After Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, was made the Duchess of Edinburgh last Friday, she organized some embiggening articles right away. I mean, she worked in PR for years – while I find Sophie heavy-handed, she has somewhat better PR instincts than most of the Windsors. Still, her triumph at finally becoming the DoE meant that she might have overstepped a little with this Times of London piece: “Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh who works harder than Kate, William or Camilla.” It reads like a simple biographical article about Sophie’s twenty-plus years in the Firm, but making her sound more hard-working than William, Kate and Queen Camilla? That won’t make her many friends within the fam. Some interesting and curious highlights from this Times piece:
Hard working: The former Countess of Wessex, 58, carried out 138 official engagements in 2022, more than the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Queen Camilla. She has been a full-time working royal for 21 years, after marrying Prince Edward in 1999. Born Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, she has been described by the media as “the girl next door” and by Princess Diana as “Little Miss Goody Two Shoes”. More recently, she has been called the royal family’s “safest pair of hands”, their “secret weapon”, a “second daughter” to the late Queen and an “unappreciated trooper”.
She’s popular within the family?? Within the family, the duchess is popular. “She got on very well with Philip,” royal author Ingrid Seward previously told The Sunday Times. “The Queen always found that a bit of a relief, if female members of the family knew how to handle Philip. She made him laugh, and was not fazed by his abruptness. She would not let him bully her.” Queen Elizabeth, apparently, admired her work ethic and modesty, and they travelled together to church and watched historical documentaries. The duchess visited the monarch every weekend after the death of Philip and called her every day. Instead of “Her Majesty”, she was “Mama”.
Mediator Sophie: Royal sources, too, have said Sophie has the warmth and empathy to be the mediator between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the family. “Inevitably the spotlight and the focus falls on younger members as time goes on,” she said in 2021. “Naturally, the media are looking for people to fill the so-called void. But you know, we have been doing this for what feels like a pretty long time.”
For what it’s worth, I do think Philip and QEII liked Sophie. Now, the rest of the family? I don’t know. Charles seems pretty annoyed with Edward and Sophie most of the time. Sophie and Ed try to ingratiate themselves with William and Kate, but I often think their efforts fall flat. And no, Sophie isn’t the mediator for the Sussexes. After the way Sophie has acted towards and about the Sussexes, she’s persona non grata. As for “hard working” – like, 138 official engagements in a year isn’t a lot. That doesn’t say that Sophie is hard working, it says that Camilla, Kate and William are lazy as f–k.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Prince Edward – The Duke Of Edinburgh and Sophie The Duchess of Edinburgh attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK on Monday 13 March, 2023.,Image: 762484275, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh departs the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Picture date: Monday March 13, 2023.,Image: 762521243, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt / Avalon
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- London, UK, 13th Mar 2023. Edward and Sophy, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. Politicians, Royals and guests arrive and depart form today’s Commonwealth Service held at Westminster Abbey in central London,Image: 762528278, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Imageplotter / Avalon
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- Prince Edward The Duke of Edinburgh and Sophie The Duchess of Edinburgh depart a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK on Monday 13 March, 2023.,Image: 762532563, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Commonwealth Day Service At Westminster Abbey Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Commonwealth Day Service At Westminster Abbey Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
OMG The Times chose violence with that headline. I’m sure William is incandescent, again.
They finally got tired of going after Harry and Meghan and are going after each other? Nice! I’ll bring the popcorn….
I bet his staff are ducking as office supplies get thrown about! Nothing worse than someone pointing out they do more than him!!! (He wouldn’t care at all if she’d just said Kate and Camilla lol)
I hope the reporter did this to stir up some new in-house drama. Let’s get more out of our working royals.
Catty and Ma are plotting a take down piece with their media contacts as we speak – they will not take this one on the chin. I also suspect that we might be seeing more of Sofiesta and that the new title comes with strings, as in you do more to support the King and QC. Sophie is less likely to pull focus for them or knock them off the front page.
It’s clear there is a LOT of in fighting and tensions behind the scenes – it’s only a matter to time before it starts spilling into the public eye. I think pulling Catty from events like this is showing that there is going to be a new focus on the King, QC and heir (with George potentially being dragged out now and again). Catty is being sidelined.
@DIGITALUNICORN, Stand by for the story about Sophie and the fake Sheik to rear it’s head again any day now. Khate and her mummy are going through archives as we speak trying to pull it off the Internet, so that it can be dropped oh so quietly into a friendly paps email. Khate and bullyam will be hurling insults at each other, bullyam will be “, you bloody lazy bch, all you do is spend dear papa’s money on your silly clothes and parade the brats for the press”, Khate will be “and all you do you selfish bsd is slope of to your Rose and pick her petals, I’m the one stuck with the brats on nanny ‘s day of” how dare you begrudge me a few new dresses and jewels “. Bullyam replies” christ I wish you were more like Megan and earned your own money “, at least she had something about her”. To which Kate screams back “yes she had something about her, YOU, you were always about her but she didn’t want to know did she”
William says “, but I AM THE HEIR” she should have wanted ME “Kate replies,”, “, but she has Harry and your in serious need, Mr Heir of one of my wiglets, as she rips it off her head and throws it at him, and slams out of the room. To leave William stood in front of the mirror with the wiglet on his head thinking to himself, “mmm I wonder” 😂😂
@MaryPester
I love this! And while you obviously took some creative turns, I think we can all envision this scene playing out pretty closely to what you wrote (although instead of thinking about wiglets, bulliam needs to finally Let It Go(!) and shave it all off already. To me, balding men look so much sexier when they just shave it.)
Doesn’t Anne do something north of 300 a year without making a big show about it?
Enough of comparing them with each other. What they need is a comparison with people who actually work for a living and for far less expense and pay.
It’s not that Anne doesn’t make a big show about her “work”. It’s that the media doesn’t report on what she doing when she’s doing it.
Sophie takes precedence over Anne now that she’s a duchess, I can’t imagine Anne’s going to love that.
I thought the queen had seen to it that anne did not have to curtsey to her sisters in law. No way is anne going to curtsey to Sophie
Sophie DOES NOT take precedence over Anne unless she is with her husband.
We don’t know if Charles has kept the Queen’s rules or not – it may be one of the reasons Anne has largely disappeared of late.
Princess Royal outranks all female royals, other than Queen Consort.
No, see Heraldica (and Squibb).
Anne’s typical engagement count pre-COVID was around 500. I’m not sure what she did last year.
Around the time of Sussexit, I read that Anne does not participate in the rota, but I don’t know if thats bc they don’t want to cover her or what.
@Becks1 – I read somewhere that Anne does not like national press “tagging” along on her engagements. Anne will work (deal) with local press if local press exist.
Exactly. Plus Kate works like a top CEO, so she can’t top that.
And please keep in mind that sophiesta is a FULL time working royal with only 138 engagements and she did more that Peggy/kkkhate and kkkamilla – the future of the monarchy – success guaranteed
She wouldn’t let Phil bully her? So the bullying of married-in’s started with Phil? What an inspiring family. (not)
These tabloid reporters write and talk so flippantly about the royals bullying people (for years) then used it as a weapon against Meghan to tarnish her reputation. So frustrating.
I hope they pay a hefty price in the cases Harry has brought against them for their skulduggery. They ruin lives with the nonsense they spew.
Right, like they barely approved of his ass so now he’s in the fold he’s THE bully. Very Voldemort of him.
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. So much nonsense.
Remember when Marx said “Religion is the opiate of the masses”? I think we should sub in “The British Monarchy” for “Religion”. This is just ridiculous. Don’t these papers have more important things to write about?
She is no peacemaker the way she behaved like a mean girl to Meghan and saint Sophie articles are not going to go well with c and c and the wailses.
Yesterdays story was – she’s thrilled and relieved she no longer has to curtesy to the black duchess. – for non racists – everything after that is just Charlie browns teacher.
Shockingly bad at pr.
This. Please, tell me again, some more, how relieved you are not to have to curtsy to the Black Duchess who lives on another continent. Peacemaker, my ass.
She and Edward both kept working outside jobs and each had a career in the early years of their marriage. So they really did not work as full time totals the whole time. Both their outside businesses failed so they then started royal work full time.
Sophie and Edward were both so awful at the working while Royal (Sophie selling access to the family and Ed’s production company filing Prince William at college and of course the embarrassment of the “The Royal Knockabout) that it poisoned the proposal of H&M being part in and out. So there is another reason they suck.
Yeah, they were just so terrible at it all. Several of Edward’s historical documentaries kept popping up on my YouTube feed this week. He’s a little less awkward than you’d expect given the way he looks in photographs, but he’s just terrible in front of the camera. The two of them are desperate for attention, have no charm, and almost seem gormless, which is a bad combination for life in the royal pressure cooker. I honestly think they thought they could work and wish their way into the D of E titles–they did receive them last week, but I doubt it was because they played their cards well behind the scenes or whatever smug little idea Sophie has about the whole thing. I hope their children stay away from all of this.
I really don’t like Sophie. She just looks evil and mean. I will never forget how cold she was towards Meghan.
Hahaha! 138 events in a year is nothing to write home about. Sophie strikes me as the type who pats herself on the back way too much. The glowing Times story won’t help her with Peggy or Cowmilla. How many hours/days til a Sophie hit piece.comes out?
I can already hear that bus engine starting up, lol. This article hit all the high points. The Doolittle Wails, the late queen’s “favorite”, everyone likes Sophie she works so ” hard” and hardly ever lets anyone know about. I wonder if they are getting this narrative ready in case the Sussexes don’t come for the Con-a-thon?
Yesss, the bus is coming and there is a flip side to this coin, too. Didn’t she have some shady middle east dealings?
Surrreeeer sophie, if a peacemaker was Cinderella stepmother. This woman is a jezebel and I for one won’t ever see her as anything other than a mean spiteful bitter betty.
I’m loving all the stupidity that is playing out amongst this family of piranhas. Chuck is gonna learn the hard way – heady lays the head that wears the crown. I hope it turns into a free for all with every man for himself.
Why do these people feel like they can only promote themselves by putting down others? It’s bad PR in general but a hundred times worse in a family full of egotistical, entitled assholes. She’s not doing herself any favors.
You know who doesn’t piss anyone off in that family? Ann. She does her job and lays low. I don’t recall any time where she courted the press. Now, one could argue that she doesn’t generate media interest and therefore the BM don’t bother, but neither does Sophie and Edward. But Sophie is clearly kicking up a fuss and dying to relevant instead of a worker bee like Ann.
I have never been able to understand the shark-tank reasoning, either. But, then again, when people’s lives are essentially about trivial nothing, they have nothing better to do than diss each other. 😛
So many “secret weapons” in that family. How many does one need?
If the family was worth anything, they wouldn’t need secret weapons at all.
As I said yesterday, Sophie is going find herself being thrown under bus by the family. She might want to rethink her PR strategy.
Sophie really doesn’t have any survival instincts if she released this piece to The Times. Camilla is going to be coming for her now and Cams is better at the back stabbing than Sophie.
Princess, Diana was really right about all of these people.
Cam just stabs from the front.
Yikes. If I was sophie, I’d be watching my back. At the same time, they’re literally just quoting the CC, which the family is all aware of.
As usual, Diana nailed it: “Little Miss Goody Two Shoes.” LMAO!
I watched a bit of the CW reception at BP and Soph made a beeline for Bulliam when she came through the door, an ingratiating grin on her face and dogging his every step like that little yappy cartoon dog trying to impress and please the big dog. He didn’t look pleased. Her embiggening PR is not going over well, and Bulliam will hold the purse strings soon enough.
A fellow commenter here on cb posted yesterday that Kate also was really bothered when Charles engaged in a short conversation with sophie… perhaps, that’s why..
@FIRSTCOMMENT ,It was me, I watched it several times to be sure, but the minute Charlie boy stepped into the Abbey, Sophie stepped forward to Charlie and he stopped for a quick word with her. If looks could kill Sophie would have dropped where she stood with the look Khate gave her, I’m surprised Khates nose didn’t fit round the corner it was so out of joint. Maybe that’s why she sulked of home!!
She’s just so….obvious. And needy. She and Edward think they’re important players now that they’ve been converted into D of E, but they’re honestly just pawns and are going to be swept off the board completely in the next family shuffle. William is going to lock them both in the tower just for existing.
So maybe KC is threatening her job with his slimming down of the monarchy and she is reminding him that she does more than the royals who would be left?
If that’s her strategy then she should be careful of going after Crocmilla. Not even Charles’ own flesh and blood can come between them, let alone some in-law. And Carol(e) won’t like anyone who outshines Keen.
Conspiracy theory: Kingston Palace is behind this story and released it to piss off Camilla and make Charles snap into protective mode against Sophie.
Why are the rota 🐀 obsessed with fake ‘peacemakers’ in that family? I thought kkkate was head peacemaker? It’s only the rageful babies in the RF that need peacemaking. Maybe they all need pacifiers and a good lie down.
OOOOHHHHHH. Isn’t this an interesting piece?!!? Sophie working more than William, Kate or Camilla. She’s a duchess and the gloves come off.
Seriously though, 138 is nothing to write home about but to give her the barest amount of credit, I do think she broke 200 for several years prior to COVID and she does international trips fairly frequently, the kind that Kate could never do by herself. (like we mock her for her Oprah comments considering she visited Oprah’s school in South Africa – but could you see Kate doing that kind of trip by herself? I’m actually not 100% sure lol she was without Edward for that trip but she does a fair amount like that by herself. Kate, 12 years in, has not done anything similar.)
so with as boring and mean girl as she might be, this seems very deliberate because its reminding people of where Sophie beats out even the future king – working.
Pre-Covid Sophie and Edward would do over 300 engagements when Anne was doing about 500 engagements. And as you stated they would include solo visits to various countries where she did more than go down slides.
So it is true that she does more than Kate, William and Camilla and that the engagements tend to be more substantial than what Kate and William do. I’m not sure how she thinks this article will help her though, especially because William and Kate are very petty and like to assert their higher rank all the time.
There are 365 days in a year and these folks are proud of working 123 or 124 days. Most work days for them equals 1 engagement at most. Seems to me their subjects have been scammed for years. Especially because no benefits are gained by their subjects for these visits. Their subjects most just like the idea of having a monarchy and define themselves as a country by this fact. Otherwise it simply does not make sense to me.
No, you’re flipped around a bit. the 138 or whatever is the number of engagements, the number of days is probably 1/3 of that. Most of them do stack their engagements into one day – so Sophie will go to a town outside of London and visit three places (maybe a local school, local charity, farmers market when the season is right) and that gives her 3 engagements. So in terms of pure working days, they’re well below that 138 number or whatever Sophie did.
Even Anne with her hundreds of engagements does this. Some years someone will break down their number of actual working days, and I don’t think its EVER been more than 100, even for Anne.
I think I read this in the Vanity Fair article celebrating Anne’s 70th birthday, Anne works on the average 3 three days a week (some weeks no work but some weeks working six days a week) but she does 8-10 engagements a day.
If Anne is going to a village to do a major engagement, her private secretary lets the local Lord-lieutenant know what day she will be in town and gets a list of all local organizations that want a visit from Anne. Additional engagements are then scheduled. A typical work day for Anne is 7:00 am to 7:00 pm if she is not the “Guest of Honor” at evening banquet. If she is scheduled for an evening banquet, then her “work” day may extend to 9-10:00 pm per Vanity Fair article.
They are all just so miserable.
Aww guys let her have her moment in the sun. She’s never going to get another one lol.
Once again Sophie is backing into the limelight claiming ALL the glory whilst claiming to be shy? Will the Incandescent One is going to ensure she gets a lot rainey events up North to attend from now on. Maybe he will dambuster over to Bagshit House to remonstrate with Uncle Ed about his lippy Missus? It looks to me like Sophie needs to send W and K a super duper Easter present next month as a peace offering?
William is standing so far from Kate in that last photo. They don’t even look like a couple. None of these people like each other.
They can’t even pretend anymore.
Sophie called Queen Elizabeth “mama”? Lol. I know that’s pronounced the Downton Abbey way and not the American way, but imaging the Queen accepting being called “mama” cracks me up.
I cannot believe The Times wrote that with a straight face! Did they NOT see the Commonwealth Day pictures with the Sussexes?
Sophie is in full on survival mode, I don’t actually think Edward is bright enough to participate or to even understand what power plays are going on. She’s currently alternating between obsequious Uriah Heep tactics and full on self aggrandising PR to see which might work best. Now that her ‘but the queen loves me’ shield from being in the line of attack has gone she’s panicking.
Just like Andrew sucking up to the queen, keeping her amused & with companionship, suited the other royals it also provided both Sophie & Andy with a queen shaped buffer that masked the reality of their respective, dependant, financial situations.
The only chance she’s got is if she can somehow convince C or C and/or Willy that she’s of some usefulness to their own needs/desires. That’s the only filter any of them are able to see life through.
Sophie stood out in her white outfit: I wonder how long that’s going to last. She really did throw down the gauntlet, didn’t she.
That outfit was horrible. Too tight, too long, pockets were too big and made her look wide. The white and the pillbox was a Meghan copy-and if you’re going to cosplay, do make sure it’s a good look. Meghan was pregnant at the time and as gorgeous as she is, she could not carry off that hat either.
True! However, Sophie looked better than Wigginton of Wales and The Rottweiler.
ML, I thought the Escort stood out since the other two were in neutrals. That blue really popped.
Grins: “the Escort!” Yes, her electric blue was definitely noticeable, however, Sophie absolutely popped out in white since almost everyone else was in dark colors. Lets put it this way: in that family Sophie is acting bravely especially after the Times article.
And yet nobody cares, Sophie.
All I see is hateful, old, ugly and crusty when I see any photos of that family.
IDK, I feel like Sophie doesn’t have the budget or taste to do better. For her, this is not a bad look.
It seems like her best path is like Anne, show up and shut up. But her PR instincts, which are so flawed she tanked her firm and had to become a ft royal, tell her to keep campaigning.
I think the court circular should do more than tick off each time someone ‘worked’ and instead wrote in the number of hours. I calculate I work about 240 days / 1,920 hours every year (for 35 years), excluding commute time, just actually working.
The headlines implies…
Sophie’s the next 🎯 for the ire of the monarch, heir, their inherent lazy wives???
Would be one of the replacement for required scapegoats??
New fodder for gossip??
A new whinger against Meghan ala the fail 📰??
In actuality, Sophie’s the beneficiary of the title based on her marriage to Edward.
It was Edward’s late parents that he would have that title, whomsoever wad his wife would have the accompanying title.
Maybe, she get to see Meghan’s humanity when they start to “come for her” or not.
138 engagements a year and she has the nerve to call herself a “full-time” working royal? Do me a favour. Most of those will have been 30-minute meet & greets. And harder working than William, Kate and Camilla? It’s a very low bar.
I assumed that, as part of the deal of them getting the Edinburgh titles, CIII would’ve told Sophie to stop briefing the press. But I guess not.
She does work hard. Of all the marry-ins, she was said to be the queen’s favourite for this reason. Apparently, she researches her charity events thoroughly, travels to events largely on her own, and is unfussy and friendly with people. She is pretty much like Anne in this regard. I feel Kate was lauded by the BRF in her efforts to be vile to her sister in law. However, since the queen’s death and Meghan’s departure, I sense the family is shaky now that W&K are close to the crown, and the tide is changing for Kate. Her early years flop must rankle.
Sophie’s brooch looks like it was made in an elementary school art class. She’s just so dull. They’re all just so dull.
The close-up photo of her smiling in the white pillbox hat… Her face, holy terrifying. What’s with this family all aging the same way? Eyes sink into shriveling dark pits; teeth longer, pointier, yellower; sun spots, age spots and just… Melting.
I’m not hating on a woman getting older. God knows, I am. Resting bitch face comes with it sometimes.
But they’re all aging the same way, and she’s not even related? It’s like the physical manifestation of a shriveling soul 🫣😬
It really is unusual. I think being at court nowadays is just as exhausting as it was in the middle ages. Can you imagine having to balance press coverage and SM against whatever little games the gray men are playing all while attempting to please William/Kate/Charles/Camilla? No matter what you do, somebody is going to complain about it. That’s how you wind up with Edward wearing his grandpa’s old clothes and Sophie dipping into the nurses gear for their big coming out moment. They were nothing before, and now they’re even less.
I am tired of hearing of the number of engagements, that number is useless to me. Let’s have them prepare some time sheets that really speak to what they are up to all day. THEN we will find out they barely scratch the surface of what the average citizen puts in.
As long as the British public continues to be thrilled at having a royal come to visit, the # of engagements accountability measure will continue to suffice. The only people to question royal value for money spent are grouchy republicans who have always been hampered by royals ability to exclude or obfuscate data.