Prince Edward’s wife Sophie stepped out of the shadow of underage royals and revealed herself as Queen Elizabeth’s ‘royal rock’.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex (56), is married to the youngest son of Queen Prince Edward (57) and is told by royal insiders that she shares a close bond with her majesty.
“She trusts and trusts the Queen in a way I could not tell the Duchess of Cambridge or the Duchess of Cornwall,” an insider told the UK’s Express. “She’s like another daughter to her majesty – they’re so close.”
One court official explained: “If you ask who Her Majesty’s favorite child is, it’s not one of them, it’s her daughter-in-law.”
The queen is often said to ask her daughter-in-law to accompany her in the car before going to church, as she ‘finds Sophie’s presence soothing’.
Sophie was the first family member to speak publicly about the death of her father-in-law, Prince Philip. At a special church service in honor of the Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie described his last moments emotionally.
“It was right for him. It was so soft, “she said. “It was just like someone grabbed him by the hand and left. Very, very peaceful, and that’s all you want for someone, isn ‘t it? ‘
Prince Edward dated Sophie Rhys-Jones, who grew up in a middle-class family, in 1994. Her father is a retired sales director for a tire and rubber business and her mother was a charity worker and secretary. Her godfather is actor Thane Bettany, her father’s stepbrother and the father of WandaVision actor Paul Bettany.
Sophie’s pre-royal career was in PR, and so she met Prince Edward. The two dated in 1993 and were married in June 1999.
But, like many members of the royal family, she was not immune to scandal. In 2001, she was started by a pony newspaper posing as an Arab sheikh who allegedly sued her PR company. In their secretly recorded conversation, Sophie calls the then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie, “absolutely awful, awful, awful.”
The following year it was announced that Sophie would retire from her ‘day job’ to concentrate more on royal activities and social involvement.
Sophie and Edward’s path to parenthood was not easy. In 2001, Sophie was found to be suffering from a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy that required emergency surgery. Two years later, she became a mother when she gave birth prematurely to daughter Louise via an emergency caesarean section following a placental abruption, causing mother and baby severe blood loss.
Because of the premature birth, Louise was born with esotropia, an eye condition in which one or both eyes turn inward. She underwent two surgeries to repair the problem. In 2007, Sophie was born to her son James, Viscount Severn, who at 13 was the youngest attendant at his grandfather’s funeral service.
Sophie is clearly no diva: in a cost-cutting measure in 2012, her full-time police protection details were cut off and are now only used when she is on royal service. Edward was said to be concerned about the decision, but his wife was happy about it.
A friend told The Sun: ‘She prefers not to be with the police 24 hours a day. This meant that she could pick up the children from school without any fuss. ”
Sophie and Edward’s children do not have royal titles. They could have awarded the titles of Princess and Prince, but their parents decided otherwise.
“We try to educate them with the understanding that it is likely that they will have to work for their bread,” Sophie told The Sunday Times. ‘That’s why we decided not to use HRH titles. They have it and can decide to use it from [when they turn] 18, but this is highly unlikely. ”
“They’re going to a regular school,” Sophie continued. ‘They go to friends for sleep and parties. On weekends we walk a lot with the dog and stay with friends. I do not think everyone’s grandparents live in a castle, but where you’re heading is not the most important part or who they are. If they’re with the queen, she’s their grandmother. ‘
Louise is said to be a favorite of the Queen, and Prince Philip also had a close bond with his granddaughter. They both love to ride, and Prince Philip allegedly left behind two of his ponies and his Notlaw Storm, the four-wheeled wagon seen during the television funeral last Saturday.