The ‘trump card’ Sophie played on first date with Prince Edward | Royal | News
The Duchess of Edinburgh did something that touched her heart on her first date with Prince Edward. In 1993, Sophie Rhys-Jones was a PR manager at Capital Radio and met the prince at a charity tennis competition she was working on.
Former tennis pro Sue Barker had opted out of a photo call for the event, so Sophie stepped in. Sean Smith, author of Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, said: “No one noticed any electricity going on during the photo call and there was no question of the prince phoning to suggest a trip to the cinema.” Sophie gave Edward her number “in case there were any problems with the challenge.” A few months later, he called “out of the blue” and asked her to “join him for a real tennis match and have some dinner at the palace afterwards.” The current Duchess “didn’t know much” about tennis, but the prince was happy to explain the game and “kick a few balls”. Smith said Sophie “has a time-honored talent for making men feel completely at ease” and so the pair were “able to instantly relax around each other”.
Sophie came up with a clever idea and “played a trump card” during their tennis outing by “suggesting that he should take a few proper lessons” in order to “give the prince a ‘real’ game.”
Smith said that “Edward beamed” as his “natural shyness melted into Sophie’s smile”. The prince would give Sophie “her own real tennis racket.”
The couple became engaged in January 1999 and were due to marry at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in June of the same year.
The couple have two children: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex, who are respectively 17th and 16th in line to the throne as of 2025.
In 2002, Sophie closed her business interests and began working full-time as a member of the Royal Family. Patron of over 70 charities and organisations, including Childline and the London College of Fashion.
Her charity work primarily revolves around people with disabilities, women’s rights, preventable blindness, and agriculture.
