The Duchess of Edinburgh recently celebrated her 60th birthday. She agreed to a soft-focus interview with the Telegraph, and she and her husband hosted a birthday party at Bagshot Park, their estate near Windsor Castle. Interestingly, in the Telegraph piece, this aside was included about Sophie’s relationship with the heir and his wife: “She is ‘universally liked’ at the palace, says a source, and will inevitably play a more prominent public-facing role in the reign of William, as younger – and at 60 she IS younger in royal terms – members of the family need to take on more of the load.” As in, people used Sophie’s birthday to talk about how popular she is with Prince William and Kate. Partly because they can’t say the same thing about Sophie’s relationships with King Charles and Queen Camilla, perhaps? In any case, there’s a report that Kate and William actually went over to Bagshot for Sophie’s birthday party?
The Duchess of Edinburgh is said to have held her 60th birthday party at her and Prince Edward’s home, Bagshot Park – with some of her royal relatives in attendance.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were reportedly among the guests, with all the family invited to the private supper and celebrations to mark Sophie’s special day.
Sophie, who officially joined the Royal Family in 1999, celebrated her 60th birthday on January 20.
Her 120-room mansion is said to have been filled with many people close to her – including some of her past colleagues at Capital Radio. Joining a host of famous and royal guests, musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber – who is a long-term friend of the couple – is said to have been in attendance.
We rarely hear about anything like this from Will and Kate – they seemingly never go to their relatives’ birthday parties or private gatherings. It would shock me if W&K actually went, but if they did, I guess it’s true that William really wants Sophie and Edward to pick up his slack when he’s king.
Also: apparently, Sophie has a new set of Chopard jewelry, and “it is believed” that Prince Edward spent £15,000 on the necklace and earring-suite for Christmas or for her birthday. Sophie wore the suite last week – I kind of like how small the pieces are, the better for dailywear rather than special occasions only.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh with 9 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Lord Louis of Spudringham during a visit to Dogs for Autism in Alton, Hampshire, the first charity exclusively providing autism assistance dogs Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Where: Alton, United Kingdom When: 21 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh with 9 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Lord Louis of Spudringham during a visit to Dogs for Autism in Alton, Hampshire, the first charity exclusively providing autism assistance dogs Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Where: Alton, United Kingdom When: 21 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh, Colonel-in-Chief, the Royal Corps of Army Music, during a visit to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), in Camberley, Surrey Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Where: Camberley, United Kingdom When: 23 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh, Colonel-in-Chief, the Royal Corps of Army Music, during a visit to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), in Camberley, Surrey Featuring: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Where: Camberley, United Kingdom When: 23 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Soph, cool your jets. We didn’t get this much info about Edward’s 60th birthday last month and he’s the actual royal one.
*last year (typo)
He’s a guy. They don’t make big deals about their birthdays….especially at that age. They just get moody and withdrawn for a few days.
I’ll admit that I was expecting more of a PR blitz from Sophie for a big birthday like her 60th. I was honestly so ready to make fun of her for being tacky. She didn’t even campaign for a new title, make unnecessary rude comments about Meghan or pretend not to know who Oprah is.
She is liked by those whose ass she kisses and she has been kissing Can’t and Pegs all the time. She know what side her bread is buttered on and she is willing to do whatever it takes to keep it coming.
I’m not even sure these people are capable of liking each other, except when they band together to bully the Sussexes of course.
Sophie follows the money and that spells boot licking William and Kate. When Charles departs, so does the current financial support, so a new arrangement with William needs to be negotiated. Edward just doesn’t seem as invested in planning for the future so Sophie steps up to do it for them.
To me, the only notable thing about Sophiesta is her eagerness to demonstrate to Willnot & Kkkhate how she can be a Royal Racist too.
Wait. That delicate necklace and earrings were 15,000 pounds?!?
Someone saw Edward the “ignorant on all financial / money matters” a mile away and added a couple of zeros.
I can get the same set on temu or ali express for under $10. And I bet they would look the same.
I know I’m underwhelmed too. That’s half a year on my mortgage payments, would have expected something blingier.
My first thought when I saw these photos was like I have seen this before. Then I realised that I am influenced by her hairstyle.
she looks like she came straight out of ‘beauty and the beast’ fairytale. Not Bella. But beast. He face seems more like the beast from live action movie.
Sophie may be 60, but her skin looks younger and more vibrant than Kate’s. She also manages to exhibit a pleasant mien on most occasions, no obvious “Mean Girl” there.
If Sophie gets anything done, it doesn’t look as obvious as Kate. If she has someone she visits that person should get a royal warrant.
I agree about the work. If she gets any, it’s well done and her skin looks nice. Kate should definitely switch to Sophie’s doctor and facialist because her skin looks very similar to Sophie’s and she is almost 20 years younger.
She is 100% a mean girl! Apart from rudeness at events, she demonstrated her mean girl credentials re Meghan in spades.
If I were looking to the BRF for skin care recommendations for some reason it would definitely be Sophie instead of Camilla or Kate
If they can count it as ‘work’ they probably went.
IMO that’s how you do daytime bling. The pearls may have been a thoughtful touch but to me they looked way OTT for a daytime event that wasn’t super formal.
“said”, “reportedly”. It is all narrative they are putting out there in the name of one big family. There is no way W&K went to her birthday party. They are not known to do this stuff. They look like prisoners when they do events together and we are supposed to believe they went to a private event together to celebrate someone else. No way.
William might have attended. I don’t see Kate bothering at all.
Okay, yeah the Wales were reportedly at this party. Good point. All I know is that William actually looked relaxed at that one event he did with Sophie. He came across as more chill than the ones he does on his own or with Kate. Which might be why it never happened again bc the juxtaposition would be too much.
Dear rota 🐀🐀🐀, instead of trudging off one by one to a mythical and, apparently, eye-wateringly expensive land beyond the sea, and coming back with empty hands — how about doing some actual reporting for a change?
Who supports Sofiesta and Mr Ed?
We all know they rent out a few buildings, e.g. the stables, but how can they afford a utility bill for 120 rooms? Who pays for housekeeping, or for Sofiesta’s designer stuff that looks a lot cheaper than the price tags imply? Who pays the kids’ tuition fees?
All the answers to these questions won’t be found in Montecito…
I suspect that most of the rooms are never used. What would you use all those rooms for. Most probably the furniture will be covered in dust sheets, if they have furniture.
Sophie lives in 120 room mansion while Kate and William, the future Queen and King, live together in a small four bedroom house? Who believes these fairy tales?
And most importantly, how many bathrooms are there at their home??!!??
375,491 It’s a tardis.
No pictures no happens. Lort. Surely QE set her “other” children up financially knowing how sorry and vindictive the next 2 in line to the throne are. Ah. Can you imagine the books and rage to come when Willy boots the entire extended family? Harry was kinder and more diplomatic to them in Spare than they deserved.
What do you do in a 120 room house?