Since the Queen’s death, the grief on the face of the Countess of Wessex, her eyes red from crying, has been plain for all to see.
Sophie’s deep sorrow should come as little surprise – she had a famously close bond with the late Queen Elizabeth. In fact, her mother-in-law and she were so close, it is believed the monarch considered her a ‘second daughter’.
Having already lost her own mother, Mary Rhys-Jones, to stomach cancer in 2005, Sophie would affectionately call the Queen ‘Mama’.
She and her husband, the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, would spend a lot of time with the late monarch, given they lived walking distance from Windsor Castle. They would often take their dogs for a stroll and study ancient documents together in the Royal…
