
The Duchess of Edinburgh has celebrated her 60th birthday and the Royal Family marked a milestone in the life of one of their MVPs.
When Sophie Rhys-Jones married the third son of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1999, they weren’t slated for full-time royal roles. The pair—the Earl and Countess of Wessex as they were styled at the time—wanted to continue in their jobs and to support The Queen on a part-time basis.

But in Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee year, Edward and Sophie changed their tune and decided, in the face of a caught-on-tape controversy, to support the Monarch full-time and champion causes close to their hearts.
Today, we’re all the better for it. Sophie is the royal superstar the Royal Family desperately needs.

Ready to go to Ukraine, Iraq, Chad, Ethiopia at a moment’s notice, at the government’s request, in support of charities who need the spotlight a royal patronage can provide, Sophie’s out there showing that royalty isn’t just castles and tiaras and sparkling jewels and pretty dresses: it’s hard work, it’s digging in your heels, it’s shining the light on the tougher facets of life and how we can work together to end suffering and support growth.

Buckingham Palace shared that Sophie “has a renewed sense of excitement and commitment to her work around gender equality and looks forward to further embracing and championing this issue in the years to come.”

Sophie doesn’t champion the glamourous causes. It would be easy to portray her work with a polished veneer of royal magic, the sort of work you’d see in a movie about royalty, but that’s not her style. She’s on the frontlines; she’s on the borders of war-torn countries; she’s speaking to the survivors of gender-based violence and encouraging them; she’s championing those living with vision loss; she supports her military units and young people working through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; she gives every engagement a bit of royal sparkle that only she can manage.
In her birthday portraits, shot earlier this month by Christina Ebenezer, a smiling Sophie looks lively and invigorated. It’s an exciting feeling, anticipating what will come next.