This Royal Was Once Asked to Become King of a Small European Country and Refused

As Prince William prepares for his upcoming visit to Estonia on March 20, a little-known royal story has reemerged about another member of his family and an unexpected royal proposition.

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, Estonia sought to establish its new identity. While most newly liberated Eastern European nations embraced democracy, Estonia's Independent Royalist Party had different aspirations. After securing eight parliamentary seats in the country's first elections in 1994, the party embarked on an extraordinary mission—to transform Estonia into a constitutional monarchy.

Their royal candidate? Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son. Although he seems like an unusual choice, Edward was far enough down the line of British succession to make him pretty much off the table as its future King. He also wasn't married, although the prince was dating his now-wife, Sophie, at the time.

The Estonian group was so serious about Prince Edward that they actually contacted Buckingham Palace about the matter. The Sunday Telegraph reported in 1994 that party leadership made a formal approach to the palace, describing Edward as the "perfect" candidate for their vacant throne. The admiration was apparently "enormous," with the party indicating Estonia would be "honored" by his acceptance.

"Your background as an actor and television producer would be ideal to create the majesty a new king would require to combine ancient culture with modern political reality," the letter read, in part (via People).

Buckingham Palace acknowledged the suggestion as "a charming idea but a rather unlikely one," ending any possibility of King Edward of Estonia.

Instead, Estonia established itself as a parliamentary republic and eventually joined both NATO and the European Union. And rather than becoming a European king, Prince Edward went on to earn his late father Prince Philip's title, becoming the Duke of Edinburgh when King Charles granted his brother the honor on his 59th birthday.

And even though he's not a monarch, Prince Edward is now one of the hardest-working members of the Royal Family, even if he was once dubbed "Prince Brat" after a disastrous 1987 press conference for the show It's a Royal Knockout.

Prince William's upcoming two-day visit to Estonia marks his first official time visiting the nation—a country that, in a parallel universe, might have welcomed him as the nephew of their monarch rather than as a representative of the British crown.