Prince Edward

1. Prince Edward, aka the Earl of Wessex, is in trouble after a young man rang his dad to say he was being stalked at university.

2. The son was Prince William, his father, Prince Charles, and those lurking in the shadows, a film crew making a TV show - the A-Z of royalty - for William's uncle Edward.

3. It is easy to be cruel about Edward: he was born into a life of immense wealth and privilege and, as a fully-fledged grown up, his most significant contribution to British life was coming up with the infamous royal It's a knockout.

4. But he spent three years in the Royal Marines (no place for softies) and - eschewing a life of leisure - set up a TV company 1993 to produce high-quality programmes and prove he could cut in the real world doing his own thing.

5. Under Edward's leadership, Ardent has made a series about his great-uncle, Edward VIII. Other projects include Forbidden pleasures, The world's most romantic places and When cameras cross the line, a timely examination of whether news gathering methods can be justified in the public interest.

6. Though the promise of quality programmes was called into question when Ardent teamed up with Channel 5 to produce a documentary - X-Pats - exposing the sex lives of Britons living abroad.

7. Others also accused him of cashing in on his family connections to make programmes such as Windsor restored, England's royal warships and the ever-popular Crown & country, a series where an insider - the earl himself - brings the most popular British tourist hotspots to life with "intriguing stories of kings and queens".

8. And those who really want to put the boot in point out that Ardent had lost £1.7m by 1999. Only this year did it succeed in turning a profit - £30,000 before tax.

9. Still, it is a surprise Edward is not universally loved, as he once said himself: "The British hate anyone who succeeds." (Though he claims he was misinterpreted.)

10. Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones in June 1999. She was this year accused of using her royal contacts to drum up business for her PR firm, RJH.