SOPHIE THE SPECIAL ONE
Countess a tower of strength for Queen
SOPHIE Wessex has revealed that her two children will not take up official royal roles.
The Countess, who is increasingly seen as a safe pair of hands for the Queen in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s departure, has said her son and daughter will probably “work for a living”.
The 55-year-old wife of Prince Edward said it was “highly unlikely” that Lady Louise Windsor, 16, or James, Viscount Severn, 12, will use their HRH titles when they turn 18.
She said: “We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it’s highly unlikely.”
While the Windsors have been rocked by numerous scandals in recent years, Royal watchers say the down-toearth Sophie has increasingly been viewed as a tower of strength for the Queen.
The mother-of-two said that she and Prince Edward try to ensure their children have a normal life, attending a “regular school” and going to friends’ houses for sleepovers and parties.
Pre-lockdown, Sophie said the family did “lots of dog walking and staying with friends” at weekends.
She added: “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.” The Countess also told how her husband is “very engaged” as a father and “good at barbecues”.
He also takes their son fishing and does a lot of horse riding with their daughter, she added.
The Countess further revealed that she hopes Lady Louise will go to university, because she’s “quite clever”.
Before the schools closed, the teenager was working towards her GCSE exams. Sophie said: “She’s working hard and will doA-levels.”
Lady Louise was born one month prematurely, weighing just 4lb 9oz, with the eye condition esotropia, and has had operations to improve her sight. Sophie told how Louise had corrective surgery for a severe squint, and “it’s still not perfect – but none of us are”.
She admitted that the traumatic birth, during which she lost nine pints of blood, was “very scary”.
When Sophie opened the neonatal ward at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey in 2014, she broke down in tears when she met the midwives who saved her life.
“For the first 10 years after [Louise] was born, I found it very hard to go to neonatal wards. It brought the whole thing back, but I’ve learnt to cope,” she said.
Asked if she would be taking on more royal duties following the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to quit as senior members of the Royal Family earlier this year, Sophie stressed that she was already “pretty busy”.