Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sophie: No royal titles, my kids will work for a living
Countess wants pair to have ‘normal’ lives
THE Countess of Wessex has revealed it is “highly unlikely” her children will use their HRH titles when they become adults.
Sophie Wessex, 55, said she and Prince Edward try to give their children a “normal” life, despite their royal heritage.
And she said daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 16, and son James, Viscount Severn, 12, have been raised with the “understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living”.
Discussing their titles, she said: “They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it’s highly unlikely”.
She added: “They go to a regular school. They go to friends for sleepovers and parties. At weekends, we do lots of dog-walking and stay with friends.
“I guess not everyone’s grandparents live in a castle, but where you are going is not the important part, or who they are. When they are with the Queen, she is their grandmother.” Speaking to the
Sunday Times the countess revealed Edward, 56, is “very engaged as a father” and likes to barbecue for his family, as well as taking his son on fishing trips and going riding with his daughter.
The proud mum said she and the Duke hope Louise will go on to university, two or three years from now.
The 16-year-old had been due to take her GCSES before the pandemic lockdown closed schools. The countess, who ran her own PR firm when she married Edward in 1999, also described herself as a “feminist”, adding: “I believe in equality for everyone.”
But she gave up her career two years into the marriage after she was caught out making disparaging remarks about politicians to an undercover reporter. And she admits she initially struggled to find her feet as a full-time member of the Royal Family. “I couldn’t turn up at a charity and go, right, I think you should be doing this, because that’s what I was used to doing in my working life,” she said.
“I had to take a really big step back and go, ‘OK, they want you to be the icing on the cake, the person to come in to thank their volunteers and funders’, not tell them how to run their communications.” Sophie has since proved herself to be one the hardest working royals, and is now patron to over 70 organisations.
She has recently also been described as the Royal Family’s “secret weapon” following a rocky year for the Firm.
Prince Andrew has been taken off public duties over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior royals to move to the US.
Asked about the Sussexes’ departure from official royal life, the Countess said: “I just hope they will be happy.”
Palace aides reportedly hope the highprofile departures will allow Sophie to step more into the limelight.
But she said: “I am pretty busy already, so I’m not sure how much more I can do.
“People may pay more attention to what I am doing, but I remain as busy as I have ever been.”