SOPHIE AND EDWARD’S ROYAL ROMANCE
When Sophie met Edward in 1987 she was a PR for Capital Radio, but it was six years before they started dating.
They then began a romance in earnest, but went to great lengths to avoid photographers, especially when Sophie began staying overnight at Edward’s three-room apartment in Buckingham Palace. When calling Sophie at her office, the Prince would use the name Richard — not that he fooled her colleagues for long.
Six years after they started going out, Edward proposed, with a £105,000 ring from Crown jewellers Garrard.
It wasn’t easy to start a family. Sophie was pregnant by an ectopic baby in 2001.
The dramatic birth of Louise in 2003 was also dramatic. The baby was one month premature. Sophie lost nine pints and had to have a caesarean. She was then admitted to the hospital for 15 days. In 2007, she gave birth to James by another caesarean.
Last summer, Edward and Sophie and their children aged 17 and 13 were among the first people to stay at Balmoral with Philip and the Queen.