Reportedly the late Queen’s favourite daughter-in-law, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is celebrating her 60th birthday today. Buckingham Palace shared a new portrait to mark the special occasion, taken at Bagshot Park – Sophie’s home since her 1999 wedding to Prince Edward – by talented fashion and portrait photographer, Christina Ebenezer.
Bagshot Park was built back in 1879 for Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught – the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – and his wife, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. They married that same year in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and went on to have three children who were all raised at the property. The Duke died at Bagshot in 1942 and, following this, the property was requisitioned by the army for use as a Staff College for the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) until the end of WWII.
His eldest daughter, Margaret, became Crown Princess of Sweden, though she sadly died before her husband came to the throne. Her grandson (Prince Arthur’s great grandson) is the current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, and her granddaughter was Margrethe II of Denmark. It is her wedding veil that Danish Princesses still wear to this day.
Princess Margaret of Connaught and Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden on their wedding day.
Like her parents, Margaret was married in St George’s Chapel, and, following the trend set by her grandmother, Queen Victoria, she wore a white satin dress, trimmed with myrtle and orange blossom. The lace veil was a gift from the ‘Ladies of Ireland’.
The most recent wearer of this heirloom was Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark – daughter of King Constantine II of Greece and his queen, Anne-Marie, herself a granddaughter of Margaret.
An interesting fact – after Margaret’s death, her husband later married Lady Louise Mountbatten – sister of Earl Mountbatten and aunt to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Louise was a great grandaughter of Queen Victoria, via her second daughter, Princess Alice, which made her a first cousin once removed from Margaret.
Mistress of the Robes 