The Countess of Wessex has attended her first public engagement after taking a break for the summer holidays at Balmoral, with her last public engagement in July. She attended The Countess of Wessex Cup on Tuesday, 7 September, at RAF Wittering in Peterborough.
The Countess of Wessex Cup, also known informally as the Wessex Cup, is an annual competition where members from The Countess’s honourary military patronages compete against each other in a number of different challenges. This year’s competition included several physical challenges, but also science and engineering-based tasks, a media challenge, an escape room, and even a gaming challenge.
The Countess has a number of honourary military patronages, including the Honourary Air Commodore for RAF Wittering (the base where it was held this year), Colonel-in-Chief for Queen Alexandra’s Royal Nursing Corps, the Lady Sponsor of the HMS Daring, the Royal Colonel of 5th Battalion The Rifles, and the Corps of Army Music, as well as Colonel-in-Chief for two Canadian regiments: the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and the South Alberta Light Horse. Some of the remote challenges allowed members from the Canadian regiments to take part.
Sophie herself took part in the challenge this year, as well. She tried her hand at a racing game called Dirt 2 as a part of the E-Gaming Challenge. She also spoke with several different personnel while visiting and looked to enjoy watching all of the teams compete throughout the day. There was a red arrows fly past during the competition. Sophie presented the cup to the 5th Battalion The Rifles as the 2021 winners.
Although the Countess has become known as one of the more fashionable members of the Royal Family in the last few years, she chose to instead wear a practical outfit of camouflage to fit in with the day’s activities.
