William has great plans for ‘secret weapon’ Sophie
The Duchess of Edinburgh is turning 60 but life will only get busier for the loyal ‘outsider’ doted on by the late Queen
As the Duchess of Sussex returns to Netflix this week, cooking and entertaining in a new series, With Love, Meghan, another duchess is planning a low-key approach to a milestone in the less glossy surrounds of Surrey.
The Duchess of Edinburgh will be 60 on January 20, a birthday she will spend “privately” at Bagshot Park, the home she shares with Prince Edward, her husband of more than 25 years, and their three dogs: a cocker spaniel called Mole, and two black labradors, Teal and Teasel.
Their children, Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and James, Earl of Wessex, 17, will send birthday wishes - she from St Andrews University, where she is in her third year studying English, and he from boarding school in Oxfordshire, where he is studying for A-levels next summer.
Beyond the customary acknowledgements on the royal social media channels, Sophie’s seventh decade will be marked with little fanfare, which is just how she likes it.
Sophie has long been considered one of the monarchy’s “safest pair of hands”. Doted on by the late Queen for her loyalty and unflashy approach to royal life, the fourth-hardest-working member of the family - after, in order, Princess Anne, the King and Edward - she clocked up 257 official engagements at home and abroad last year.
She has come to embody the “keep calm and carry on” mantra the monarchy desperately needs after being shaken by family feuds, Charles and the Princess of Wales’s cancer diagnoses and the continuing scandal around the Duke of York.
William and Kate are big fans of Sophie and Edward, and vice versa. “They get on very well,” said a Palace source. Insiders believe that under the next reign, William V will be eager for his aunt and uncle to play a more prominent role in public life.
Ingrid Seward, the editor of Majesty magazine and Edward’s biographer, said: “With Sophie, it’s not all about her. She was one of the first ‘outsiders’ who came into the royal family and realised it’s about all of ‘them’ working together as a team. She really gets that and doesn’t want praise heaped on her.”
That was evident last year when Sophie returned from a visit to Ukraine in April as part of her longstanding work supporting victims of sexual violence in conflict. She met with survivors at a UN centre in Kyiv, visited the mass graves of those killed by Russian troops in the suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, and shared the UK’s solidarity with President Zelensky and his wife, Olena, handing over a letter of support from the King.
Writing for The Sunday Times after her visit, Sophie observed: “Many people have said how brave or courageous I was for going. I am neither. The brave people are those who have endured extreme violence and survived. The courageous are those who have reported the crimes committed against them.”
Although the duchess “officially” visited Ukraine at the request of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, a friend who discussed the trip with her says the government was reluctant. The visit would not have happened but for the duchess’s quiet determination. “The government tried to stop her going to Ukraine, but she wasn’t having any of it,” said the friend. A former courtier who worked closely with Sophie said: “She’s got backbone and good instincts.” Aides say the duchess plans to continue visiting at least two conflict zones a year.
A former Palace aide who knows Sophie well said: “She’s tough, she knows her own mind and will argue her corner. There was always a danger people underestimated her but she stood up for herself, for Edward, for them as a couple.” Recalling their diary meetings when engagements for the year ahead were planned, the aide said: “Edward would say OK to most things, but she would ask, ‘What are we doing that for? What’s the value in it?’ She wanted to know what they were doing was actually useful.”
As patron of more than 70 charities and organisations, she is increasingly known for her work highlighting sexual violence in war-torn countries - far from traditional royal territory. She is also passionate about preventing avoidable sight-loss and promoting eye health: Louise was born a month premature with esotropia, a condition that makes the eye turn inwards towards the nose, for which she has had surgery.
Since committing herself to the sexual violence cause in 2019, after researching the taboo issue and resolving to get more “cut-through” for the subject, Sophie has travelled to Kosovo, Iraq, Colombia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad, to hear from survivors.
During a visit to South Sudan in 2020, accompanied by The Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent, Christina Lamb, Sophie explained her motivation: “If I can prod the consciences of those who may be able to do more to try and prevent it, and can help get justice for survivors, I will do everything I can.”
Quizzed on whether she genuinely shared the closest of bonds with the late Queen, as many reported, Sophie replied: “I think so. I hope so.” It wasn’t always so. Elizabeth was left underwhelmed at one of their first encounters at Windsor in 1993, in the early days of Edward and Sophie’s courtship. With a successful career in public relations and a solid middle-class background - her father, Christopher Rhys-Jones, was a tyre company executive and her late mother, Mary, a secretary - Sophie was not the typical blue-blooded girlfriend that princes brought home.
Seward says: “Sophie wasn’t from that world. She’d never encountered anything like the royal family and was very nervous, shy and tongue-tied when she met the Queen, who as a result thought she was a bit dull and told a friend: ‘You wouldn’t notice her in a crowd.’
“But the more she saw of her, the more she liked her, especially as she made a big effort with Prince Philip, learning to ride, taking up carriage driving. The Queen always liked people who could deal with her husband. Sophie might be low-key but she’s a lot smarter than people give her credit for.”
The Queen also respected Sophie and Edward’s decision not to use the HRH title for their children. They can decide to use them from the age of 18, but Sophie previously said she thought this was “highly unlikely”. Louise has not opted to use the title and James is not expected to when he turns 18 in December.
Sophie also previously described how they tried to maintain as “normal” a home life as possible. “[The children] go to friends for sleepovers and parties,” she said. “At weekends we do lots of dog walking and stay with friends. I guess not everyone’s grandparents live in a castle, but where you are going is not the important part, or who they are.”
Her desire to give her children the option of pursuing careers outside the royal fold is significant, given that her short-lived attempt to combine running her own public relations firm with being a working member of the royal family ended in scandal. In 2001, she was recorded by a reporter posing as a potential client describing the prime minister, Tony Blair, as “President Blair”, his wife, Cherie, as “horrid, absolutely horrid” - and calling the Queen “the old dear”.
Sophie and Edward’s solid marriage was a personal joy for the late Queen, who gave them Bagshot Park when they wed in June 1999 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Edward is the only one of her four children not to have divorced. In a speech in March ahead of her husband’s 60th birthday, Sophie gave a few clues to why the partnership works. “He has been my guide and shown me the way over the years,” she said. “He has given me much help and advice - not always taken, I admit - and his knowledge and instincts honed over decades of service are invaluable. I think we make quite a good team. I am so proud of the man he is. He is the best of fathers, the most loving of husbands, and still is my best friend.”
A source who knows them both well said: “There is a lot of strength in their personal and working relationship and a lot of humour too.”
A source who has known the royal family for years said: “Sophie and Edward were overshadowed because bigger stars in the family came along, and I think at times she did mind that. But she was always pragmatic about their place in the hierarchy, unlike some others in the family. The King and Queen are much more understanding and aware of the role they have been playing, and as they’ve come more into the spotlight, the rest of the family have appreciated that more. The [late] Queen always knew it. Sophie is a proper asset.”
The Times
