{"id":494530,"date":"2025-10-12T21:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494530\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T21:30:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:30:23","slug":"duchess-of-edinburgh-quietly-stepping-up-amid-harry-and-meghans-feud-with-senior-royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494530\/","title":{"rendered":"Duchess of Edinburgh quietly stepping up amid Harry and Meghan’s feud with senior royals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duchess of Edinburgh has quietly stepped up amid the Royal Family “soap opera” between the Waleses and the Sussexes, according to author Sean Smith.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith, whose book Sophie: Saving the Royal Family was published in July 2025, has spoken to GB News about the Duchess of Edinburgh’s work ethic.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said tensions within the Royal family can often overshadowed substantive work. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe media has been and continues to be obsessed with the family drama involving Harry, Meghan, William, Kate and Charles. It\u2019s a soap opera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Smith added: \u201c(Meanwhile) Sophie (has been) comforting women and children refugees.”<\/p>\n

The duchess has been working to end conflict-related sexual violence for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

She undertook visits to Kosovo and South Sudan as the Countess of Wessex, before becoming Duchess of Edinburgh in 2023. <\/p>\n

In October 2019, she visited Kosovo to meet survivors and open a conference on transgenerational trauma.<\/p>\n

\"Duchess<\/p>\n

Duchess of Edinburgh quietly steps up amid royal \u2018soap opera\u2019 between Waleses and Sussexes<\/p>\n

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PA<\/p>\n

In March 2020, she travelled to South Sudan to highlight the rights of women and girls affected by conflict.<\/p>\n

The Duchess\u2019s humanitarian reach expanded further with her visit to Ukraine in April 2024.<\/p>\n

As a result of this visit, Sophie became the first member of the Royal Family to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska.<\/p>\n

During the one-day visit to Kyiv, she paid respects to victims in Bucha and met survivors of conflict-related sexual violence as well as volunteers assisting displaced families.<\/p>\n

\"Duchess<\/p>\n

The Duchess of Edinburgh in the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/p>\n

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PA<\/p>\n

Her advocacy has continued into 2025. In late September, the Duchess undertook a four-day humanitarian mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n

There, she met survivors at Panzi Hospital in Kinshasa and spoke with medical teams led by Nobel laureate Dr Denis Mukwege.<\/p>\n

Reports from the trip highlighted her private meetings with women and girls in safe spaces and clinics, as well as discussions with UN personnel on improving protection measures.<\/p>\n

\"Duchess<\/p>\n

The Duchess of Edinburgh also travelled to Ukraine in April 2024<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

Mr Smith said the Duchess\u2019s growing recognition was long overdue. <\/p>\n

He argued that public interest is now catching up with her record of consistent, meaningful work that rarely makes newspaper front pages.<\/p>\n

The author additionally said Sophie\u2019s focus on practical support for women and children in conflict zones offers a counterpoint to coverage dominated by Royal Family drama.<\/p>\n

The Duchess is expected to maintain a strong programme of international engagements alongside domestic work tied to her charities and patronages. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duchess of Edinburgh has quietly stepped up amid the Royal Family “soap opera” between the Waleses and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,5106,1102,4884,5105,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-494530","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-royal","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115363330591186625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494530","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=494530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}