The Royals Almost Gave Kate Middleton's Title to Duchess Sophie. She Got a Weirder One.

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• Prince Edward and his spouse Sophie are currently the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

• Before that title change from earlier this year, they were Earl and Countess of Wessex.

• But as it turns out, Sophie almost had the title that Kate Middleton ended up receiving on her wedding day.

Prince Edward is probably the most under-discussed member of his generation of Royals—likely because he wasn't destined to be king, the subject of a kidnapping attempt, or palling around with human traffickers. Though there have been some minor controversies surrounding Edward and his longtime spouse, Sophie, they pale compared to the rest of his family. Indeed, Prince Edward is essentially just a chill, if quirky, kind of dude.

And as for just how quirky, we've got a story here, first reported by The Mirror, about what title his wife Sophie was first set to inherit and the odd reason why it went a different way.

In much the same manner that most of us receive gifts on our wedding day—think sentimental objects or appliances or cufflinks of pigs getting married—Royal Family members are gifted titles.

Sophie is the Duchess of Edinburgh, and her husband is Edward the Duke. But that title is only recent as of Edward's 59th birthday, which occurred this past March. (The Duke of Edinburgh title had previously been held by his father, Prince Philip, and briefly his brother, King Charles III).

Before that, Sophie was the Countess of Wessex, and her husband, the Earl of Wessex. But that occurred despite the plans of Buckingham Palace. "She did almost end up with another title," The Mirror reports, "and it was the same one the now Princess of Wales was awarded on her wedding day."

According to their source, "Edward was originally going to be offered the title Duke of Cambridge, which was eventually given to Prince William." That would have made Sophie the Duchess of Cambridge.

So where did the Wessex titles come from? After all, the title had previously only existed from around 1020 to 1066 AD. Well, the reason is—we're not kidding here—a Best Picture-winning movie.

"Prince Edward was going to be the Duke of Cambridge," the report notes, "but he watched the film Shakespeare in Love, which had a character called the Earl of Wessex. He liked the sound of it and asked the Queen if he could have that instead."

Of course, it's not surprising Edward was drawn to the film since his love of theater is well-documented. And some might forget that Shakespeare in Love was a massive movie in its day, beating out Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, The Thin Red Line, and even Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture at the 71st Academy Awards in 1999.

But now that we know movies can influence official royal titles, we can't help but wish Prince Edward had instead seen and fallen in love with a different 1998 movie: The Big Lebowski. Picture it, he could have asked for his title to be His Dudeness, or Duder, or El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

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