By Molly Claire Goddard
3:02pm PST, Jan 19, 2026
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According to journalist
Hannah Furness, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, has become an important member of The Firm through her humanitarian work, including visits to Sudan and Bosnia. "It is difficult work. Vivid, traumatic, and often far, far removed from the soap opera of royal headlines back in Britain," she wrote for
The Telegraph.
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The bold work Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh — who is married to King Charles III's brother Prince Edward — is doing is seen as extremely brave. "Not for nothing, but Sophie regularly is called the royal family's 'secret weapon.' The quiet 'savior' of the monarchy, which has been rather lacking in active members of late through little fault of its own," Hannah Furness wrote. "The causes she has chosen to champion are bold, and she is unflinching in talking about the crimes that others might hide in euphemism."
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After being asked if she was the royal family's "secret weapon," Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, downplayed the remark. "I don't see myself in a frontline position per se, that said, admittedly, there are fewer working members of the family these days, so I suppose more and more I'm becoming less secretive," she told
The Mirror. "I just wonder what they are going to describe me as next."
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When
Prince William ascends the throne, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, will reportedly be "more prominent," within The Firm, Hannah Furness wrote for
The Telegraph.
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While Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and
Prince William are close, the 60-year-old is reportedly not as fond of
Meghan Markle. "Sophie is relieved. She no longer has to curtsey to someone in the family who has not only left royal duties but has spent the past three years criticizing the institution that Sophie works so hard to support," a source told
Hello! about the Duchess of Sussex's 2020 departure from England.
