While Sophie, Duchess Of Edinburgh, may be a staple in the royal family now, Prince Edward’s wife was once a schoolgirl with an ‘ordinary upbringing’ and working parents. And in a resurfaced picture from the royal’s days at school, she looks a far cry from her image these days.
The sweet picture shows Sophie, now 59, aged seven as a student at Little Stream Dulwich College Prep School, with her golden locks styled into a bob with a fringe. This school is where Sophie began her education and has has long prided itself on its top-notch facilities, and other famous alumni passing through the gates over the years have included Tana Ramsay and Game of Thrones actress Ellie Kendrick.
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The picture shows Sophie aged 7 at Little Stream Dulwich College Prep School
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Prism Rights Ltd)
The royal later became a household name and went on to marry Prince Edward in 1999
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Image:
Getty Images)
According to reports, Sophie – who married Prince Edward in 1999, was known for her “lively personality and sporty streak”. She later moved to independent girls’ school Kent College in Pembury, where she met Sarah Sienesi, one of her best friends and future London flatmate.
While she attended a top private school before marrying into the royal family, Sophie wasn’t from a world of aristocracy. Little sister to David, her older brother by two years, their father Christopher Bournes Rhys-Jones was originally born in Malaysia, and later became a successful salesman, specialising in imported industrial tyres and rubber goods.
Their Irish mother, Mary O’Sullivan, was a part-time secretary and charity worker, whose choice of profession seemingly influenced Sophie’s own career path. Sadly, Mary died of cancer in 2005, but thanks to her parents’ efforts, Sophie enjoyed a comfortable middle-class childhood and attended some of the best schools in the country.
Sophie’s father, Christopher, was originally born in Malaysia, and later became a successful salesman, specialising in imported industrial tyres and rubber goods.
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EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
“They had fairly normal jobs and though she went to private schools, she was very grounded and anchored,” adds Katie. “It was a pretty ordinary upbringing, and that shaped Sophie’s own values as a mother later in life.”
Many of her early years was spent in Brenchley near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, where the family lived in a large Grade II-listed 17th-Century property called Homestead Farmhouse. Such was the lure of her childhood home that she didn’t fully move out until she was 34, when she married into the royal family. The farmhouse is said to be worth well over £1m today, and the pretty village of Brenchley is surrounded by famous Kentish orchards, rolling farmland and woodland.
However, Sophie has always had royal blood in her veins, as she not only descended from past kings of England, but she is also related to the family of the Viscounts Molesworth through her grandmother, Margaret Patricia Rhys-Jones. But in 2001, the BBC stated that the Rhys-Jones family, “although wealthy, did not move in the highest social circles”.
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