Sophie of Edinburgh, the English duchess who could have become queen of Estonia

Did you know Sophie Rhys-Jones, the wife of Prince Edward and the Duchess of Edinburgh, could have ascended the throne of another European state? A portrait in pictures.

Born in 1965 in Oxford, Sophie Rhys-Jones came from a middle-class English family. Her father was a sales director for an import-export company and her mother was a secretary involved in charitable activities.

Sophie began her professional career in public relations. At first, she worked for the British radio station Capital. In 1996, she created her own agency, RJH Public Relations, which she managed until 2001.

The young woman's destiny changed when she met Prince Edward, the fourth and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He proposed to her in 1998, five years after they met.

Their wedding in Windsor was broadcast on television and drew an estimated 200 million viewers. From the ceremony to the bride's look, the wedding was sumptuous!

By marrying Edward, Sophie Rhys-Jones became the Countess of Wessex. Her husband had received the title of Count from his mother on the occasion of his marriage.

The couple had two children, Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, born in 2003, and James, Viscount Severn, born in 2007 (pictured).

In 2001, the Countess made a memorable gaffe that ended her PR career: she described the Queen as "such a dear old lady" to a journalist disguised as a sheik. She thought the man was a potential client for her agency, Vanity Fair reported.

"Certainly it took me a while to find my feet," she said in Vanity Fair. "The frustration was I had to reduce my expectations of what I could actually do." Becoming part of the British royal family is not easy.

An unusual fact reported by Gala was that Edward's wife could have become queen in her own right. Not of England, of course, but of Estonia!

Indeed, Prince Edward was asked to mount the Estonian throne in 1994, shortly after the fall of the USSR and the country's independence. The leader of the Estonian Royalist Party saw him as the ideal candidate to occupy the position.

Image: Stanislav Rabunski / Unsplash

Edward had politely refused this flattering request, replying that the idea was "inconceivable but charming", Gala reports.

Although he's not reigning over any country, the couple recently gained ground: on Edward's 59th birthday, his brother, King Charles III, granted him the title of Duke of Edinburgh. The Countess of Wessex therefore became the Duchess of Edinburgh.

Sophie had a very close relationship with Queen Elizabeth, who died in 2022. A source from the Daily Telegraph, cited by Vanity Fair, indicated that she had been the late monarch's "favorite daughter-in-law".

The Countess of Wessex had also given her mother-in-law the very affectionate nickname "Mama" during a public speech.

"Sophie is made for the role of mediator", the same source from the Daily Telegraph said. "She has her feet on the ground and is happy to do what she has to do". Although she missed out on the Tallinn palace in Estonia, the Duchess of Edinburgh should continue to play an important role in the English royal family!

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