Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh has been hailed for her warmth, intelligence and easy manner with children by Lindsey Puddifant, who has known the royal through her charity work for many years.
The Duchess is committed to many causes, having worked with Ukrainian refugees and travelled around the world to draw attention to issues such as women in war and sexual violence.
She is also patron of DEBRA UK, an organisation that raises awareness of a rare skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa (EB), having taken over the role from Princess Diana.
EB is the name for a group of skin disorders characterised by extreme fragility of the skin, with any friction causing painful blisters and no cure currently available.
As the wife of Prince Edward Sophie has tirelessly committed herself to royal duties for decades, but now her position as a working royal has become more prominent since Prince Harry and Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties.
Ms Puddifant told Hello! magazine about her time spent with Sophie, having first met her at a lunch at St James’s Palace and now working with her over several years.
She said: “She’s so incredibly warm. She’s so down-to-earth and approachable. She’s so lovely with members, adult members or children of the charity, and just very happy to chat. She’s very kind and very considerate, she knows loads about the condition.”
A speech the Duchess gave at a fundraising lunch particularly stood out, as the charity was preparing for a swim across the English Channel led by Scottish footballer Graeme Sounness.
The charity representative explained: “Sophie gave a speech and she was so warm and funny about the challenge that Graeme was taking on, because obviously it was no mean feat to swim 30 miles of the English Channel.
“She was so kind to him when he was very clearly emotional about it, and when she spoke, it was witty conversation about how she wouldn’t wish to do something quite as daring as swimming in the English Channel with all the jellyfish and it being one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
“She was just very natural and highly intelligent, and that obviously really comes across in the way that she speaks to people because she can empathise as well as sympathise. She has that compassion, which is so lovely.”
Another memorable exchange for Ms Puddifant was a DEBRA event at St James’s Palace last November, when a young boy called Ben rushed up to Sophie and “wrapped his arms around her legs and she bent down and gave him a proper cuddle and it was absolutely lovely”.
As a mother of two herself, the Duchess knows how to put children at their ease, as Ben said in his own words: “When we arrived at the palace, I felt a bit nervous because the police were holding massive guns. It was top security, we had to show our passports to get in.
“The Duchess of Edinburgh came to see us all and I told her about my EB and how I help out at our local charity shop to make money for DEBRA. She was very kind and cared a lot about DEBRA.”
