Sophie of Wessex, from Lady Diana’s “double” to pillar of the royal family

Kate Middleton and William leaving for the Caribbean, Carlo and Camilla close to the queen Elizabethnever as in recent weeks under special surveillance, e Sophie of Wessexwife of the prince Edward alone in New York in the name of the royal family. They are the new pillars of The Firm.

After the sex scandal involving the Prince Andrew and the exit of Harry And Meghan, the British monarchy quickly found itself from being decidedly overcrowded, with a small army of active senior members, to demanding a few extras from the usual faces. Sophie of Wessex, nee Rhys-Jones, answered the call without too much drama and in New York she was flawless, as the role required. Four days alone, between institutional meetings and public speeches. The most important was the one at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, where you spoke about the rights of Afghan women.

The countess stressed that life in Afghanistan has undergone a regression since the Taliban regained control of the country and that while the world’s attention has focused on the war in Ukraine “the crisis in Afghanistan has not disappeared and the effects are visible. everyday”. A lucid speech, her own, and extremely concrete. “The Taliban would like us to believe that they are allowing citizens to carry on their normal activities, but we know that is not true. While we welcome the announcement that they have pledged to reopen schools for girls, we know that the rights of women and girls have deteriorated. It is so difficult to imagine how much it has changed for so many in such a short time; where once there was hope, with women playing a central role in society, now there is hunger, misery and violence ».

It is not the first time that the countess has insisted on issues of this kind. “We have to ask ourselves, why are men so afraid of having women in a room? “ he thundered in 2021 always talking about Afghan women, causing less sensation than Meghan Markle did in 2018 with her feminist speech in New Zealand, but certainly not being less effective.

After all, Sophie is one who has always focused on facts and not on clamor. She entered the royal family on tiptoe, after a silent engagement, which lasted five years, and she never gave rise to gossip or gossip. At first the confrontations with Lady Diana were merciless. The fault of one vague resemblance which, according to the tabloids of the time, Sophie amplified. Same haircut, similar looks, unleashed gossips.

The marriage of the princes of Wales was already wrecked when Sophie and Edoardo started dating assiduously, but it is no mystery that Lady Diana did not like that girl from Oxford at all. He called her “little Miss Goody Two Shoes”, that is “Miss Santarellina”. According to reporter Emma Cook, who recently returned to two o’clock talking to the TelegraphDiana’s dislike was traced back to the way Sophie was received: “Why is it a walk in the park for you?” We were fed to the wolves “she would tell her friend and sister-in-law Sarah Ferguson.

Sophie’s low profile tone certainly helped. It took her five years to get used to “real” life, by her own admission, and she did it so well that she became one of the Queen’s closest women, the only one who could call her when she wanted to and get into the royal limo with her. . Her Majesty of her, for her part, was perhaps a little more tender after having seen the marriages of her other children shipwreck, but it is also true that, at least publicly, the daughter-in-law has never given her reason to complain.

Sophie didn’t seem destined for a life on the stage The Firm, but in a few years, together with her husband, she found herself on the front line. Proving itself perfectly up to the task.