The reason Sophie didn't attend Princess Diana's tragic funeral revealed by royal insiders
It was the most tragic royal funeral of the 20th century when the members of the Royal Family gathered for the funeral of Princess Diana who died in a Paris car crash aged just 36.
Billions of mourners watched the proceedings including the deeply sad images of the young Prince Harry and Prince William walking behind their late mother's coffin.
Inside Westminster Abbey the boys were joined by their father, the then Prince Charles, their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and most of the other senior royals.
However, one person that was missing from the proceedings was Prince Edward 's girlfriend Sophie. This was despite the fact the couple had been dating since 1993.
Writing in his new biography about the Duchess of Edinburgh 's life - titled Sophie - author Sean Smith has revealed that Sophie chose not to attend the funeral because she thought it would be 'too upsetting for the crowd' due to how remarkably similar her and Diana looked in 1997.
Smith wrote: 'She had an obvious and reasonable excuse: a friend at the Palace explained, "Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went.
'"She's well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The Royal Family fully supported".'
Before the Princess of Wales' sudden death in 1997 it had been widely remarked that Sophie was a remarkable doppelganger of Diana.
Smith said: 'One of the reasons Sophie's impression of Diana was so good is that they bore more than a passing resemblance to one another - a comparison neither woman enjoyed.'
This was mostly due to them both being blond and having their hair cut in a short bob style that was all the rage in the late 1990s.
'In retrospect, Sophie having her hair clipped short in a Diana-style blonde bob was probably a mistake,' the royal insider wrote.
'Diana had the height and physical presence to carry it off. Fashion expert Alison Jane Reid observed, "Sophie looked more appealing when her hair was shoulder length and blunt cut. You could not beat Diana's hair. It was superb".'
At the time, Sophie was criticised for looking too similar to the People's Princess. With royal commentator Judy Wade declaring that Sophie should 'get her own look'.
'She chose red dresses that were almost identical to things that Diana wore. She seemed to be copying Diana, and Diana was sort of partly amused and partly irritated by it,' said Judy.
Indeed, Diana was somewhat annoyed by how similar Sophie looked to her.
Diana in a red dress in 1990 and Sophie wearing a similar dress in the late 90s. Sophie was criticised for looking too similar to the People's Princess. With royal commentator Judy Wade declaring that Sophie should 'get her own look'
Princess Diana and Sophie wearing sunglasses and sporting similar haircuts. Their hair was the most notable similarity between the two with them both being blond and having their it cut in a short bob style that was all the rage in the late 1990s
Smith claimed that when she saw Sophie approaching Diana would say: 'Oh look , here comes my double' or 'Here comes Miss Goody Two Shoes'.
But while they might have looked similar, personality wise they clashed.
'The two women did not like each other,' Smith said.
'The polite description of their relationship, as preferred by the more diplomatic of Sophie's friends, was to say that there was "no love lost" between them.'
According to Smith, Diana disliked Sophie because she was a 'middle class girl from Kent who might succeed whereshe, an authentic aristocrat, had so abjectly failed'.
He added: 'As a mutual acquaintance put it, "Diana came into the Royal Family as a teenage lamb and she has left it as a lion. The young Diana had never been in the real world. Sophie met Edward when she was a mature, well-travelled woman with a career.
'"She's been around a bit. She was always going to deal with things better than Diana Spencer".'
The feelings were mutual with Diana's actions leaving Sophie in a 'rage' during a trip to Windsor to see the Queen.
'Nothing summed up the situation better than what began as an innocuous afternoon tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle, attended by both Sophie and Diana, who came with her children, William and Harry,' Smith wrote.
'Every time an animated Sophie started to say something, Diana would begin speaking herself, which meant Sophie had to keep quiet - it is a ridiculous tradition that if a more senior Royal starts talking, the junior Royal has to shut up and keep quiet.
'After what seemed like an age of being silenced by Diana, Sophie could stand no more and, having obtained the Queen's permission to leave, strode back to Edward's apartment seething with rage.'
Despite the comparison to Diana which dogged her time as a new royal, Sophie has been able to carve out her own unique role within the family.
Sophie reportedly became the Queen's 'favourite daughter-in-law' and she was the monarch's 'rock' following the death of Prince Philip in 2021.
When the Queen passed away, Sophie was heartbroken, with her and Edward describing their loss for the woman they both called 'Mama' as leaving 'an unimaginable void in all our lives'.
Sophie has played a key role in holding the monarchy together amidst family feuds, the Duke of York's scandals, and the cancer diagnoses of the King and the Princess of Wales.
A patron of more than 70 charities and organisations, Sophie is especially recognised for her advocacy on issues including sexual violence in war-torn countries and sight loss awareness.
Her passion for promoting eye health stems from her daughter, who was born prematurely and developed esotropia - a condition that causes one or both eyes to turn inwards and make someone appear cross-eyed.
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