Sophie's Relationships with the Queen and Royal Family


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She waited 20 years to make the alterations. So i guess she was quite pleased with the original state during that period of time.
Sophie was later showered, literally, with jewels from HM's personnal collection. So to insinuate that the wedding tiara was some kind of a snub is just pure nonsense.

But she rarely wore that tiara during the 20 years.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I only recall her wearing the wedding tiara more often after it was changed.
 
The Queen liked Sophie quite a lot in the 1990s from what I can gather but that's because she didn't bring any drama or baggage with her, she simply did her thing and dated Edward. Which could be why she was given the privilege of being invited to events, by the end of the 90s she was pretty much a glorified member of the Royal Family, she even went to Diana's memorial service in 1998.

Also we have to remember Sophie was 2nd lady in the land in the early-mid 2000s post Diana / Fergie and following the deaths of Princess Margaret and Queen Mother. She really did arise when the Queen needed her and realised she needed to support the Queen so gave up her PR career. Plus Sophie's own mum died not long after she had Louise so I guess they supported each other in a way.

At the end of the day she is the only daughter in law that hasn't had an affair (or the mistress) which would have earned the trust of the Queen and

As for Kate and Sophie, they always seem chatty at Royal Events (Ascot etc), again I imagine they are friendly with each other, Sophie may be a generation older but Anne and Camilla are two generators. Both had young children, both commoners, both went out with husband for a long time before marriage.
 
:previous: Chatty yes, but friends might be pushing it.

Sophie, Anne and Camilla are not the only royal women. Kate is of an age with Zara and Autumn. Zara's children are of age with the Cambridge kids, and Autumn's youngest is only a year older then George. At family events there are also the likes of Lord Freddie and his wife, who again are a similar age to the coupe as their children.

While James and Louise are much younger then their cousins, they are still not at the same 'young kid' stage of the Cambridges. James is six years older then George, which at that age is a good gap. The Cambridges are still in diapers, play dates, kindergarten run phase. The Wessexes are dealing with a teen and almost teen, and decisions about whether boarding school or not and such.

But she rarely wore that tiara during the 20 years.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I only recall her wearing the wedding tiara more often after it was changed.

And Kate has never worn her wedding tiara again.

The fact that Sophie has been given access to many royal pieces in her marriage and had options, seems more of a sign of acceptance.
 
I was reading an article about William and harry's girlfriends and the fact that they haven't been seen at church and other family functions.
The writer brings up that Sophie had unpredecented access to the royal family from the first months of her relationship with Edward, appearing regularly at church and at family events.

I remember Sophie appearing with the royal family at Brittania in 1995 and the headline read "The Royal family" at the bottom. She was also at the decommissioning of Brittania later in 1997. Why?
HM and Prince Philip were anxious to make sure that Sophie felt welcome, so much so that she was allowed to move in and live with Edward, shack up no less, at Edwards BP rooms and, after their marriage, despite being the only useable "couple", they were encouraged in their attempt to have a private life and a real job. Needless to say, they are the modern standard by which the BFR can measure that viability of that way of life for a younger son. It wasn't and the press did not respect their right to have a non-royal way of life and when they weren't trying to "set them up" they were running them down.

For those who use Sophie's wedding tiara as a measure of acceptance, I think you are right. Both Sarah and Sophie's wedding tiaras were gifted to them personally. Diana had the use of the Lovers Knot and her family tiara. I think that was because she was the heir's wife and would, over the years, have more access to QE's Private Collection. Even Catherine has worn three family tiaras, the LK, the Papyrus and the Halo. But as she is HM's grand-daughter-in-law.

Basically, we can only speak about what we see or read in reputable biographies and it seems all members of the Wessex family take tea with HM quite regularly and use the Windsor estate for riding and carriage riding, etc. and Sophie often accompanies HM to church when they are at Balmoral.
 
But she rarely wore that tiara during the 20 years.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I only recall her wearing the wedding tiara more often after it was changed.


I know that she'd wear it to the royal wedding events from the 2000's.
 
I'm not the best at keeping up with tiara appearances but I'm only aware of her having worn the modified tiara once so far.

I'm a big Sophie fan but we do need to remember she has probably given the Queen stress at times to, she gave up her PR business after getting herself into trouble for suggesting her royal connections would help clients.
In fairness that should be a lesson to all royals that hard work and dignity representing the crown will always help them bounce back from bad PR. I think that in the end the way Sophie acted after her own troubles probably helped endear her to the Queen.
 
I think Sophie had the best of intentions pursuing a career in PR post her marriage, after all the British public have been banging on about for many years that all minor royals should get real jobs.

But it just got too complicated, I don't believe she used her royal connections to get clients, it is just there was too many conflicts of interests which was bound to happen, probably a lot of naivety on her part.

At least they both had the smarts to realise it just wasn't going to work, especially after the Queen Mother died and their miscarriage.

The stuff that was said in the News of the World Interview wasn't that bad, sure not great press or good form on her part but nothing compared to the scandals of Diana, Fergie and Camilla. The Queen didn't seem to mind they were still fairly buddy, Sophie rode in the car at Christmas in 2001 and she was in the same carriage with Queen Mother at Ascot in 2001. So it obviously it didn't harm their relationship, lot of stuff was misreported too.

And we have to remember she spent the 1990s pretty much low key, from what I remember the stuff in the press was mostly positive about her, or she was just mentioned as Edward's girlfriend etc.

I do think there was a lot of scrutiny on Edward and Sophie careers in the early 2000s because there was nothing else for the tabloids to write stories on, Anne, Fergie and Diana's marital issues had worn thin. Plus there was scrutiny on their marriage not ending in divorce.
 
But she rarely wore that tiara during the 20 years.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but I only recall her wearing the wedding tiara more often after it was changed.

> From 1999 to 2012, the only tiaras Sophie had access to were her wedding tiara and from around 2005, a convertible aquamarine necklace / tiara. Other than these two, she once wore a previously unseen tiara in 2004, which was meant to have been loaned from a jeweller; the tiara was never seen again on her.

> Her wedding tiara has only been worn once publicly after the alterations, which was at the state banquet for the US President in June 2019

> Since 2012, she has worn a 5 Aquamarine tiara on several occasions. This tiara had previously been used by the Queen, if I am not mistaken, once in Canada in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
 
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