The Duchess of Edinburgh, who turns 61 today, has long been referred to as a “secret weapon” within the Royal Family, and she has finally admitted her feelings regarding the nickname.
The Duchess of Edinburgh has earned a reputation as one of the Royal Family’s safest pair of hands. And today, no doubt the likes of the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales will be wishing Sophie a ‘happy birthday’ as she turns 61 today.
Over the past two years, she has carved out an at times gritty role travelling to the likes of Iraq, Chad and even Ukraine – mainly to champion women and the role she believes they can play in delivering peace across the world. In recent years, courtiers and charity bosses have hailed Sophie as a dependable figure in the slimmed-down working monarchy – earning her the often-used description of the Royal Family’s ‘secret weapon’.
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And in a previous rare interview with the Mirror, Sophie finally opened up about how she feels about the nickname – and gave an unexpected answer. Revealing her thoughts about the label, she explained: “I like to fly under the radar. It’s all very well being a secret weapon, but if no one knows, maybe it’s too secret.”
However, she continued, “I suppose I should take it as a backhanded compliment,” after a moment. I don’t see myself as being in a front-line position by itself, but admittedly, there aren’t as many working members in our family these days, so I’m starting to feel less secretive. I’m just curious what they’ll say next about me.
However, when asked what kind of description her own would be, she quickly responded, “I don’t know, I am going to leave that for others, I would suggest something that could go horribly wrong.”
Sophie acknowledged that sometimes it can “take its toll on emotions” because of her role traveling the world and confronting difficult subjects like conflict-related sexual violence head-on.
The Duchess claims that doing as much as she can, especially when it comes to issues facing women, strengthens her resolve even though the subject matters, such as rape, may not be immediately known about and the magnitude of the problems may be too great for one person, like her, to solve alone.
She continued, “It does seem to be wherever I go; it’s the women on the ground who are starting to make the difference, who are the ones starting to build peace, who are going to have to take the resolutions and turn them into actions on the ground.”
It is always emotional, which is true, but you must also look beyond the emotion to find the strength, which is always present. When husband Prince Edward received the title of Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie’s birthday comes just before her third year as Duchess of Edinburgh.
When asked about becoming Duchess of Edinburgh and how she would shape the position, she said, “First of all, it was quite large shoes to fill because not as many people alive today will remember that the Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh for the first few years when she and my father in law first married.
It felt like a lot of a big moment for me to step into her shoes [as Duchess of Edinburgh] as well. However, being practical, both my husband and I have a role in supporting the King as they did the Queen, which gives us the freedom to pursue our own interests.
Source: Mirror
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