The Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom is no stranger to scandals, as many of them have been involved in at least one. From toe-sucking to extramarital affairs to Tampongate, it appears that no one is safe from these occurrences, and Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite in-law is no exception.
Here’s more information on the scandal you probably didn’t know about.
1.Which of Queen Elizabeth II’s in-laws is her favorite?
Sophie, Countess of Wessex is Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite in-law, according to legend.
At a tennis event in 1993, Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones met the queen and Prince Philip’s youngest son, Prince Edward. Sophie worked in public relations and later co-founded and ran her own firm. She and Edward dated for a long time before marrying on June 19, 1999.
According to royal biographer Robert Jobson, “[the countess] is probably the best example of an outsider coming into the family and learning on the job.” “She is the queen’s personal favorite.”
But just because she is the monarch’s favorite doesn’t mean she is without scandal or drama.
2.The scandal in which she was involved
Sophie was running her PR firm R-JH at the time of the humiliating PR scandal in 2001. The countess met with a reporter named Mazher Mahmood, who pretended to be a fake sheik, with the expectation of landing a lucrative contract.
“In this case, he wanted to hire Sophie’s company for public relations, so they met on several occasions, and Sophie was rather indiscreet,” royal correspondent Emily Andrews explained (per Express).
Mahmood taped conversations with Prince Edward’s wife, in which she had some harsh words for a number of high-profile figures.
“She said the royal family didn’t like [then-Prime Minister Tony Blair] because he was too presidential,” Daily Mail editor Richard Kay recalled. Sophie also chastised Blair’s wife, Cherie. She also made some scathing remarks about William Hague, the opposition leader at the time, claiming that he “sounds like a puppet.” Camilla Parker Bowles was singled out by the Countess of Wessex, who stated that the public would not want her to become queen.
3.In the aftermath of the scandal, Sophie was forced to resign from her job.
Sophie had to resign after the royals tried desperately to contain the scandal.
The real scandal, according to Andrews, was the perception that she was profiting from her royal connections. “She had to give up her business to do that.”
“I am deeply distressed by the carrying out of an entrapment operation on me and my business, but I also deeply regret my own misjudgment in succumbing to that subterfuge,” the countess said in a statement. This has been a trying period for me. I take the issues raised very seriously and, of course, apologize for any embarrassment caused, particularly to the queen.”
