Sophie, Prince Edward and Queen Elizabeth.Photo: PA Images/INSTARimages.com
Prince Edwardand Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Forfar are remembering “happy days” withQueen Elizabeth II.
The history-making monarch’s youngest son and daughter-in-law choose two poignant photos for their 2022 Christmas card, dedicated toQueen Elizabethin the first holiday season since her death in September. The main photo shows Sophie and Edward standing beside the Queen at the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland back in June.
Accompanying the photos is a message that reads, “In memory of happy days,” referring to the inset photo of the Queen andPrince Philip.
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth.The Countess of Wessex
Prince Edward and Sophie were visibly emotional atQueen Elizabeth’s funeral in September, with Sophiepassing her husband a handkerchiefat one point during the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
“The Countess of Wessex was incredible. I saw her putting her arm around three or four people,” lawyer Pranav Bhanot, who was a guest at the funeral, told PEOPLE. “It felt like she was really the glue keeping everyone quite strong today.”
“She really seemed to be the person keeping the family together,” Bhanot explained. “There were a few bishops who started crying when they saw the Queen, and she was kind of comforting them, even though she is the direct family member.”
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images
Prince Edward, 58, and Sophie, 57, joinedKing Charles IIIandQueen Camillaalong with other members of the royal family at Windsor Castle this week for apre-Christmas lunch.
After two years of celebrating the holidays largely separated, Christmas for the British royal family will return to some normality this year — complete withgathering at Sandringham, exchanging gag gifts on Christmas Eve and walking to church on Christmas morning.
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However, they will be missing their matriarch.
“It will be hard, as the Queen was all they knew, like most of Britain,” a former palace staffertells PEOPLEin this week’s issue.
The staffer adds, “The first year is most difficult, as it is always the first of everything that you notice.”
source: people.com
