Dubbed the royals’ ‘secret weapon’, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is said to have acted as peacemaker between the Windsors, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, gave a savage response when asked if she and Prince Edward would step up in the wake of Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Prince Andrew stepping back from royal duties, one commentator has claimed. Recognised by some commentators as a key member of the Royal Family with a reputation as being hardworking, Sophie is reported to have issued the eight word response: “What did people think we were doing beforehand?”
The blunt response was first revealed in royal author Katie Nicholl’s 2022 book, The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown.
Ms Nicholl remarked the Duchess of Edinburgh receives less media attention than the Duchess of Sussex because she blazes a more ordinary trail.
The approach appears to have paid dividends for Sophie, 59, who joined the Royal Family in June 1999 when she married the late Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son, Prince Edward, who recently announced he would be taking a short break from royal duties.
A full-time, working member of the Windsor family, Sophie is patron of more than 70 charities and organisations, championing women’s equality, agriculture, British sport and disabled people, according to Buckingham Palace.
Dubbed the Windsors’ “secret weapon”, an unnamed royal aide has previously said of Sophie: “Since she became a working member of the family she has worked tirelessly for each and every cause she is passionately involved in.”
Before joining the royals, Sophie worked in the public relations industry. She worked for the PR firm Maclaurin Communication and Media before setting up her own company, R-J H, with business partner Murray Harkin in 1996.
On her engagement to Prince Edward, the then Sophie Rhys-Jones made it clear she wanted to continue her career after she tied the knot.
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Sophie went on to become a member of the late Queen’s inner circle, further burnishing her reputation as Elizabeth II’s favourite daughter-in-law, ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah Ferguson, whose marriages to King Charles and Prince Andrew ended in divorce.
The Duchess of Edinburgh once called Her Late Majesty Elizabeth II “mama” in a speech, hinting at her closeness to the late Queen.
After Sophie and Edward’s wedding at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the couple went on to have two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex.
Her career outside the Royal Family ended in 2001 when she described the late Queen as an “old dear” in an interview with a reporter disguised as a sheikh who she viewed as a potential client.
Sophie has admitted the transition from a working woman to a working royal wasn’t plain sailing, commenting: “I had to take a really big step back and go, OK, they want you to be the icing on the cake, the person to come in to thank their volunteers and funders, not necessarily to tell them how to run their communications plan.”
The Duchess of Edinburgh has been tipped for a greater role under King Charles’s reign, due to her growing popularity. She ranks seventh in YouGov’s latest poll on the most popular royals, behind Elizabeth II, Prince William, Princess Anne, Princess Kate, Zara Phillips and King Charles.