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King Charles has not made Prince Edward the Duke of Edinburgh because he is saving the title for Princess Charlotte, The Mail learned on Sunday.

The revelation comes after months of speculation as to why the King has withheld the title from his younger brother, who had been expected to inherit the Dukedom after his father’s death last year.

A source said: ‘Discussions are under way, but the favoured outcome for the King is that this title ought to go to Princess Charlotte.

‘It would be a fitting way to remember the Queen – who, of course, had the title Duchess of Edinburgh – and a way for His Majesty to honour the line of succession.’

As the Prince of Wales’s second child, Charlotte is third in line to the throne, after her father Prince William and brother Prince George.

When the Princess of Wales was expecting her first child, the rules of Royal primogeniture were changed to allow a girl born to the couple the same rights as a boy.

In the event, William and Kate’s first child was Prince George, who was born in 2013. But the new rules meant Princess Charlotte’s position at birth in 2015 was not affected by the arrival of her younger brother Prince Louis in 2018.

The title of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh is one of the most senior in the Royal Family.