According to a royal observer, Prince Edward should have been named patron of the National Theatre.

“I feel like it should have gone to Prince Edward,” Roberta Fiorito, co-host of the Royally Obsessed podcast, remarked.

“He resigned from the Royal Marines to pursue a career in the theatre.”

“He left because he wasn’t sure whether it was his life calling, and he actually did a lot for the theatrical community — he spent a lot of his life as an amateur actor.”

Ms Fiorito further speculated that this change may be a hint of Prince Charles’s slimming-down monarchy strategy, which is already underway.

She said: “There’s also this talk, probably just rumours, about him not getting the Duke of Edinburgh title when Charles becomes king, that he might not give it to him, so it feels like Charles is already slimming down the monarchy.”