HRH Bekarie

Princess Sofia of Sweden

King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece with their first child, Princess Alexia.

by Patrick Lichfield, 1965

Queen Elizabeth- May 30, 1977.

September 19, 2022

Catherine's Royal Closet (16/∞) ♚

Queen Letizia’s Outfits 2023

Princess Grace of Monaco by Giancarlo Botti, Rome, June 1959

NEWS: King Felipe has awarded Princess Catharina-Amalia the Grand Cross of the order of Isabella the Catholic. Amalia will wear it next week during the State Visit of the Spanish monarchs to The Netherlands. This is Amalia’s first foreign honor.

Prince Edward has paid tribute to his wife, Sophie, as his ‘absolute rock’ as he discussed his family life with Alan Titchmarsh during an appearance on Love Your Weekend.

The episode, which is set to air on March 10, the Duke of Edinburgh’s 60th birthday, will see the Prince sit down with the presenter and open up about his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and their two children, Lady Louise, 20, and James, Earl of Wessex, 16.

Speaking of how much Sophie means to him, the Duke called his wife ‘critical, absolutely critical.’

He continued:

‘She's been an absolutely brilliant rock and I'm incredibly lucky that I found Sophie and that she found me. Hopefully, we've been a really brilliant partnership.

We're very lucky, we’ve got two, of what we would think are particularly brilliant children, who are forging such different paths for themselves. I think that's also equally fascinating.’

Elsewhere he spoke about the significance of Mothering Sunday and described what the celebration means for his own family.

Prince Edward said, ‘Always and it's doubly so when you've got your own children - your own family is very important.’

‘Those days were [important growing up], and these days are really important to remember some very, very special people in our lives.

There should be several times in the year when we make a special sort of effort and Mothering Sunday was very much one of those where you made a special effort just to say ‘thank you.’

So it goes on and that's the lovely thing about it. That's the lovely thing about families and that's what it should be.’

During the discussion, Prince Edward also revealed the lasting memories his grandchildren have of the late Prince Philip, including teaching his daughter Lady Louise to drive a carriage.

It's a hobby, which was a passion of the late Duke’s, and has since been adopted as one of Lady Louise’s.

He said, ‘It was entirely off her own bat. I mean, you know, just one day, ‘Can I go out with you and go sit on the boxes?’

He was like, ‘Absolutely.’

'He never was going to say no! He took her out with the team and I think it was only the second time, he was driving along and he said, ‘Do you want to have a go?’ and she didn’t have time to even answer the question, he just handed the reins across.’

Elsewhere in the discussion, Prince Edward spoke about how much it meant to him to be bestowed the title of Duke of Edinburgh. He said:

‘It was a huge privilege but also quite a lot of weight of expectation as well. I mean, there's an awful lot of legacy that came with that title and everything that my father had done. Especially when you're not inheriting it, this is a choice… that comes with all the expectations that people have.

It's just the weirdest and strangest feeling. You walk into a room and, particularly still today, there are name places on a card and I still look around going ‘Yes, but where am I sitting?’

Explaining how he would describe his father Prince Philip, The Duke called him an ‘extraordinary mind’, adding:

‘He was the Prince Albert of our age. He had an extraordinary mind. He loved design, he loved innovation, he was brilliant with all sorts of people.

Sometimes it didn't necessarily come across that way, but he was actually brilliant with people. He was always, always encouraging everybody. You sort of needed to get to know him.’

The interview comes after Sophie gave her own touching tribute to Edward during a royal engagement earlier in March.

The Duchess gave a rare, gushing tribute to her husband, calling him ‘the best of fathers and the most loving of husbands.’

Prince Edward looked deeply emotional throughout the speech, putting his hands over his face, as Sophie spoke about their love, saying, ‘I am so proud of the man he is.’

British Royal Family - The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh on behalf of King Charles III, watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace with France's Gendarmerie's Garde Republicaine taking part to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale - the historic diplomatic agreement between Britain and France which laid the groundwork for their collaboration in both world wars in London, England. (Photo by Victoria Jones) | April 8, 2024

Princess Charlene’s fabulous earrings collection (94/?)

Displays for Princess Grace gown at the James Michener exhibit. As we can see the gown was accompanied by an oversize portrait, by Howell Conant, of the Princely Couple , for display.

The Princess wore it on at least two occasions…the Opera de Monte Carlo during her wedding week, and also on a State Visit to France in 1959. The ivory gown was a design by Antonio del Castillo of the House of Lanvin-Castillo…..it was made of silk organza, with thousands of beads and sequins intricately sewn by hand. Truly a work of art…..and when the light catches the hand beading well… it is magnifique !!

Grace Kelly by Howell Conant, 1955