Emily Nash: The royal show must go on
Accusations are flying but 'unsung hero' Duchess Sophie is in Colombia and the Waleses are gearing up for the Royal Variety Performance
Hello Royal Clubbers,
Thanks so much for subscribing – as always, there is a lot to discuss! A certain book may be kicking up a storm, but I want to focus on what the royal family is actually doing this week. Whatever is or isn’t being said in public, it’s still very much business as usual.
However much mud may be flying, they plan to rise above it and get on with the job, because to do otherwise takes the focus off the causes and people they have committed to supporting.
While the royal watching world is busy poring over the gossip, the King is preparing to address world leaders at COP28 in Dubai and the Duchess of Edinburgh is in Colombia, where she has shared a moving encounter with survivors of the 52-year civil war, tenderly putting an arm around one of the women she met at the Centre for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation.
During her trip, she’s also spending time with former FARC revolutionaries who have laid down their arms following the 2016 truce with the government and now produce coffee on a muddy rural farm near Cali.
‘Unsung hero’
Sophie is often described as an unsung hero of the British Royal Family and I couldn’t agree more.
She’s not afraid to take on gritty causes and seems to have really found her calling in championing the often forgotten victims of war.
When I interviewed her back in 2016, ahead of a 445 mile cycling challenge across the UK, I was struck by how willing she was to push herself out of her comfort zone for a good cause.