Much like Princess Kate, Duchess Sophie was a normal citizen prior to marrying into the Royal Family. In fact, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, had a successful career before she married Prince Edward. As a result, Sophie had to “reduce her expectations” in many respects after marriage.
Prior to her 1999 wedding to Prince Edward, Sophie Rhys-Jones was a PR professional. Initially, Sophie had reportedly hoped to continue with her career, while managing her responsibilities as a royal. Unfortunately, an embarrassing faux pas with a client led to Sophie giving up her job for good, via Tatler.
“Certainly it took me a while to find my feet,” Duchess Sophie told The Sunday Times in 2020. “The frustration was I had to reduce my expectations of what I could actually do. I couldn’t turn up at a charity and go, right, I think you should be doing this, because that’s what I was used to doing in my working life.”
Instead, the Duchess of Edinburgh had to change the way she behaved, approaching events with the mindset of a Royal Family member. “I had to take a really big step back and go, okay, they want you to be the icing on the cake, the person to come in to thank their volunteers and funders, not necessarily to tell them how to run their communications plan,” she told the outlet.
“I had to take a really big step back,” Sophie said of adjusting to her role within the Royal Family.
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Since finding her way as a royal, Duchess Sophie seems to have made a positive impact on the family. In recent years, the Duchess of Edinburgh has even been referred to as the Royal Family’s “secret weapon.”
During her interview with The Sunday Times, Sophie discussed her workload as a Royal Family member. “We’ve all got our own little portfolios,” she told the outlet. “I don’t see anything changing, but if we’re asked to do more…I don’t know because it hasn’t really happened.”
As she noted in the 2020 interview, “I am pretty busy already, so I’m not sure how much more I can do. There are only so many hours in the day. People may pay more attention to what I am doing, but I remain as busy as I have ever been.”
Of course, following King Charles‘s cancer diagnosis, Duchess Sophie and her husband stepped up to help at more official events.