![\"Duchess](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/duchess-of-edinburgh-and-princess-diana.png\")
<\/p>\nThe Duchess of Edinburgh was careful not to be photographed alongside Princess Diana at a royal wedding in the 1990s, according to royal author Sean Smith.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith told GB News exclusively that the moment came at the wedding of Princess Margaret\u2019s daughter, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, to Daniel Chatto in July 1994.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cThe first obvious sign of some tension occurred at the wedding of Princess Margaret\u2019s popular daughter, Sarah Armstrong-Jones, to artist and actor Daniel Chatto. <\/p>\n
“Back in July 1994, Sophie was still the new kid on the royal block, a girlfriend who seemed to fit in well.<\/p>\n
Duchess of Edinburgh ‘avoided standing next to Princess Diana’<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
\u201cDiana rolled up to the wedding at the Christopher Wren-designed Sir Stephen Walbrook church in the City of London looking a million dollars and seemingly determined to be photographed next to Sophie so that she would win the fashion stakes in the following day\u2019s papers.<\/p>\n
“Sophie was wise to what was going on and made sure she was never standing next to the much taller Princess of Wales. <\/p>\n
“Prince Edward and other members of the Royal Family were pleased, and even the Queen noticed Diana\u2019s intention.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Sophie was still dating Prince Edward and had not yet married into the Royal Family.<\/p>\n
![\"Duchess](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/duchess-of-edinburgh-and-prince-edward.jpg\")
The Duchess of Edinburgh and Prince Edward pictured at Lady Sarah Chatto’s wedding in 1994<\/p>\n
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Diana, by contrast, was one of the most famous women in the world, regularly making headlines for her style and appearances.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith said the incident showed Sophie\u2019s early understanding of how the royal spotlight worked and her awareness of the intense comparisons faced by women who married into the monarchy.<\/p>\n
By avoiding being photographed beside Diana, Sophie ensured she did not become caught in a fashion showdown with the former Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n
Sophie and Edward went on to marry five years later at St George\u2019s Chapel, Windsor, in 1999.<\/p>\n
![\"Princess](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/princess-diana.jpg\")
Princess Diana pictured at Lady Sarah Chatto’s wedding in 1994<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
![\"Duchess](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/duchess-of-edinburgh.jpg\")
The Duchess of Edinburgh was often referred to as Diana’s ‘double’<\/p>\n
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PA<\/p>\n
Since then, she has become a central figure in the Royal Family, taking on a growing number of engagements and a prominent role supporting the King.<\/p>\n
The Duchess of Edinburgh, now 60, is often described as one of the most down-to-earth senior royals, with a reputation for careful judgment and a steady approach.<\/p>\n
Her early instincts at public events have been seen as helping to shape the role she occupies today.<\/p>\n
Mr Smith revealed how Sophie navigated the challenges of entering the Royal Family in the 1990s, at a time when Diana\u2019s presence dominated headlines.<\/p>\n
Sophie: Saving the Royal Family by Sean Smith is available now in hardback, eBook and audio, priced at \u00a325.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duchess of Edinburgh was careful not to be photographed alongside Princess Diana at a royal wedding in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,5106,1102,4884,1412,5105,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-388394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-duchess-of-edinburgh","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-princess-diana","13":"tag-royal","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115126807276102196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}