NEED TO KNOW
A new book claims to unveil why Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh did not attend Princess Diana’s royal ceremonial funeral in 1997
According to Sophie: Saving the Royal Family by Sean Smith, Sophie did not want to upset the crowd because of the resemblance she and Diana shared
Sophie was dating Prince Edward at the time of Princess Diana’s death in 1997, and she later married Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son in 1999
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh has been a central member of the royal family for years, but she didn’t attend Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 — and a new book claims to unveil the real reason why.
In Sophie: Saving the Royal Family by Sean Smith, the author wrote that Sophie did not go to Princess Diana’s funeral on Sept. 6, 1997, because of the striking resemblance that she and Diana shared.
“She had an obvious and reasonable excuse: a friend at the palace explained, ‘Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went,’ ” Smith wrote in the biography published on July 17, the Daily Mail reported. ” ‘She’s well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The royal family fully supported.’ “
Both the late Princess of Wales and Sophie wore their blonde hair in cropped haircuts, which Sophie, now 60, later grew out into a longer style that she continues to sport today.
Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty
(Left) Princess Diana; (Right) Sophie Rhys-Jones.
Diana and Sophie shared similar features with blue eyes and light hair, and the Duchess of Edinburgh reportedly once commented on the likeness.
“I don’t deny that we do look alike. But I couldn’t ever compete with Diana’s image. I’m not Diana,” Sophie told the Daily Mail in the 1990s, according to the Daily Express.
At the time of Diana’s death, the future Duchess of Edinburgh was a public relations professional known by her maiden name, Sophie Rhys-Jones, and was dating Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son, Prince Edward.
Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty
Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones on their June 19, 1999 wedding day.
Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997, at age 36, following a car accident in Paris, and she was honored in a Westminster Abbey service attended by over 2,000 people. It was estimated that about a million people lined the route of her funeral cortege through London, while another two billion people watched on television.
Two years later, Prince Edward and Sophie announced their engagement in January 1999 and tied the knot at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on June 19, 1999, officially bringing her into the royal fold.
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Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh at Trooping the Colour on June 14, 2025.
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Sophie embraced a full-time working royal alongside her husband, with whom she went on to welcome two children — daughter Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and son James, Earl of Wessex, 17 — and has focused her royal work on supporting people with disabilities, the elimination of avoidable blindness, advocating for survivors of sexual conflict and more.
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