Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, who turns 61 today, has long been called a ‘secret weapon’ within the Royal Family – and she’s finally spoken out on how she feels about the nickname
The Duchess of Edinburgh has earned a reputation as one of the Royal Family’s safest pair of hands. And today, no doubt the likes of the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales will be wishing Sophie a ‘happy birthday’ as she turns 61 today.
Over the past two years, she has carved out an at times gritty role travelling to the likes of Iraq, Chad and even Ukraine – mainly to champion women and the role she believes they can play in delivering peace across the world. In recent years, courtiers and charity bosses have hailed Sophie as a dependable figure in the slimmed-down working monarchy – earning her the often-used description of the Royal Family’s ‘secret weapon’.
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The Duchess of Edinburgh turns 61 today (Image: PA)
And in a previous rare interview with the Mirror, Sophie finally opened up about how she feels about the nickname – and gave an unexpected answer. Revealing her thoughts about the label, she explained: “I like to fly under the radar. It’s all very well being a secret weapon, but if no one knows, maybe it’s too secret.”
However, after a pause, she added: “I suppose I should take it as a backhanded compliment. I don’t see myself in a frontline position per se, that said admittedly, there are fewer working members of the family these days so I suppose more and more I’m becoming less secretive. I just wonder what they are going to describe me as next!”
But when asked what she would like her own description to be, she quickly replied: “I don’t know, I am going to leave that for others, it would be very presumptuous for me to suggest something that could go badly wrong.”
With her role travelling the world and facing hard-hitting subjects head-on, such as conflict-related sexual violence, Sophie admitted sometimes it can “take its toll on emotions, that’s for sure”.
Sophie on a visit to Bosnia last year (Image: PA)
But even though the subject matters, such as rape, may not be easy to hear about and the scale of the problems may be too much for just one person, such as her, to solve alone, the Duchess say it just strengthens her resolve to do as much as she can, especially when it comes to issues facing women.
She said: “It does seem to be wherever I go, it’s so often the women on the ground who are the ones that are starting make the difference, who are the ones who are starting to build peace, who are the ones who are going to have to take the resolutions and turn them into actions on the ground.
“So it is always emotional, of course, it is always emotional, but you have to see through the emotion to find the strength, and it is always there.” Sophie’s birthday comes just before the third anniversary of her becoming Duchess of Edinburgh when husband Prince Edward was bestowed with the Duke of Edinburgh title.
Sophie at Sandringham on Christmas morning (Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
Talking about becoming Duchess of Edinburgh and how she will shape the role, she said at the time: “First of all it was quite large shoes to fill because not as many of the population alive today will remember but the Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh for the first few years when she and my father in law first married.
“For me, it was quite an emotional thing to sort of step into her shoes [as being Duchess of Edinburgh], it felt like quite a big moment. But of course being practical my role and my husband’s role is to support the King as it was to support the Queen and we are fortunate because we are able to not be in front and centre role, so it allows us the flexibility to explore our own interests.”
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