Tearful Sophie Wessex reveals Prince Philip’s death left a ‘giant-sized hole’ in the Royal Family

SOPHIE Wessex has revealed that Prince Philip’s death left a “giant-sized hole” in the Royal family.

Fighting back tears, the Countess spoke about how the pandemic has “slightly skewed things” – meaning the family haven’t been able to properly grieve.



Sophie Wessex held back tears as she spoke about her father-in-law’s death

the Countess of Wessex speaking with the Duke of Edinburgh before leaving the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in 2016

Prince Philip died on April 9

The Duke of Edinburgh passed away “peacefully” at Windsor Castle on April 9, passing away two months and one day short of what would have been his 100th birthday.

Now Sophie has spoke of how the family are coping two months on after his death.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Well he has left a giant sized hole in our lives.

“I think the pandemic has unfortunately slightly skewed things in as much as it’s hard to spend as much time with the Queen as we would like to.

“We’ve been trying to, but of course it’s still not that easy.

“And of course the normal way of things isn’t normal yet so we’re not necessarily doing the things that we would normally have done with him.

“So I think the whole grieving process is probably likely for us to take a lot longer.  It may be the same for many other families out there.  

“Because if you’re not living with somebody, 24/7, the immediate loss isn’t necessarily felt in the same way, as if somebody was in the house with you all the time.”



Sophie, Countess of Wessex attends the funeral service of Britain’s Prince Philip

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex wait for the start of the Epsom Derby in 2011

As the interview continued, Sophie began to well-up, forcing Naga Munchetty to ask: “Are you OK?”

Sophie responded: “It’s only when you would do the normal things that you would have done with them, and you suddenly realise that they are not there, that you really start to have an ‘oh my goodness’ moment.

“Just talking to you now, it’s a bit of an ‘oh my goodness’ moment,” 

“I think they’ll come and go. But you have to let them come and go.”

The day of Philip’s passing the Earl of Wessex and Sophie were seen arriving at Windsor Castle in a blue Land Rover Discovery and spent around an hour with the Queen.

As she left the castle, the Countess of Wessex tearfully said: “The Queen has been amazing.”

Sophie spoke to reporters from the car driven by her husband, the Earl of Wessex.

Back in April heartbreaking images from the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral showing a lonely-looking Queen sitting by herself while she said farewell to the Duke of Edinburgh were published around the world.