02 December 2023 , 12:40
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Sophie - now the Duchess of Edinburgh - first met her husband Prince Edward in 1987, but it would be a number of years before their romantic relationship was forged. In 1994, she was reported to move to Buckingham Palace, and the pair got married in 1999 in a ceremony that took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
Since Prince William was twelve years old, she has therefore been a fixture in his extended family, and the closeness of their bond was made clear when she attended a royal engagement with him in June - in what was a rare joint appearance for the two senior royals.
The two attended a screening of Rhino Man - a documentary about a wildlife ranger called Anton Mzimba, who was murdered in July 2022 by wildlife traffickers. Mzimba was someone whom William had spoken to previously about his work protecting rhinos from extinction, and he paid tribute to the ranger after he was killed
The screening took place at Battersea Power Station and Sophie's appearance was unusual, as she isn't regularly seen attending engagements with just William. Despite this, the way William introduced her showed the closeness of the pair's bond, something that we don't often see.
"This is my aunt," William was heard saying as he introduced Sophie to someone and royal fans were quick to praise the sweet moment. "We're so used to seeing married royal couples that it's easy to forget the wider family relationships," wrote one user on Twitter - now known as X - "It's never really occurred to me to consider Sophie as William's aunt, but of course she is! Lovely to see them together."
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"Lovely close-knit family," wrote another. One joked: "They introduce themselves/one another like we don’t know who they are".
More recently, Sophie visited Columbia for three days at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Her trip was focused on promoting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda - and she has a long history of working to champion the rights of women and girls and survivors of sexual violence in war and conflict.
Whilst she was there she took part in a roundtable discussion with women from the Colombian Armed Forces and learned about their work in the WPS agenda and other engagements that focussed on women's role in peace processes.
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