Sophie, Countess of Wessex

"Countess of Wessex" redirects here. For the title, see Earl of Wessex.

Sophie
Countess of Wessex (more)
HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex
Spouse	Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (m. 1999)
Issue
Lady Louise Windsor James, Viscount Severn
Full name
Sophie Helen
House	House of Windsor
Father	Christopher Rhys-Jones
Mother	Mary Rhys-Jones
Born	20 January 1965 (1965-01-20) Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford
Religion	Anglican (Church of England)

Sophie, Countess of Wessex GCVO (Sophie Helen; née Rhys-Jones; born 20 January 1965), is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, himself the youngest son of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Married in 1999, she worked in public relations until 2002 and now supports her husband in his royal duties. The Earl and Countess have two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

Early life

The Earl and Countess of Wessex, along with former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Lincoln Alexander, unveil a Ontario Heritage Trust plaque in front of the Toronto Dominion Centre, 2006

Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones was born at Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, on 20 January 1965, the second child and first daughter of Christopher Bournes Rhys-Jones (born 1931), a retired tyre salesman, and his wife, Mary (née O'Sullivan; 1934–2005), a secretary, who already had a son, David. Sophie was named after her father's sister, Helen, who died in a riding accident more than a decade before Sophie was born. Her godfather, actor Thane Bettany, is her father's stepbrother; both men spent their early life in Sarawak, North Borneo, then a British protectorate ruled by the White Rajahs.

While she was still young, the Rhys-Jones family moved to Brenchley, Kent. She began her education at Dulwich Preparatory School, before moving on to Kent College, Pembury where she was friends with Sarah Sienesi, with whom she subsequently shared a flat in Fulham and who later became her lady in waiting. She then trained as a secretary at West Kent College, Tonbridge.^{[citation needed]}

Career

The Royal Family of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms
HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Prince of Wales HRH The Duchess of Cornwall HRH The Duke of Cambridge HRH The Duchess of Cambridge HRH Prince Harry of Wales HRH The Duke of York HRH Princess Beatrice of York HRH Princess Eugenie of York HRH The Earl of Wessex HRH The Countess of Wessex Viscount Severn Lady Louise Windsor HRH The Princess Royal HRH The Duke of Gloucester HRH The Duchess of Gloucester HRH The Duke of Kent HRH The Duchess of Kent HRH Prince Michael of Kent HRH Princess Michael of Kent HRH Princess Alexandra

She began a career in public relations, working for a variety of firms, including four years at Capital Radio, where she was assigned to the press and promotions department, as well as public relations companies The Quentin Bell Organisation and MacLaurin Communications & Media. She also worked as a ski representative in Switzerland and spent a year travelling and working in Australia. In 1996, with enough experience behind her, Rhys-Jones then launched her public relations agency, RJH Public Relations, which she ran with her business partner, Murray Harkin.

In 2001, a News of the World undercover reporter, Mazher Mahmood, posing as a sheikh, recorded the Countess making disparaging comments about certain members of the British government and appearing to use her royal status in order to gain clientele. The comments were subsequently published in The Mail on Sunday newspaper, and then by other media outlets. Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the reported comments were 'selective, distorted and in several cases, flatly untrue'. Subsequently, in 2002, both the Earl and Countess announced that they would quit their business interests in order to focus on royal duties and aid the Queen in her Golden Jubilee year.

The Countess at the England vs Germany 2010 Women's Hockey Champions Trophy Bronze Medal Match

Marriage

Main article: Wedding of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie Rhys-Jones

See also: Wedding dress of Sophie Rhys-Jones

TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex at the wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden in June 2010

The engagement of Sophie Rhys-Jones and The Prince Edward, the youngest son of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, was announced on 6 January 1999. Their wedding took place on 19 June of the same year at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, a break from the weddings of Edward's older siblings, which were large, formal events at Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral.

The couple had met six years earlier, in 1993, at a charity event, and began their relationship soon afterwards.

On the day of their marriage, The Queen declared her son would eventually be created Duke of Edinburgh, when that title merges with the Crown after both the Queen and Prince Philip die and Charles, who is the heir to his father's title as well as his mother's, has become King – Sophie would then become the Duchess of Edinburgh. Until then The Prince Edward would be Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn, the latter title reflecting his bride's Welsh origins. Upon her marriage Rhys-Jones became Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex. After the union, the couple moved to Bagshot Park, in Surrey.

In December 2001, the Countess was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital after feeling unwell, whereupon it was discovered that she was suffering from a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy. Two years later, she gave birth to a daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, on 8 November 2003. It was a premature birth, resulting from a sudden placental abruption that placed both the mother and child at risk, and the Countess had to undergo an emergency caesarean section at Frimley Park Hospital, while the Earl of Wessex rushed back from Mauritius. The Countess returned to Frimley Park Hospital on 17 December 2007, to give birth, again by caesarean section, to her son, James, Viscount Severn. The children, per prior agreement between the Queen and their parents, will either not use or not have (depending on interpretation) the titles of Prince and Princess, nor the style Royal Highness.

Further information: on her children's titles and styles

The Countess of Wessex is particularly close to her mother-in-law, the Queen, with whom she rides and shares an interest in military history. The Countess is reported to be the first of the Queen's children-in-law with whom she has enjoyed a permanently warm relationship. Due to this fact, The Countess is privileged enough to be the only member of the Royal Family to ride in the State Limousine with HM The Queen at Sandringham on Christmas Day.

Official duties

The Countess of Wessex began to take on royal duties after her wedding, with her first overseas tour being to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island in 2000. She also became patron of a number of organisations, including the SAFC Foundation (the charitable arm of Sunderland AFC), and Girlguiding UK. In 2006, the Countess also lent her support to the Born in Bradford research project, which is investigating causes of low birth weight and infant mortality.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex are the primary representatives of her Majesty the Queen at foreign royal events. In this capacity, the Countess has attended the weddings of Prince Haakon of Norway, Princess Martha Louise of Norway, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the 40th birthday celebrations for Prince Willem-Alexander and the coronation and the wedding of Prince Albert II of Monaco.

In December 2011, the Countess of Wessex joined her husband visiting troops in Afghanistan. On the same trip, the royal couple visited Bahrain, and received two gifts of jewels from the Bahraini royal family and Prime Minister. Given concern about human rights abuses in Bahrain, this gift attracted controversy, with calls for the jewels to be sold, and the proceeds used for the benefit of the Bahraini people. In February and March 2012, The Earl and Countess will visit the Caribbean for the Diamond Jubilee. The itinerary consists of St Lucia; Barbados; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Grenada; Trinidad and Tobago; Montserrat; St Kitts and Nevis; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda. Highlights include the 50th Anniversary Independence Day celebrations in St. Lucia, a joint address from both houses of the Barbados parliament and a visit to sites affected by the recent volcanic eruptions in Montserrat

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Royal styles of The Countess of Wessex
Reference style	Her Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

Titles and styles

• 20 January 1965 – 19 June 1999: Miss Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones
• 19 June 1999 – present: Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex

Sophie's style and title in full: Her Royal Highness The Princess Edward Antony Richard Louis, Countess of Wessex, Viscountess Severn, Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Honours

Decorations

• 2004: Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
• 2005 – : Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (DStJ)
• 7 June 2005: Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan
• 2010 – : Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)

Honorary military appointments

Canada

• Colonel-in-Chief of the South Alberta Light Horse (since 2005)
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment

United Kingdom

• Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
• Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps of Army Music
• Royal Colonel of the 5th Battalion The Rifles
• Honorary Air Commodore Royal Air Force Wittering
• Ship's Sponsor of HMS Daring

Issue

Name	Birth	Marriage		Issue
Lady Louise Windsor	8 November 2003
James, Viscount Severn	17 December 2007

Ancestry

Sophie is the 11th cousin once removed of her husband, through their common ancestors Nicholas St John of Lydiard Tregoze and his wife, Elizabeth (née Blount, a relative of royal mistress Elizabeth Blount). She is also of Welsh and Irish ancestry, through her father and her mother respectively, as well as distantly of French ancestry, being a descendant of King Henry II of France, which also makes her a distant descendant of Henry III of England. Sophie's paternal grandmother was a member of the family of the Viscounts Molesworth. Sophie is also a descendent of the Welsh prince and warrior Elystan Glodrydd by her father.

Criticism

The Countess of Wessex has been criticised for accepting two sets of jewels from the royal family of Bahrain during an official day-long visit to the country in December 2011, as she and her husband returned to the UK from a trip to Afghanistan. She was given one set by Bahrain’s king and a second set by the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman Al Khalifa. Her husband, the earl, received a pen and a watch as well as a silk rug from the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who also gave the countess a silver and pearl cup. The value of the jewellery has not been estimated and its precise contents were not disclosed.

Critics said the countess should sell the gems and give the proceeds to political protesters in Bahrain. Denis MacShane, a former Foreign Office minister, said: “Given the appalling suffering and repression of the Bahraini people, it would be a fitting gesture for the Countess of Wessex to auction these trinkets and distribute the proceeds to the victims of the regime.”

Gift guidelines

Royal Family guidelines and procedures relating to gifts drafted in 2003 state that "before accepting any gift, careful consideration should always be given, wherever practicable, to the donor, the reason for and occasion of the gift and the nature of the gift itself (..) Equally, before declining the offer of a gift, careful consideration should be given to any offence that might be caused by such action."

See also

• British Royal Family

References

Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Duchess of Cornwall	Ladies HRH The Countess of Wessex	Succeeded by The Princess Royal

External links

• www.burkespeerage.com