PRINCE Edward will turn his mind to marriage once Ardent, his film production company, is established. ‘I want to concentrate on my career now,’ he says crustily. ‘But this is not what this interview is about.’ Can he not develop his career and marry? ‘I’ve got to make sure we have a track record before turning my mind to other things.’ Say, in two years time? Edward Windsor – as he is known at work – laughs. ‘Ask the commissioning editors.’ Last week he said that it would be 1996 before he knew whether his business was a success or failure.

We meet in his airy Charlotte Street offices, all grey and cream corporate good taste. There’s a video entryphone at street level and electronic security for the office. ‘Sorry, Edward’s on the telephone,’ says the receptionist, breezily. Fifteen minutes later HRH appears, in black stripy shirt with no jacket, cords, clubby tie, chunky signet ring with E beneath a crown and militarily cropped but thinning hair. He has slight shoulders, a clean living, kindly face, strong handshake and direct eye contact.

He carries my coffee to his office and apologises profusely. Sorry he’s late. Sorry about the short notice for the interview. Sorry about the mess in his office. He starts his tape recorder and appears surprisingly nervous. He exhales after questions, touches his eyebrow, fiddles with his fingers, holds his earlobe or crosses his arms defensively. I tell him I’m nervous. ‘That’s all right,’ he replies, consolingly. And how should I address him? ‘How would you like to address me?’ He laughs.

We have 30 minutes and the rules are that we must talk about Ardent, which he set up 15 months ago and of which he’s joint managing director, and about real tennis: specifically the 1995 TNT Express International Real Tennis Team Trophy, on Wire TV on 17 May – the first of his productions to be screened, in the latter stages of negotiation with Channel 4, and the project he’s taking to the annual television fair in Cannes on Friday. I am to be allowed one stray question.

OK. How did he feel when he was dropped from the Civil List in 1992? ‘It was like a kick in the teeth. People say ‘Oh, well, it was deserved, what did you ever do?’ he replies. “But you have only to look at the Court Circular records – the publicity was unbalanced. But once in this particular job, born into it, you can’t get rid of it. I still do the same work. But now I have to find other ways to fund my existence.’

Does he pay for any of his charity work privately? ‘Yes. I have to. But it’s not a satisfactory way of proceeding. It opens up the possibilities of straying beyond what people might regard as right and proper and being susceptible to commercial forces. Before I was in nobody’s pocket. But that’s not the subject we’re here to talk about …’

What is his response to the monarchy being pushed to justify itself and pay tax? ‘It’s not a position which the monarchy deserves. But it is far too noble to be drawn into that particular battle.’

EDWARD is in an impossible position – caught between trying to be an ordinary person and being a royal. ‘I’ve been living a schizophrenic existence for a very long time,’ he says, ‘so it’s nothing unusual for me.’ Does he really believe he’s normal? ‘I would never describe myself as quite ordinary or normal.’ He laughs fully. ‘But I don’t see myself as removed from the mass of people. I feel I’m part of it. I walk down the street, I use the roads like everybody else, go into shops and move around town hopefully without causing any interference to anybody else. We’re out there in the community, living and experiencing the lives of – or lives very similar to – a lot of other people.’ And he has a detective with him now? ‘Yes.’

Edward is accommodating – critics might say weak or compliant – in answering questions he doesn’t wish to discuss. He picks his words carefully, abrupt breaks between them, speaking with the same inflection as Prince Charles. Often he stops himself, as if to prevent himself saying something indiscreet.

His problem has been his search for a role in life. ‘I’m in a slightly more unusual position than most. But I believe I’ve managed to work out both roles in a reasonable way without causing any embarrassment to anybody.’ He had a crisis when he left the Royal Marines, against the wishes of Prince Philip. ‘It was obviously a traumatic period for anybody – for everybody – and wasn’t an easy decision to make.’ He resolved his conflict in the glare of front-page publicity. ‘We’ve gone well off the subject …’ He sighs, then coughs. ‘Unfortunately, the media has to be taken into account when making decisions. But you have to be convinced in your own mind that what you’re doing is right. I mean, whose life is it?’ he asks, heatedly. Is he a frustrated actor? ‘It might have been a job that I would have liked to have done. But it would have been totally impractical.’ He laughs, as he does often – sometimes obligingly, to be friendly, and at other times defensively. ‘So it really wasn’t worth continuing. Production is behind the scenes. It’s quite another thing to be out at the front regularly.’ Because of the possibilities of ridicule? The embarrassment if he were resting? ‘A whole lot of reasons, and those are personal.’

He is the first child of a British monarch to have entered business. ‘It was bound to happen before too long,’ he says, mock stoically. What qualifies him for the job? And what are his strengths and weaknesses? ‘Hummmph. My greatest strength and weakness is basically who I am. I can get my foot in the door – but after that I’ve got to be better than everybody else. There are people out there who are very nervous of commissioning me because of how it might reflect on them.’

At television parties he walks up to people and says: ‘Hi, I’m Edward Windsor … Most people are perfectly warm. I’ve been in the market place long enough for it to be no longer a shock seeing a face out of context.” Why doesn’t he make royal programmes? Exhales. ‘That would give the wrong impression to the market place and everybody else.’ He speaks definitely. ‘And because the people are alive, they are here and present. It would be intrusive. And I don’t want to trade on that particular association any more than I intend trading on my title.’

He has a high-calibre team and five projects underway – including a BBC2 motoring show and a series promoting Commonwealth ties. What did he learn from Andrew Lloyd Webber during his time at the Really Useful Company? ‘He taught me how you make money out of the business.’ How? He sighs. ‘In terms of documentaries it is quantity, in terms of drama it is quality. I’ll be shot down for saying that.’

HOW successful is the company? ‘We’re just turning the corner now.’ What will it mean to him if Ardent is a failure? ‘That’s a hypothetical question.’ And one that he won’t consider? ‘Well, I’m certainly not going to make any comment.’