The youngest son of Elizabeth 2. Pranksters of Windsor
There are enough Cinderellas in our times in all royal families, some have already managed to ascend the throne. But my Cinderella is definitely not in danger of this fate.
It's about one of my favorite royalty to date, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, nee Reece Jones. And what is surprising, unlike Kate, Diana and Sarah, who are not in the press, and sometimes they will sign with their maiden names, she came off of Sophie pretty quickly. She is clearly called the Countess of Wessex or Sophie of Wessex.
She met Edward in 1993, and they got married only in 1999 on June 19, six years later. Also quite a Waity Katie, i.e. Sophie. Either the indecision of Rybka - Edward is to blame, or the queen has been delaying for so long with her consent to marriage, giving them time to get to know each other better, rightly believing that the family will not endure another divorce.
You know, I saw records of all the weddings of the children of Elizabeth II: Anna, Charles, Andrew. But Edward and Sophie impressed me. If all the other royal brides and grooms uttered a sacred oath, first of all, to the archbishop standing in front of them, occasionally turning their eyes towards their other half, then both Edward and Sophie uttered their vows, turning to face each other. Here's how it was:
And from that day on, at all joint events, Edward always looks SO lovingly at his wife! I'm even envious! In general, their general photos for the most part can be clearly divided into three parts:
1) THEY look at each other with joyful smiles
2) HE looks at her with a proud smile while she is talking to someone
3) THEY look together in the same direction
If, after 24 years of relationship, my husband looks at me the way Edward looks at Sophie, I will consider my marriage a success.
In my opinion, it was a man of such a warehouse as Edward that Princess Diana needed for a happy marriage. Sensitive, loving and PROUD of her. He certainly would not be jealous of her for popular love. But she was unlucky...
Sophie for me is one of those women who becomes much more interesting with age than in her youth. She does not strike me as a pretender who wants to create a false impression of herself or plays in an image that is deeply alien to her. I see in her eyes an interest in the people she talks to, her unfeigned attention to all her husband's relatives. And I see how her face glows when she looks at her husband. Not for her children, although she didn’t get them very easily (especially the eldest daughter), but for her husband. She, like me, is a Capricorn, so she is clearly a calm and prudent mother, without hyper-custody and lisping in public.
I remember Bella Swan's mother from Twilight told her that she and Edward Cullen were like two magnets. So, Sophie and Edward are really two opposite magnets that are drawn to each other. Her husband's gaze is always drawn to her. I hope their mutual magnetism never runs out.
And let the gossip say that Edward is gay, and Sophie is his lifelong "beard"; that she tried to copy Diana (this is nonsense, but some fans of the late princess sincerely believe this); that Edward chose her because of her mythical resemblance to Diana (where was he even seen?); that she is boring; that she has an angry face, cold eyes and looks like a bitch, which, obviously, she is ....
I still see only a very pleasant, cheerful, life-satisfied woman who definitely waited six years for a reason to answer the proposal to marry “Yes, please” and chose the right person for this.
British Royal Family December 3rd, 2005
The British monarchy has lived and flourished for many centuries; it is the oldest institution of government in the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the Saxon monarchs. She reigns for over forty years, acting as a constitutional monarch. This means that although the crown belongs to the queen, in practice the country is governed by ministers responsible to parliament.
According to the English Act of Succession of 1700, only descendants of Princess Sophia (granddaughter of King James I (1603-25) of the Protestant faith can be heirs.
The sons of the monarch and their descendants take precedence over the daughters in the succession to the throne, and the daughters, in turn, over the brothers of the monarch. The daughter who inherits the throne becomes queen regnant and receives the powers of the crown as if she were a king. While the consort of a king has the rank and title of her husband, the consort of a queen regnant has never been constitutionally allowed to have any special rank or privileges.
British Royal Family (BritishRoyalfamily):
5 Queen ElizabethII- Queen of Great Britain; full name - Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor;
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - husband of Queen Elizabeth;
5 prince Charles- The eldest son of the Queen, heir to the British throne. Full name Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor
William and Harry are princes: William Arthur, Prince of Wales and Henry Charles, Prince of Wales, children of Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana, Princess of Wales;
5 Camilla Parker-Bowles - second wife of Prince Charles, official title "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall"
5 princess anna- daughter of Queen Elizabeth II;
Captain Mark Philips - first husband of Princess Anne (divorced);
Peter Philips and Zara Philips 6 - their kids
Timothy Lawrence (Commander) – Princess Anne's second husband
5 Prince Andrew- Second son of Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of York; full name - Andrew Albert Christian Edward Windsor;
Sarah Ferguson - ex-wife of Prince Andrew;
Beatrice and Eugenie of York - princesses; their kids;
5 Prince Edward- the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Edinburgh, full name - Edward Anthony Richard Windsor.
Sophie (Sophie Rhys-Jones) - his wife 6
Louise - their daughter, Lady Louise Winsor
Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra are cousins of Queen Elizabeth II 6
Previously, all the attention of the press was focused on Princess Diana, now on Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, and all this time the main Elizabeth's favorite. In 2015 the magazine Vanity Fair named the most stylish people on the planet, among which only she was present from the royal family.
We are talking about the wife of Prince Edward Her Royal Highness Sophie of Wessex, née Rhys-Jones. Of all those close to the Queen, it is Sophie who has the privilege of accompanying her in a personal limousine and representing her at official events. How did it happen?
Even before marriage in 1991 Miss Rhys-Jones She had an extremely amazing sense of style, appearing in public in elegant, casual outfits. And this has not changed with the acquisition of the title, the countess does not use the services of court stylists, independently forming her wardrobe.
As she herself admitted, it was difficult for her to wear branded clothes, the woman was afraid that the tags on her outfits would distract journalists from herself and her activities.
She is often compared to Diana, and indeed, they could very well pass for sisters, but their destinies diametrically opposed. Sophie entered the royal family at 34, and her marriage to Edward is the only one that has stood the test of time among all of Elizabeth's children.
But, of course, not because of her style, she became the queen's favorite. Sophie is distinguished by such traits as responsibility and complaisance, before marriage she owned her own PR agency. Perhaps that experience helps her successfully cope with her duties.
Prince Edward - tenth contender to the throne, that is, it is very unlikely that he will receive it, because the attention of the press to their couple is much less, and there are almost no royal duties. However, it was the Countess of Wessex who replaces the queen if he is unwell.
Played into the hands and common interests with Elizabeth: horse riding and military history. It is not uncommon for women to retire together in the royal archives, and even at family celebrations, you can often see them together.
In addition, they often visit each other without warning. By the way, Edward and Sophie two children, who are also Elizabeth's favorites, she, like their father, spends a lot of time with them.
Until 2002, Sophie managed to successfully combine her own business and royal duties, but after scandal in 2002 she was forced to change PR to ribbon cutting and social events.
Then the journalist Mahmoud Mazher managed to trick him into a scandalous interview where the Countess of Wessex criticizes Tony Blair and the British government and admits that she uses royal connections to support her own business.
Over the past few years, Countess Sophie has attended every royal wedding in Europe on behalf of the British throne. So she has a warm relationship not only with the English queen. By the way, she even managed to make friends with Princess Anna, who before that could not stand her daughters-in-law.
But now, if the media pay attention to her, it is only to once again admire subtle sense of style countess. She is a living embodiment of the opinion that you can look beautiful in inexpensive things. Among her favorite brands are such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Prada, Helmut Lang.
As a result, Sophie is the only one in the world who has earned the full favor of the British Queen and even more, managed to become her kindred spirit,
"Soon to be princess - five minutes to a princess" - the definition of the official girl of His Highness Edward Windsor over time began to seem to her almost a mockery: "five minutes" stretched out for many years. These years have changed Sophie so much that sometimes it seemed that a hundred years had passed since their first meeting.
The start of photography was delayed, and the prince was clearly unhappy. There were only a few days left before the opening of the charity tennis championship, which was held under the patronage of the royal house, and today the tournament's advertising booklet was supposed to be removed. But when Edward, accompanied by his retinue and guards, arrived at the court, it turned out that the tennis player, with whom they agreed on filming, fell ill. Someone from the organizers of the competition pointed to Sophie (she worked in a PR agency and was engaged in an advertising campaign for the tournament):
"Your Highness, maybe you could film with her?" Turning his head, Edward saw a pretty fair-haired girl who, standing on the sidelines, chatted cheerfully with the photographer about something. “Why not,” the prince shrugged his shoulders and added quite indifferently: “She is, in general, not bad.”
In addition to other advantages, Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones also had a "royal" height - against the background of her 165 cm, Edward looked quite courageous. Sophie, who on that day for the first time appeared on a real indoor royal court and was photographed in the company of a real prince, fluttered so gracefully between the site and the dressing room, changing T-shirts, so gently bowed her pretty head on the shoulder of His Highness, that in two hours, while the shooting was going on , just conquered all the men present on the court. Or rather, everyone except Edward. After that, they met several times (Sophie and her boss came to Buckingham Palace for meetings about the tournament's advertising campaign), but the relationship between the young people remained purely businesslike.
"A great guy, always so charming," Sophie shared her impressions in response to questions from curious friends. "Well? .." - they did not let up. "Well, nothing," Sophie shrugged.
Friends did not believe. Edward Windsor was never considered a casanova or a playboy in England, but reports of the appearance of another new "acquaintance" with His Highness appeared in the press regularly. If he had not been born a prince, Edward would certainly have become an actor: a passion for theatrics has lived in him since childhood. By the way, she also served as a pretext for scandals: at one time, photographs of Edward appeared in the tabloids, captured in a very informal setting, surrounded by some grimacing young people. The press reproached His Highness with at least frivolity, and conservative public opinion grumbled angrily: why is it, they say, our prince is so delighted with this frivolous atmosphere of hypocrisy and these cheeky ministers of Melpomene? Edward only kept saying: "I adore the theater", but the further, the more imbued with the code of conduct adopted in the royal family, and the less often he gave rise to new scandals. The actor in it finally and irrevocably lost to the prince.
His Highness lost his innocence in the arms of a 21-year-old court maid - Edward himself was barely 18 then. The story of seduction - although it is still unknown who actually seduced whom - developed rapidly and ended in a slight scandal: dressed and gently smacking the happy Eddie on the cheek, the young lady from the prince's bedchamber went straight to the servants' quarters, which was packed with people. Here she was greeted with a flurry of applause and publicly declared from the threshold: "Insolent, shameless type!" The next morning, the whole of Buckingham Palace only talked about the details of the first sexual experience of the royal offspring, and the embarrassed prince was afraid to lean out of his room for several days.
Best of the day
While Edward was at school, his person attracted little attention from the ubiquitous paparazzi, but with admission to Cambridge, the situation changed radically. As soon as the prince appeared in the company of a young woman, cameras immediately began to chirp around. For several days and nights, journalists were on duty on the roof, watching through telephoto lenses outside the windows of the apartment of Corinne Taylor, Edward's classmate, whom, according to rumors, His Highness was very infatuated with. The pictures taken by them became the occasion for an extraordinary meeting of the university council, at which Edward was gently hinted that Cambridge should not be the scene of such scandals. And in general - it is not good for the prince of the blood to have a relationship with an untitled student. As a result, the unfortunate Korin was forced to change educational institutions, and Edward became even more withdrawn into himself.
The royal family, no less closely than the paparazzi, followed the adventures of their "youngest" and did not sit idly by. One day, the King and Queen of Norway organized a grand party, to which almost all members of the royal families of Europe were invited. The party was attended by ten princes and half a dozen princesses - representatives of various royal dynasties. The wise monarchs decided to reacquaint all their unmarried and unmarried offspring in the hope that one of them would find his precious crowned half in this "boat of love". Edward was introduced to Princess Martha Louise of Norway, as well as Astrid de Shuten, heiress to the aristocratic Wetthall family. However, in the network of Cupid, so skillfully woven by fathers and mothers, no one was caught that evening. The heirs and heirs of high-profile surnames honestly chatted and danced for the allotted time, and with a sense of accomplishment, they safely went home.
But even guided by his own taste, Edward could not find a suitable pair for a long time. Novels flared up one after another, but were short-lived and went out, without having time to lead to anything serious. For several months he sought the location of 17-year-old model Rommie Ellington - and when he finally did (“The next morning, Eddie was terribly proud that he managed to get me into the castle and leave me there all night under the nose of the queen.”) He soon realized that relationship with Rommy will end sooner or later. Rommie was a child of a completely different world - she loved parties and parties. She absolutely didn’t give a damn about royal etiquette: when they tried to explain to her how the girl of His Highness should behave, Rommie just wrinkled her nose cutely and spoke in the sense that she saw it all in the coffin. In general, Edward had to part with Rommie. As with the others: one was too eccentric; another loved to give tabloid interviews and pose for the paparazzi; the third had an idiotic habit of sneaking up behind him in the morning and saying, "Hi, chicken!" slap his highness on the soft spot; the fourth wanted to become a princess so much that from the first day of their acquaintance she kept repeating only about the upcoming engagement ... The old truth - there is no perfection in this world - was confirmed, alas, again and again. Edward was ready to put up with it, but then he met Sophie.
He called her only after the end of the tournament, when more than two months had passed since the day they first met. Sophie's phone call from His Highness came as a complete surprise. They chatted a little, and at the end of the conversation, Edward suggested that the girl play a game of tennis, and at the same time have dinner at the palace. It was an amazing evening - Cinderella was going to her first ball...
The Rhys-Jones lived near Oxford - a typical English family with a slightly above average income. Sophie's father was a car dealer on the Continent, and her mother worked as a bank manager. Both greatly valued their reputation as a respected, respectable couple and were firmly convinced that it was necessary to live in accordance with traditions - it was not established by us, it is not for us to change. It was a quiet, measured life - good private schools for son and daughter, weekends sailing or in hunting meadows, a glass or two of a good English gin and tonic after dinner - many years later, after learning that his daughter was going to marry a prince England, Sir Christopher Rhys-Jones will exclaim: "God, for the first time in my life I need a drink in the morning!"
Sophie in her childhood was not considered either a good girl or a mischievous girl. Because they knew - it can be different. However, Sophie never rushed to extremes. She loved to joke and laugh, but she never allowed herself to be vulgar. She was upset that her parents could not buy her a pony (almost all of her friends from Kent College had their own stables), but this and other experiences did not turn into obsessions and did not develop into complexes. Sophie danced well, showed good results in running and swimming, was excellent at making friends and attracted the attention of guys, although she did not use makeup at all.
Sophie had her first suitor when she was just 9 years old. At that time, their school held a competition "Who makes a face better." Sophie boldly entered the stage - and one of her classmates was so shocked by what he saw that after the competition he mustered up courage, approached the winner and, sniffing, kissed her on the cheek. Miss Rhys-Jones generously forgave the impudent young man and even allowed him to walk her home.
After graduating from college, Sophie went to study secretaries, and in her spare time worked as a waitress in small restaurants. Having got out of the clutches of conservative school morality, the young lady now came off as best she could - Sophie loved to go to pubs with friends, smoked like a steam locomotive, danced until she dropped, flirted with guys. More than frivolous anecdotes, told by her with a completely direct expression on her face, became hits and brought the company to hysterics. On "Capital Radio" she met Chris Tarrent, the famous DJ, their friendship gradually grew into a love-romantic one. It is this relationship that will cause a scandal when the British tabloid "Sun" publishes a very candid photo of the future princess. In fact, there were many such photos - Sophie and Chris loved to have fun and did not see anything shameful in it. At one time, top-less shots even graced her home albums. (Of course, after meeting His Highness, the frivolous photographs had to be removed from there.)
While Prince Edward grew up and matured, working in the former colonies or serving as an officer in the Royal Marines (falling in love with models, actresses and athletes along the way), Sophie also did not waste time. She worked in the travel industry, traveled around Europe and Australia. Back in London, Ms. Rhys-Jones decided to try her hand at PR, worked for the Cancer Relief Fund, and on weekends, together with a friend, a dentist, Tim King, plowed the sky over old England in a small private jet. Before meeting with His Highness, there was nothing left, but, entering into another risky "tailspin", Sophie, of course, had no idea about this.
..."In no case do not use a cell phone for private conversations - they can listen to you. Try to take out the garbage bags right before the arrival of the garbage collectors - otherwise the whole country will start discussing what you ate for dinner, what shampoo you washed your hair with and by what means Raise the curtains on the windows as little as possible - at least when you are in the apartment - Never answer their questions on the street, no matter how innocent they may seem - only at official interviews or press conferences If you are all if one of the pa-parazzi is taken by surprise - be sure to inform us, and it is important to do this as soon as possible" - Sophie already knew these traditional instructions of the chief of the royal security service by heart. A few years ago, they seemed to her the delirium of a madman, but she soon became convinced that it was simply necessary to follow these unspoken laws - becoming Edward's "official" lover, Sophie had to accept the rules of the game. There were many of these rules, and they regulated literally everything - from the procedure for serving tea with chocolate cake in the palace on weekends to the process of compiling official statements for the press or refutation of the next newspaper "duck".
Sophie recalled the first time she came to the palace - after that memorable game of tennis to which Edward invited her. Then he seemed to her cold, even insensitive. Later, Sophie realized that the prince's arrogance, his haughty sarcasm, is just a manner of hiding emotions, something that people have been taught for years, forced to live according to the canons of royal etiquette. This came to light that evening when they were having dinner and chatting casually in His Highness's apartment. It quickly became clear that their tastes coincide in almost everything. Edward just melted before our eyes:
his interlocutor was not a bit different from all those boring aristocrats, windy top models and neurotic theatrical divas. Sophie turned out to be an absolutely earthly girl - and with every minute Edward liked it more and more.
"Two guys called you all morning - one Richard and one Goose," a colleague once said when Sophie came to work. "By the way, they both have suspiciously the same voices." Sophie just smiled.
His Highness turned out to be not a great master of conspiracies. Half an hour later, Edward-Richard-Goose called back and told Sophie that he was inviting her to a family dinner at the palace.
The tabloids savored the stories a thousand times about what funny incidents happened to the girlfriends of Elizabeth's sons who got to an official reception. They wrote that one of the lovers of either Edward or Andrew came to the palace ... with her pillow - once the girl had the imprudence to leave traces of mascara on the royal bed linen and was terribly upset about this. Another "princess" cut her finger in the bathroom and hurriedly wrapped it in a towel hanging on the wall. When the unfortunate woman saw that she had stained the royal monogram with blood, such a hysteria happened to her that the whole Windsor Palace was shaking. Sophie laughed to tears when she read these stories.
However, as soon as she herself stepped into the twilight of the Green Drawing Room, Sophie immediately felt that her hands ceased to obey her, and her body began to shake with excitement.
The guests started with aperitifs in the Green Lounge, then moved on to dinner in the Oak Room. Sophie watched with rapt attention as footmen in black livery with scarlet cuffs and glittering buttons slowly and solemnly served dishes on huge trays. She heard the soft clatter of heavy silverware, the splash of wine filling ancient glasses, she saw the queen's pearl necklace flickering ... The majesty of the palace overwhelmed the newcomers only in the first minutes - then she began to bewitch.
Since that weekend, Sophie Rhys-Jones has become a regular guest at Her Majesty's court and a participant in all the rituals associated with the life of the royal family. On Sundays, she attended services in the palace church. And one day, in the twilight of the cathedral, Sophie suddenly saw herself standing in front of this altar in a snow-white wedding dress.
December 17, 1993 - Sophie remembered this date very well, because on that day an event occurred that finally turned her life upside down. In the morning, a tall, intelligent-looking young man entered the office of their foundation. The stranger walked over to Sophie's table, bowed his head in a jocularly respectful bow, and said loudly, "Miss Rhys-Jones, will you allow me to be the first to call you Your Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge?" A dead silence reigned in the room. The staff gaped in surprise at Sophie.
Five minutes later, Andrew Norton - the author of numerous publications about the royal family, who became famous after publishing the revelations of Princess Diana of Wales - was already showing Sophie photos of him with Prince Edward the night before in her apartment. Smiling triumphantly, Norton asked Sophie to make a statement to the press. Blushing in surprise, she wrote: "The Prince and I are good friends, we work together. He and I are private individuals, and I have nothing more to add." The journalist took the paper and hurried to take his leave. Edward, having learned about what had happened, was very upset: "No, no, you did everything right, only ..." What "only", he did not say. In the evening, the prince called for her and they went to the palace for another weekend. On the way they were already pursued by paparazzi on three motorcycles...
"Edward is in love!" "Prince has finally found the girl of his dreams and is about to get married!" The newspapers were filled with the most idiotic headlines, several dozen photographers accompanied Sophie on the way home and back, neighbors complained to the police that some subjects constantly roamed the roofs of their houses at night. The prince went darker than a cloud and eventually wrote a letter to the press, in which he asked not to interfere in his personal life and give him and Sophie time and the opportunity to sort out their relationship. Edward was not a snob - on the contrary, he believed that both Diana and Sarah breathed new life into the musty atmosphere of the palace chambers. But at the same time, His Highness twitched when he recalled the scandalous photograph of Sarah Ferguson, in which the future princess languidly offered her leg for a kiss to her "financial adviser". Edward thought the incident made his brother Andrew look like a complete idiot to everyone.
And Sophie was torn by contradiction. On the one hand, she could not help but be flattered that she was finally recognized as the "official" girl of the prince. On the other hand, Sophie was terribly afraid, cursed her own stupidity and prayed to God that none of the photographs of her "fun life" appeared in the press.
They continued to see Edward. In 1994, he invited her to celebrate the New Year in one of the royal estates - the Sanringham House estate in North Norfolk. Sophie recalled with a smile her former excitement and confusion - now she became a real court lady and felt like a fish in water in these intricate labyrinths of royal etiquette. She already knew exactly how many times a day she needed to change clothes (for riding, hunting, second breakfast, tea, lunch), what she could go out for dinner and what not, how many aperitifs would be served before a meal and how much martinis cost. limit yourself so as not to look inappropriate at the table. The Queen and Prince Philip treated Sophie well, she was even allowed to drive to church in Her Majesty's car. One day, Sophie heard rumors that Edward had already consulted with his mother about their engagement. In general, everything went well. Even the entertainments accepted in the royal family - leisurely conversations, careful, correct jokes, which at first seemed so dreary to her, were now perceived by Sophie in a completely different way. At least here she was calm - she didn’t have to run away from stubborn reporters, repeat every minute "No comment!" and startle from unexpected flashes.
Outside, however, everything remained the same. One day, Edward, unable to stand the next "well, when ?!", sharply told reporters: "If you finally shut up, do something else and let us gather our thoughts, the engagement will happen much faster!"
On the morning of her 29th birthday, she woke up with some unusual joyful feeling - for some reason Sophie was sure that today, on her birthday, she would definitely receive a small "modest" ring from Edward. Soon, a gift from His Highness was delivered to her - a delightfully beautiful and very expensive ... travel suitcase. Sophie sat hugging that stupid suitcase in her bedroom, not knowing what to think. Her lover turned out to be, to put it mildly, not a very romantic nature. In his letters, he could call Sophie "my beloved", draw countless hearts at the end, he could send her huge bouquets of roses and take her to fabulously beautiful places for the weekend - or he could give her a suitcase for her birthday. At that moment, when she was ready to get angry and slander him, His Highness burst into her apartment and joyfully announced that they would be taken to Buckingham Palace to celebrate her birthday. At the end of the evening, Edward gave Sophie another gift - a photograph of himself from his time in the Marine Corps in an elegant silver frame. “Still, Edward is not only a romantic,” one of her friends remarked on this occasion. “He is also a prince.” Sophie never received the ring that day. Like Edward's birthday, Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's Day... The newspapers made prediction after prediction about the upcoming engagement - but none of them came true.
Nevertheless, attempts to find dirt on the future Princess of Cambridge did not stop. Actor Greg Matthew was offered a fee of half a million dollars for a story about his relationship with Sophie Rhys-Jones - it was rumored that they were lovers in Australia. Greg tactfully refused. A certain German lawyer turned out to be more "frank" - Sophie did not even suspect the existence of this person. He said that during one old party, Sophie was so eager to jump under his covers that the unfortunate "only by a miracle could stop her." The newspaper "Daily News" published an article "The film that shocked the prince." It was about an amateur film shot by Sophie during her turbulent youth - in the film, Miss Rees-Jones "danced frivolously in a tight mini-dress to the accompaniment of playful music, and then, with lust in her gaze, wrapped herself around a muscular macho and merged with him in a long kiss." In fact, the prince was not at all shocked - he laughed to tears, and then told Sophie that she had acted very wisely by not continuing her film career.
By 1995, Sophie had already become the constant companion of His Highness at all official events. Edward introduced her to the highest circles of the English aristocracy, from the prince's girl she turned into his bride, but nothing was reported about the date of their engagement.
The events surrounding the scandal around Charles and Diana, then their sensational divorce - everything seemed to be stacking against Sophie. Having agreed to the role of the "unofficial" bride of the prince and having spent three years in this capacity, she understood that it was too late to retreat, and there was nowhere to go - she could only wait. One of Sophie’s close friends recalled: “The need to constantly control yourself, always think about what you can say, what you can’t, you won’t wish this on your enemy. This way of life has changed our Sophie a lot. I watched the press all the time - as if I was waiting for something terrible to get there, not today or tomorrow, and she would no longer be able to change anything."
Sophie and Edward were in their thirties by then. They remained the only unmarried couple in their circle. Sophie became even more cautious, refused interviews and filming, she and the prince spent more and more time at home, preferring TV to secular receptions.
It was 1997 - the newspapers were increasingly gossip that Edward was going to leave her. The prince, on the other hand, insisted that they definitely need to look after themselves some kind of house.
Edward's palace apartments consisted of two bedrooms. When Sophie stayed with him, she occupied one bedroom, the prince another. He could not advertise their relationship in front of his family and servants - this was also a rule of etiquette. For several years in a row, after every night spent together, His Highness, at exactly 5.30 on tiptoe, like a boy, made his way to his bedroom, so that in half an hour he would be ready for the arrival of the valet with morning tea and biscuits. It was also impossible to breathe freely somewhere in nature - the lovers had to think only about whether the paparazzi were hiding in the bushes.
In order to somehow distract herself from the feeling of uncertainty and constant expectation, Sophie decided to go into business. The firm, thanks to the charm of its owner and direct connection with the royal family, developed rapidly, and soon the R-JH trademark spread throughout the world. The partners of the company were the houses of Chanel, Dior, Christian Lacroix. Sophie changed her hair, began to dress with Thomas Startsevsky, attended all the world's fashion shows, gave a huge interview to the magazine "Hallow", which delighted all members of the royal family. In the same issue of the magazine, pictures of Princess Diana and her new admirer Dodi al-Fayed were published. And two weeks later they died.
No matter how much Sophie experienced the death of Diana, she could not help but understand that the engagement would again have to be postponed. Sophie quietly went about her work and oversaw the renovation of the mansion Edward had bought a few months ago. The business of the company was going well. Before meeting the prince, Sophie earned 20 thousand pounds a year, but now she was rapidly moving towards her first million. And yet ... in January 1999 she will turn 34. And Sophie was still "a five-minute princess."
It happened shortly before Christmas - Edward invited her to Bermuda, they rented a luxurious cottage, and one day, during a candlelit dinner, His Highness suddenly said this phrase:
Sophie, will you marry me?
And she couldn't think of anything better than to simply answer:
Yes please!
If only His Highness knew how much was behind this "please"! However, Edward was probably the only one who knew about it.
On January 6, the Prince officially announced his engagement to Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones. This time, Edward decided to give up extravagant gifts such as a suitcase and presented the bride with an amazing ring for 55 thousand pounds - three diamonds set in white gold. "I hope that we will avoid a pompous wedding and celebrate it in a narrow home circle. We chose St. George's Church - since Sophie visited it with the Queen five years ago, she always wanted to get married there."
The wedding was scheduled for June 19th. And at the end of May, what the future princess was so afraid of happened: the British tabloid The Sun finally got hold of one of her 11-year-old photographs. It shows a cheerful Sophie sitting in a car with Chris Tarrent, who playfully lifts her T-shirt. The photograph was sold to the newspaper for $150,000 (according to other sources, $400,000) by a certain Carra Noble, Sophie's ex-girlfriend. Upon learning of this, Sophie realized that everything was lost ...
However, nothing happened. Members of the royal family unanimously came to the defense of the future relative. Edward stated that he was fully aware of that long-standing adventure of the bride. Public opinion sounded wise and convincing - in the sense that one tragedy of Diana is enough for us. The Sun newspaper officially apologized to Sophie and recognized the publication as a mistake.
And Carra Noble was fired from his job the same day.
The upcoming marriage of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker-Bowles has become one of the main world news. In the UK, the news was treated with less interest, they cared only that all formalities and decency were observed. The composure of the British is explained simply: they have long been accustomed to the fact that princes and princesses do not deny themselves anything.
In mid-February, sensational news spread around the world. Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, intends to remarry. The lucky bride is Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Prince's longtime friend and, as many have said, the woman who ruined his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer. While foreign journalists happily described the long history of the relationship between the heir to the throne and his mistress, the British were interested in the seemingly most boring questions - what will Camilla be called after the wedding, what title will she take when Prince Charles becomes king, and, finally, what part the church will take in the forthcoming marriage ceremony.
They were interested on a completely boring occasion - whether a new marriage would cause a political crisis in a country where any step of the monarch or his direct heir could have completely unpredictable consequences. The answers received from representatives of the Prince of Wales, the British were quite satisfied: the ceremony will be civil, the Archbishop of Canterbury will only "bless" the happy couple. Camilla Parker-Bowles will not become the Princess of Wales, she will get the modest title of Duchess of Cornwall. And after the accession of her husband to the throne, she will be called the princess consort. No threat to the state system.
After that, the subjects of Elizabeth II had no choice but to congratulate Charles (a man, not the heir to the throne) on the fulfillment of a long-term desire - marrying the woman he loves. Moreover, the upcoming marriage is one of the few happy ones in the last eight decades, since the wedding of the future King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923.
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The beginning of a series of royal divorces was laid by Princess Margaret, the younger sister of the current Queen. In 1960, she married photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones. The marriage was not at all unequal: the groom belonged to one of the best families in Wales. The marriage of Margaret and Mr Armstrong-Jones was the first royal wedding to be televised. The groom was granted the title of Earl of Snowdon.
But if someone accused the princess of recklessness, it soon became clear that it was worth worrying about the Earl of Snowdon. Princess Margaret turned the life of a young photographer into a living hell. She went to the most scandalous parties in London. In her bright red helicopter, she independently flew around the United Kingdom, during the day she could be seen at once in three or four places in England or Scotland. The family tried not to talk about what was going on in her apartment on the Caribbean island of Mustique at all: only after the death of the princess in 2002 did everyone become aware of the details of violent parties.
However, even what was known about the behavior of the princess was enough for the subjects of the British crown to understand back in the early 1960s that the princess could not be called an exemplary wife. When the newspapers increasingly began to appear reports of the princess's affair with a certain Roddy Llewellyn, the inhabitants of the United Kingdom began to wait for the breakup of the family to be officially announced. We didn't have to wait long. In 1978, a spokesman for Buckingham Palace reported that the Earl of Snowdon and HRH The Countess of Snowdon had divorced. It was the first divorce in the royal family since the beginning of the century, when the daughter of Queen Victoria (and part-time granddaughter of Alexander II), Princess Victoria, divorced to marry her cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich.
The divorce had no effect on Princess Margaret's lifestyle. She drank in her apartment at Buckingham Palace and Mustique Island until she suffered a stroke in 1998. She died in 2002, already a complete invalid.
princess and soldiers
The marriage of the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Anne, and dragoon captain Mark Phillips was also not happy, although it began as an idyll. On November 14, 1973, over a million people watched the wedding ceremony - it was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live around the world. However, not only this fact for a long time kept the couple in the spotlight of journalists and the general public. Anna and Mark have shown truly miracles of democracy. Captain Phillips flatly refused any titles. Later, when Anna and Mark had children - son Peter and daughter Zara, the grandmother offered to make them a prince and princess, but democratic parents again refused.
Rumors that the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Phillips did not work out have been around for a long time. The royal family denied these rumors from time to time. However, as it turned out, the husband and wife only waited for the children to come of age in order to get a divorce. In 1989, the couple announced their desire to "break up", and in 1992 the divorce was formalized. Literally a few days after the divorce, the royal princess (Anne's official title) married the captain of the second rank of the Royal Navy Timothy Lawrence.
The public was excited not so much by the fact of the divorce as by the fact that the royal princess, entering into a new marriage, decided on a wedding ceremony. Since the Anglican Church opposes the remarriage of divorced people, the ceremony took place in Scotland (the Church of Scotland is more liberal towards divorced people).
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The wedding of the second son of Elizabeth II, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, an independent, red-haired beauty who has already been married, made no less noise. The romance of Andrew and Fergie began long before the wedding, but at first neither Queen Elizabeth nor her husband agreed to the marriage. Fergie's only protector was the Queen Mother. It was she who ensured that on July 23, 1986, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson still got married.
The Duke and Duchess of York seemed like the happiest couple in the world. The Duchess quickly fell in love with the entire royal family. But the myth of the perfect marriage did not last long. The Duke of York, a professional naval officer (he served on the aircraft carrier Invincible during the Falklands War), was rarely at home, the Duchess was left to her own devices. In 1992, the newspapers started talking about her affair with the American John Bryan, her financial agent. The tabloids even circulated highly explicit photos of Fergie and Brian. At the end of the year, the Duke and Duchess announced that they were separating. The divorce was finalized in May 1996.
It seems, however, that the unhappy marriage (and the deprivation of the title of Her Royal Highness of the Duchess of York) did not affect the relationship of the former spouses. Andrew and Fergie see each other constantly, going to receptions and parties together, and seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company.
Prince and publicist
Perhaps the only exception to the general rule was the marriage of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones. They married on June 19, 1999 and have not yet divorced. However, it is also difficult to call their marriage completely happy. Prince Edward, as many say, is not very fond of relatives. He is also remembered for inappropriate behavior (he was seriously involved in theater and even, to the displeasure of other members of the royal family, worked on television), and, of course, marrying the owner of a PR agency, Miss Rhys-Jones.
The queen, who prefers not to advertise her attitude to the actions of the children, this time decided on unprecedented measures. In 1999, the wedding ceremony of the son of the monarch for the first time took place not in Westminster Abbey, but in the "home" chapel of St. George in Windsor. On the occasion of the marriage, the sons of the monarch were usually given the title of duke, but Prince Edward was granted the title of Earl of Wessex. The title was revived after centuries of oblivion, and no one has heard of Wessex itself since Norman times.
However, the Earl and Countess of Wessex are also not immune from divorce. Until they lived together for six years. And even the most short-lived marriage in the royal family - Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson - lasted as much as ten.
HAKIM IBRAGIMOV
