Sophie at 50... brimming with Wessex appeal

LOOKING effortlessly poised in an intimate portrait to mark her 50th birthday, Sophie, Countess of Wessex shows how she has become one of the most elegant Royals.

Posing in a simple white silk blouse for photographer Richard Young, a relaxed Sophie also shows the benefits of a regime that has seen her drop a stone in weight and two dress sizes thanks to swimming, Pilates and a weekly workout with her personal trainer in the grounds of her Surrey home, Bagshot Park.

With her casually styled long blonde hair, Sophie, who is said to be very close to the Queen, is one of the hardest-working Royals.

Although she doesn’t gain the wall-to-wall headlines of some younger members of the family, Sophie is indefatigable in her work to eradicate preventable blindness – a passion rooted in the fact that her daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 11, needed surgery for the eye condition exotropia last year.

She is patron of Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, and a ‘global ambassador’ for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

On her birthday on Tuesday, she and her husband, Prince Edward, will carry out two official duties: one at Tomorrow’s People, a national charity that helps disadvantaged people get a job; the other a demonstration of the avoidable blindness programme at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The work is supported by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. The Countess will be officially announced as the new vice-patron of the Trust after her visit.

The couple will also go to Finland next month, Buckingham Palace has announced.