How the PR girl became the Duchess in demand

Sophie Rhys-Jones and her prince are now the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and this week celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. CATHERINE PEPINSTER reports on the 'modest' royal whose role grows every year

- CATHERINE PEPINSTER

SHE WAS the middle-class bride to Elizabeth II's youngest son and after all the troubles of the Queen's other children - Charles, Andrew and Anne all got divorced the wedding and the title given to Sophie Rhys-Jones was decidedly low-key when she married Prince Edward.

Not for them a Westminster Abbey service, as all three of Edward's elder siblings had, first time around - nor the bestowal of a dukedom.

Instead the couple married on June 19, 1999, at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and became the Earl and Countess of Wessex. But what a difference the years make.

Over the past quarter of a century the former PR girl from Kent has become the go-to royal for some of the most difficult tasks that members of the Royal Family carry out.

Sophie, 59, regularly travels on behalf of the Government to represent the UK in troubled parts of the globe. Last month she travelled to Ukraine to speak to victims of Russian sexual violence and meet President Zelensky and his wife.

With typical understatement, she said: "It isn't brave for a duchess to visit Ukraine. The survivors of this horror have true courage."