She was elevated to the title of The Duchess of Edinburgh after her husband Prince Edward inherited his late father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh.
And friends of Sophie, the former Countess of Wessex, 58, have since claimed she is ‘relieved’ that her rise to royal status means she no longer needs to court Meghan Markle.
Sophie was previously responsible for Prince Harry’s wife, who held a high rank as a duchess.
Relations between the royal wives became strained when the Duchess of Sussex reportedly turned down an opportunity to mentor Sophie on life as a royal.
But Sophie was previously identified as a potential ally for the Sussexes ‘the first royal to visit them after the birth of their son Archie,’ sources claimed at the time. Here, FEMAIL takes a look at Sophie and Megan’s up-and-down relationship…
‘Relief’ he didn’t have to curtsey to Megan
Prince Edward was elevated to the Duke of Edinburgh to mark his 59th birthday on Friday, meaning Sophie is now a duchess as well. The former Countess of Wessex was previously forced to defer to Prince Harry’s wife who held a higher position as a duchess.
Prince Edward was elevated to the Duke of Edinburgh to mark his 59th birthday on Friday, meaning Sophie is now a duchess as well.
The former Countess of Wessex was previously responsible to Prince Harry’s wife, who, as a duchess, holds a higher rank.
A friend of the couple said: ‘Sophie is relieved. She no longer has to lash out at someone in the family who has not only abdicated her royal duties but has spent the past three years criticizing the very institution that Sophie works so hard to support.’
Mother-of-two Meghan, 41, explained the complexities of curtsy in her recent Netflix docuseries.
The Sussexes revealed that Harry asked Meghan before meeting the late Queen: ‘You know how to curtsy, don’t you?’
Meghan told the camera: ‘I thought it was a joke,’ before re-enacting the exaggerated curtsy as Queen Elizabeth II and laughing.
But it is a tradition that the royal family takes seriously. Princess Anne was seen giving a poignant curtsy as her mother’s coffin entered the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland.
Meghan ‘wasn’t interested in having Sophie as a mentor
Queen Elizabeth II ‘wanted Meghan Markle to succeed in her new role’ and suggested Sophie as a mentor – but the Duchess of Sussex was ‘not keen’, according to Giles Brandreth.
The royal writer told Palace Confidential in December that her late majesty ‘did everything she could’ to welcome Prince Harry and Meghan, who live with their two children, to their £11 million mansion in Montecito, California.
He said the Queen had mentored the former Countess of Wessex as “a mentor of sorts” to the Duchess, but Meghan “felt she had Harry” and did not need the help of an adviser.
Giles said: ‘The Queen wanted Meghan to make the wedding and her new role a success and did everything she could to encourage it.
‘I think she suggested to him that Sophie Wessex, who was definitely his favorite and had been through it because she married into the royal family and married Prince Edward, could help him, be a kind of mentor.
‘I don’t think Meghan was interested in it. She felt she had Harry, she didn’t need to offer a mentor… The Queen was very keen at first,’ he concluded.
