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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Kristin Contino

Royal Experts Reveal Duchess Sophie Faced "Unfair Comparisons" to Princess Diana When She First Entered the Royal Fold

Duchess Sophie wearing a pearl choker and velvet dress.

The Duchess of Edinburgh is one of the hardest working members of the Royal Family, and with her focus on "gritty" charity work, she's quickly become a force to be reckoned with as she champions women around the world. There was one time, however, when the duchess—born Sophie Rhys-Jones—wasn't as popular with the public, and in a new episode of True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat—Book Club, the author of a new biography on the royal shared how Sophie instantly got compared to Princess Diana.

Sean Smith, author of Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, took part in the show—hosted by British TV personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen—and the pair recalled how the now-duchess was initially received in the 1990s after she started dating Prince Edward.

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