Sophie Wessex comforts visibly distraught Princess Anne as Queen Elizabeth's coffin arrives in Edinburgh
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: It was an emotional moment for Princess Anne, 72, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, 57, on Sunday, September 11, as they watched the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arriving at the Palace of Holyroodhouse from Balmoral. The Countess of Wessex, who is the wife of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was captured placing her hand on the Princess’ back as a supportive gesture, who grieved over the death of her 96-year-old mother.
The death of the UK's longest-serving monarch on September 8 received a wave of global mourning. Britain woke up to a new monarch after 70 years, the Queen's eldest son King Charles III, while William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales. The morning of September 10 saw thousands of well-wishers coming together outside Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to the late Queen, who ascended to the throne in the year 1952. And on September 11, 2022, the Queen's arrival in Edinburgh was greeted by a massive crowd with her grief-stricken daughter Princess Anne accompanying her mother on her last journey.
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The final journey...
Princess Anne, who is the second eldest child and only daughter of Queen and Prince Philip and a close confidante of her brother King Charles III was chosen by the Queen to accompany the funeral cortege on the six-hour journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh, as per DailyMail. And hence, on September 11, she accompanied her mother on her last ride while she kept staring at the coffin through the car window.
Following the Queen's arrival, Princess Anne was also spotted doing a heartfelt gesture as she curtsied in front of her mother's coffin. In a 2017 interview with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship, Anne said that the Queen led by example, and her children followed her lead by “watching and learning” and her parents “complemented each other’s strengths and skills,” during their seven-decade marriage.
While Sophie, who called her mother-in-law by her nickname "mama", and who had been described as the "Queen’s favorite", shared a strong relationship with the Queen, author Christina Lamb said via Express. She said, "I spent a few days with Sophie in South Sudan two years ago, just before the pandemic stopped travel, as she visited the war-torn country as part of her work campaigning against sexual violence in conflict. We’d had a tough day visiting survivors of harrowing attacks in a hot, smelly, and overcrowded camp but her face lit up when I asked her about the Queen and if it was true that they had a particularly close relationship.” To which Sophie responded by saying, “I think so, I hope so.”