Princess Sophie did not attend Princess Diana’s funeral for a very specific reason, a new book reveals.
A “friend at the palace” claimed that Sophie, now 60, “decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went” to the funeral, according to Sean Smith’s Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, published earlier this month.
“She’s well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way,” the book reads, noting it was a move “the royal family fully supported.”
The friend, who spoke with the author, noted that it was an “obvious and reasonable excuse” to skip out on the funeral.
Diana died at age 36 on August 31, 1997, following a car accident in Paris. Her funeral was held in London days later. Nearly 2,000 people attended the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. (Diana was married to now King Charles III from 1981 to 1996. They are parents to Prince William and Prince Harry.)
Sophie did address the comparisons to Diana publicly in the 1990s, during an interview with the Daily Express.
“I don’t deny that we do look alike. But I couldn’t ever compete with Diana’s image,” she said at the time. “I’m not Diana.”
While Diana was alive, it was reported that she and Sophie — who is married to Prince Edward — had a pretty rocky relationship. Smith’s book also offered insight into their dynamic. Sophie’s friends apparently said in the book that there was “no love lost” between her and Diana.
“Nothing summed up the situation better than what began as an innocuous afternoon tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle, attended by both Sophie and Diana, who came with her children, William and Harry,” the book claimed. “Every time an animated Sophie started to say something, Diana would begin speaking, which meant that Sophie had to stop. It is a tradition that if a more senior royal starts talking, the junior royal has to keep quiet.”
Sophie apparently got “permission to leave” the tea.
“On another occasion, she ran back to the apartment in floods of tears after a dinner at which Diana spent the whole time blatantly and intently staring at her,” the book alleges. “Sophie would do her utmost to avoid Diana if she possibly could.”
Sophie married Edward, now 61, in June 1999 and she officially became part of the royal fold. The couple shares two children, daughter Lady Louise, 21, and son James, 17.
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