The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are stronger than ever as they mark a major milestone
WORDS: REBECCA RUSSELL PHOTOS: CAMERA PRESS/PHILIP SINDEN, CAMERA PRESS/GEOFFREY SHAKERLEY, GETTY IMAGES, PA
SILVER WEDDING
From the moment they married back in 1999, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s popularity has steadily increased. Unlike the enormous royal weddings of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, their celebration was understated – with the couple going on to conduct their lives and relationship in a very similar vein. Now, as they prepare to mark their 25th wedding anniversary later this month, Edward and Sophie are repeatedly being branded two of the royal family’s most important “secret weapons”.
Edward, 60, married Sophie Rhys-Jones, 59, in a low-key ceremony at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 June, 1999, and they’ve gone from strength to strength.
The way in which they approached their wedding, as well as how they’ve behaved in the years that have followed – despite being part of one of the world’s most famous families – has been an important factor in Edward and Sophie’s blossoming popularity, according to former BBC royal correspondent, Jennie Bond.
“Understated, unshowy and as down-to-earth as you can be when you are born into the royal family. That’s how Edward and Sophie are today… and it’s how they were 25 years ago on their relatively understated wedding day at Windsor,” Jennie exclusively tells OK!.
Much of their well-deserved success lies in the duchess’ personality and her approach to life both in public and in private, according to Jennie. “Sophie is a natural, humble woman — clearly still very much in love with her husband — and a woman who has grown into her role without fuss or fanfare,” she says. “Perhaps part of the secret of their successful marriage is that they spent five years in a relationship before tying the knot. And that was pretty unusual at the time.
“Sophie had seen at first hand the trauma of the Diana years, the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage, the Yorks’ divorce and Anne’s divorce and second marriage. It was probably quite courageous to become another royal bride! But, by the time they got married, both Edward and Sophie were mature enough to know that they were right for one another.”
The couple first met at London’s Capital Radio in 1987, but it wasn’t until six years later, when they bumped into each other at a charit
