Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Turns 60 — See the Stunning Portrait: 'She's a Trailblazer'

Mar. 15, 2025

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh in a new portrait released to mark her 60th birthday, on Jan. 20, 2025.Photo:Christina Ebenezer/Buckingham Palace via Getty

Christina Ebenezer/Buckingham Palace via Getty

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburghis marking a milestone birthday!

The mom of two turned 60 on Monday, Jan. 20, and friends and former colleagues have been honoring her contribution to theroyal family– amid the release of the duchess' stunning new portrait.

In the beautiful portrait, Sophie is seen mid-laugh while sitting on a window ledge in a black turtleneck sweater and a white skirt.

She is admired for her “steadfast” and quiet support of the late Queen Elizabeth II and nowKing Charles IIIin the new reality of a smaller coterie of working royals. WithPrince AndrewandPrince Harryno longer working within the royal family, more attention has focused on Sophie and Edward in recent years. Indeed, it was Edward, who notably represented the royals and the U.K. in general at thefuneral of the late President Jimmy Carterearlier in this month.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh in the new portrait taken at Bagshot park, the country home in Surrey where she lives with husband Prince Edward.Christina Ebenezer/Buckingham Palace via Getty

It was Sophie who volunteered at hospitals during the COVID pandemic, helping create and pack food for medics and other staff. And in addition to being the patron of more than 70 charities and organizations, Sophie has also gained particular attention for highlighting less obvious royal subjects, such as women who have been victims of gender-based violence in wartime.

One close source notes she was the first royal family member to go to Ukraine. “She is almost a trailblazer in the royal family,” a royal insider says.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh during a visit to Yeo Valley Farm, Blagdon, U.K, on April 17, 2024.Chris Jackson/Getty

Chris Jackson/Getty

“Survivors here and around the world have spoken out so bravely about their experiences," she said at the time. “They are the most powerful advocates who remind us all that we must not turn our backs on the horrors of this crime. We must never forget the survivors.”

She also champions work to boost eyesight health around the world, visiting clinics in Malawi, Africa and Bangladesh, among others.

Sophie on a visit to Harris Girls' Academy in East Dulwich, London on Jan. 24, 2024.Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty

Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty

Both Sophie and Edward are keenly aware of the future and the changing face of the royal family. Their children — daughterLady Louise Windsor, 21, and sonJames, Earl of Wessex, 17 — are away at the University of St. Andrews and boarding school, respectively, and it is likely that they will have very different roles to their cousin,Prince William, and his wife,Kate Middleton, or their three children.

Sophie toldU.K. outletThe Sunday Timesin 2020 that, “we try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but it’s highly unlikely."

They also relish the royal traditions, regularly joining in Trooping the Colour, while Lady Louise has enthusiastically taken up her late grandfather Prince Philip’s sport of carriage driving.

As the birthday kicked off, she received public good wishes from Kate Middleton and Prince William. She is close with the couple, sharing a festive outing with them and their children at the height of the pandemic and bonding at family occasions like Trooping the Colour. “Kate has that similar middle class background to Sophie,” remarks a royal insider. She is “incredibly warm, easy-going and loyal.”

That was especially true during the COVID pandemic, when conditions and permissions allowed. It was during that period that Sophie, too,took a leading and hands-on rolein helping out where she could. She joined kitchens preparing food for healthcare professionals. “The Countess has visited various kitchens on a weekly basis and has been involved in the preparation of the food, the cooking of the food and the packing of the food. She has been involved in the process all the way along," Sophie’s friend Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, owner of the party planning business Bentley’s Entertainment, told PEOPLE at the time.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh visiting Staffordshire, England in March, 2024.Chris Jackson/Getty

She was “involved in everything that goes on in the kitchen so the nurses can eat," Armstrong-Jones added. “When she leaves our kitchens she generally then goes on to do more projects in different hospitals. She just pops up in different places and just does things.”

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Mags Mercer, chief executive of Hope Hub, where Sophie helped in Surrey, added, “You wouldn’t necessarily recognize her and wouldn’t expect someone like that to be delivering your food parcels. It was even nicer really that it wasn’t being done for the recognition but because she could genuinely help," she says.

“Afterwards, when we told the clients, they were blown away. They would say things like, ‘Oh no, I looked terrible that day,’ or ‘Wow, that’s amazing. How kind.’”

source: people.com