The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh celebrate their silver wedding anniversary and pay tribute to 25 years of marriage with a loving new portrait.
The picture shows Edward with his arms around Sophie’s waist, the Duchess’s hands resting on her husband’s and their heads close together.
In the relaxed photo, taken by photographer Chris Jelf in the garden of their Bagshot Park home in Surrey, the couple are dressed casually, with Sophie’s tan suede jacket complementing the colour of Edward’s tweed waistcoat.
In March, Sophie surprised Edward with a tearful tribute on his 60th birthday, taking to the stage in Leeds and calling him “the best father, the most loving husband” and “still my best friend”.
In a television interview, Edward described his wife as his “rock” and added: “I am incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me.”
Edward is the youngest of the four children of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and the only one who did not divorce.
He married Sophie Rhys-Jones on 19 June 1999 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in a continental-style evening service at which guests were asked not to wear hats.
The couple became Earl and Countess of Wessex.
Edward said before the wedding: “We manage to laugh about everything most of the time and we love each other and that is the most important thing of all.”
The romance blossomed when Edward and PR expert Sophie met at a real tennis event in the early 1990s.
They now have two children, Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and 16-year-old James, Earl of Wessex.
Edward and Sophie have become a central part of the slimmed-down monarchy following the resignation of the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of York, the King’s accession to the throne and the cancer diagnoses of Charles and the Princess of Wales.
Aside from the Prince of Wales and Kate, who is continuing her treatment, 60-year-old Edward and 59-year-old Sophie are the youngest members of the working monarchy.
On his 59th birthday in 2023, Charles will pass the title of Duke of Edinburgh, his late father, to his youngest brother, in accordance with the wishes of the late Queen and Philip.
Philip’s wish that Edward would one day receive the title was a recognition of his son’s decades-long commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the youth program that represents one of Philip’s greatest legacies.
Sophie’s path to motherhood was traumatic and dangerous.
Her daughter Lady Louise was born several weeks premature in 2003 when Sophie was admitted to hospital for an emergency caesarean section.
Two years earlier, she suffered a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.
The Duchess once had a job at Capital Radio and continued to work in PR after her marriage.
However, when she tried to reconcile her life as a member of the royal family with her professional career, problems arose.
She was caught in an operation against a fake sheikh and accused of abusing her status to promote her business.
The “Sophiegate” newspaper controversy caused enormous damage and led to reports of indiscreet remarks about a number of public figures, including Tony and Cherie Blair and William Hague.
This led to a lengthy investigation into how the work of the royals should be regulated.
Edward, who retired from the Royal Marines in 1987, was the first child of a monarch to actively pursue his own career.
He founded his own film and television production company, Ardent Productions, in 1990, but was confronted with allegations that he had used official, taxpayer-funded royal trips abroad to drum up business for his company.
He also organised a televised royal version of It’s a Knockout in 1987, persuading the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York to dress in medieval costumes and perform slapstick tricks for the televised game show.
Edward also angered his brother, the then Prince of Wales, when Ardent was caught breaching a media agreement and filming at St Andrews University shortly after starting his studies there.
In 2002, on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, Edward and Sophie finally announced that they would give up their businesses to devote themselves entirely to the royal family.
The Duchess, who was very close to her late mother-in-law, the Queen, was praised for her royal fashion style.
In 2016, she also cycled 445 miles from Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace as part of her Diamond Challenge for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
In April, the Duchess became the first member of the royal family to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
She met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska to discuss how to support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
