played by Colin Firth.

He couldn't be made the Duke of Wessex as there is no such dukedom in modern Britain.

Edward and Sophie’s children Louise and James also have titles out of the ordinary.

As the son of the current monarch, Edward could have chosen to make his daughter a Princess and his son a Prince, however, he and Sophie opted for titles further down the rank of British peerages.