NEED TO KNOW
Just weeks before her wedding, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, was at the center
A former colleague leaked racy photos of Sophie to a British tabloid, hoping to embarrass the future royal
Thankfully, Sophie had the support of Queen Elizabeth, and her wedding to Prince Edward went off without a hitch
A leaked photo scandal left Sophie — the current Duchess of Edinburgh — upset and feeling like she let the royal family down just before her wedding to Prince Edward.
In a new biography of the now-Duchess of Edinburgh, titled Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, author Sean Smith looks back at the 1999 scandal that had the soon-to-be royal in “floods of tears” ahead of her big day, according to the Daily Mail.
Sophie’s scandal was related to photos taken while on vacation and sold to the ravenous British press by a friend.
The outlet reported that Kara Noble, who worked alongside the future royal at the Capital radio network, received £40,000 for photos of a topless 23-year-old Sophie on holiday in Spain with radio host Chris Tarrant. One shot was published by The Sun alongside the headline “Sophie just laughed as Chris pulled up her bikini.”
Smith writes that Sophie was mortified by the leak, fearing the photos could “torpedo her innocent excitement and the support of the public.” He also alleges that Kara had explicitly promised Sophie that the photos would never make it to the public domain.
Sophie’s former PR business partner, Murray Harkin, told the biographer, “She was so upset because she felt that she was ‘letting the side down’ before her wedding.”
However, she received “unwavering” support from the royal family, especially her future mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth, who called the story “premeditated cruelty.”
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Sophie and Prince Edward on their wedding day, June 19, 2019
Tarrant issued a public denial that he’d ever had an “improper relationship” with the future royal and slammed Noble for selling out her former colleague. “To the person who has sold these pictures, you know who you are. Kara, how will you ever be able to look Sophie in the face again? I don’t feel angry. I don’t feel disgust — I feel deeply saddened,” he said on his show.
Noble did ultimately apologize for her actions, telling the Mail on Sunday that leaking the photos was “the biggest and most public mistake one could ever make.” She lost her job and left London, moving to the U.S.
The Sun also issued a full-page apology with the headline “Sorry Sophie,” according to the Daily Mail.
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Sophie’s wedding to Edward took place on June 19, 1999, and the prince is now the only one of Queen Elizabeth’s children to still be married to his first spouse. The couple share two children, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, 21, and James, Earl of Wessex, 17.
The Duchess of Edinburgh, 60, has also become a valuable member of the royal family. She and Prince Edward, 61, are fixtures at major royal events like Trooping the Colour.
Sophie clocked over 100 royal engagements in 2024 and was ranked as the fifth “hardest working royal” by SEO agency Reboot Online. The annual list was calculated by counting official engagements recorded in the Court Circular.
Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, inspects officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on: Friday April 11, 2025.
She has even filled in for King Charles multiple times this already this year. In April, Sophie inspected the troops ahead of the Sovereign’s Parade at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. Then in July, she traveled to Bosnia to deliver a speech on the King’s behalf, recognizing the 30th anniversary of that country’s brutal genocide and paying tribute to the surviving “Mothers of Srebrenica.”
It is significant that Sophie was the one King Charles chose to represent him at the commemoration in Bosnia. As part of her more than 70 royal patronages, she has worked for several years on behalf of women in gender-based conflict around the world.
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