Last month, the Duchess of Edinburgh went on a five-day tour of Tanzania and no one in the British media thought to cover it. The only photos of Sophie were taken by the embassy, and there were only a couple of articles published during or after her trip. It was incredibly strange, especially given that the Sussexes had just visited Colombia and British reporters literally flew all the way there to try to barge their way into covering Harry and Meghan. With Sophie, here is a “working royal” and duchess who is maintained and subsidized by taxpayers, trying to highlight work being done at the local level, and no one gives a sh-t.
Well, Sophie and her husband are on a royal tour of Malta this week. They’re getting marginally more coverage than Sophie’s Tanzania trip. The Daily Mail has even dutifully kept up with their events in a rote, perfunctory way: they went sailing, they posed, they took in the views, hurray. Tatler basically skipped right past their events and just went all-in on a story about how much QEII loved Malta.
Sophie and Edward really are the only left-behinds traveling consistently this year, and it’s so remarkable to me to see how little energy they get from the press. That being said, Edward has barely been seen in months? He truly disappears for months at a time regularly and no one says anything (because no one’s checking for him). Anyway, enjoy these photos from Malta.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Didn’t some unnamed royal rota journalist say as regards covering Sophie’s activities, “I may as well put my mum on the cover (with all the interest it would generate)?”
And that’s about the 10 seconds I’ve spent thinking about Sophie in a long time 🙂
I don’t think Sophie imagined that she and her husband still wouldn’t be covered after Harry and Meghan left. It’s absolutely crazy that the British press sent people to cover Harry and Meghan in Colombia and no one to cover actual working royals in Malta or Tanzania.
Cue stories about “IS HARRY INVITED TO SANDRINGHAM FOR CHRISTMAS???” articles in 3….2….1…..
She was supposed to replace Meghan lol 😆
Lamborghini and Ford Fiesta indeed.
Back in the day, Sophie was supposed to replace DIANA.
Sophie is always supposed to replace some charismatic married in but then she never and could never measure up. But the Edinburghs did, indeed, position themselves to try to replace the Sussexes at some point, LOL. Sad miserable lot they all are, those leftover royals on that little island.
True. Even if Sophie and Edward are boring, you would think Malta itself is interesting enough to merit some coverage.
To give Edward some credit, he gets covered even less than Sophie. I took a quick look at the last month/6 weeks on the court circular and he is over 30 engagements for that month (I mean, that’s probably working two days a week because some days he had 4 engagements), but he also went on a short trip to Monaco (that I did not count and that I do not recall ANY coverage of) and he and sophie attended the paralympic games in Paris in early-mid September and I feel that also got minimal coverage.
Those two are just boring. They’re so boring. lol. And yet they put in more work in two or three months than Kate does all year when she’s “full time.”
Kate is just as boring, but she is better looking and dresses better.
She’s just younger. As Kitty ages, she, too, will fade in the imagination.
But Sophie is the secret weapon. It’s lol how the BM claims that Harry and Meghan are nobodies but fly all over the world to cover them and write 10 articles on a dress. But can barely write a paragraph on any working royals.
Secret secret weapons.
so secret no one even knows about them.
They have whopping 153 comments on DM.
What are Edward’s CC numbers? I actually forget he exists sometimes but if he is not getting coverage for his work as opposed to being lazy like the Keens that’s not his fault.
No surprise it’s not getting coverage because they are both as dull as dish water.
I’m not interested in the Wessex’s/Edinburgh’s but it does bother me that the charities and causes they visit aren’t getting any publicity, I thought that was the whole deal with having taxpayer funded royals, all the attention they bring to causes and issues?
But the Children’s Hospital LA is getting massive coverage.
Oh well. Those are the choices made by the British people and who they support.
Not a lot of point if they don’t get the press coverage.
These people are so embarrassing.
I saw a short reel on Twitter. Sofiesta snubbed the Prime Minister and his outstretched hand, as she was busy looking at and posing for a camera. Protocol what? And Mr Ed didn’t even get involved by quietly whispering to her, or anything, he just took a step back and foded his hands behind him.
But at least she no longer has to curtsy to Meghan.
Why does Edward suits look so big on him. They look like royals for the 50’s. Nothing modern about them at all.
That’s what I want to know. He looks like the child in the movie “Big” when he is wearing Tom Hanks’s suit.
I think he’s lost weight. Not recently but over the last few years. I wonder if he has some health problems.
These suits are probably fairly old. They do keep their clothes for ages as we see with Anne.
They look like his father’s old suits.
He has definitely lost weight. Don’t know why he hasn’t gone to the tailor, but maybe it’s because of a specific reason and he’s anticipating gaining the weight back once that reason is resolved. Or he’s lazy, or forgot, or who knows.
The UK tabloids are too busy obsessing over Meghan’s red dress and Harry NOT being a statesman *wink.wink* Who has time to cover actual “working” royals?
Four days of pants-pooping tantrums over Meghan wearing a red dress, when the real “working royal” fashion crimes they *should* be discussing, are Sophiesta rocking up to Malta with a whole ass sister-wife wardrobe, and Edward’s suit fitting him less well than a burlap sack.
Have they been blackballed by the tailors in Saville Row? Has Cluck ganked their wardrobe budget?
Seriously!! Does Sophie just shop off the rack at Marks & Spencer? She dresses like an old age pensioner from Hertfordshire.
This is going to get me crucified (lol), but once you realise that Sophie dresses like the average British woman of her age (and even some younger, and definitely many who are much older), then you will understand why she and Kate are considered by some tabloids to have such excellent “fashion chops”. Look at any of the media hags criticising M and you’ll understand. And British women above 40 seem to develop an obsession with hideous florals. It seems to happen overnight, as though someone pulled a switch…
@magdalena, I believe you. I still remember the guest dresses at that aristo wedding this past summer. Shudder. So yeah I think this is actually a way a lot of people dress in the uk. Not everyone! But within a certain set, yeah.
@magdalena it’s funny because it’s true. It seems the English are obsessed with floral dresses in the summer. I went to the flipping CURE concert in Hyde park in 2018 and I was surrounded by pastel floral sundresses. It was wild.
Blackballed by the tailors, LOL. Sometimes I think Edward is wearing his father’s old suits.
I think he is and that is why they fit so badly.
Eddie has a smaller frame than Sophie. I’m guessing that’s why his suits are so comically huge. He doesn’t want to appear tinier than his wife.
I think along with the title, he got his dad’s suits they just don’t fit as well.
Yes, I think they are his father’s suits.
Must rankle Sophiesta to be the “hardest working royal” right now (due to Anne slowing down a bit) and the media doesn’t give a toss about her. But what does she expect? She’s unbearably bland and boring. And too easily forgotten.
Royal Diary, Princess Anne is back, she seems to be doing two days a week together, with about 4 engagements each day, The Edinburghs are doing about the same amount, one day for the Duke of Gloucester with about 4 engagements at the end of the month, but he is over 80. And of Course the King is off to Australia at the end of the month. Nothing for the Waleses.
Quite shocking when you see it broken down like that.
And, unfortunately, I believe that CC detail directly explains why KM gets minimal criticism in the UK press: she’s all they’ve got. Take her out of it, and you’re left with Charles, Camilla, Anne all mid 70s – and Edward & Sophie! Seriously, that’s what you’re left with.
Don’t forget, she’s mean girl!
So mean.
I’ll never forget Sophiesta’s sour face at the 2020 church service when she openly snubbed Meghan. But it was her behavior towards Meghan during QE2’s funeral that sealed my contempt of Sophie.
Is everyone unmannered trash in that family?
Dare I say that this is where a journalist would do a much better job of writing about a royal tour? If there isn’t much notice of the tour, it’s because of how it’s written up. Do a better job and people would be paying more attention. IMO, this a failure of the bm.