BLOOMS FOR SOPHIE AS SHE JOINS SURPRISE WALKABOUT AT PALACE
THE Countess of Wessex brought smiles to the faces of hundreds of well-wishers as she spoke to crowds outside Buckingham Palace yesterday.
Sophie, 57, was handed armfuls of flowers including roses and sunflowers as she and husband Prince Edward, 58, shook the hands of mourners.
She cuddled delighted children, including a baby, and stopped to look at one girl’s T-shirt which was printed with photos of the Queen through the decades.
Sophie, who is said to have been regarded as a second daughter by the Queen, looked elegant in a long black dress on the impromptu walkabout.
Edward told mourners near Green Park that the Queen would appreciate the number of people paying their respects.
Hours later, the couple watched as their children, Lady Louise, 18, and James, Viscount Severn, 14, stood beside the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall.