Edward and Sophie “grateful for their lovely messages” on their silver wedding anniversary

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh penned a personal message on the royal family’s official social media account as they celebrated 25 years of marriage.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh thanked their well-wishers for their “many kind and lovely messages” as they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary.

In a joint personal tweet on the royal family’s official social media account, Edward and Sophie wrote: “We are so grateful for the many kind and lovely messages we received on our silver wedding anniversary.

We are so grateful for the many kind and lovely messages we received on our silver wedding anniversary. We also wish everyone celebrating their own birthday a special day.

– Édouard and Sophie

📷Chris Jelf pic.twitter.com/6SjGyXAI9K

– The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 19, 2024

“I also wish everyone celebrating their own birthday a special day.”

The message was signed ‘Edward & Sophie’ and accompanied by a new photograph of the couple by Chris Jelf, showing the Duke and Duchess sitting holding hands on stone steps, amid delicate white and pink flowers.

It followed another affectionate portrait of the Duke and Duchess published on Wednesday to mark their 25th wedding anniversary.

Edward was shown kissing his wife, standing with his arms around her waist, the duchess’s hands resting on her husband’s and their heads close together.

The couple were dressed casually in the casual photo, also taken by Mr Jelf, in the gardens of their Bagshot Park home in Surrey, with Sophie’s beige suede jacket complementing the color of Edward’s tweed waistcoat.

Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on June 19, 1999, in a continental-style ceremony during which guests were asked not to wear hats.

The couple became Earl and Countess of Wessex.

In March, Sophie surprised Edward with a tearful tribute before his 60th birthday, taking to the stage in Leeds to call him “the best of fathers, the most loving of husbands” and “still my best friend”.

In a TV interview, Edward described his wife as his “rock”, adding: “I’m incredibly lucky to have found Sophie and that she found me. »

Edward is the youngest of the late Queen and Prince Philip’s four children, and the only one who has not divorced.

Romance blossomed when Edward and PR professional Sophie met at a real tennis event in the early 1990s.

They now have two children, Lady Louise Windsor, 20, and James, 16, Earl of Wessex.

Edward and Sophie became a key part of the slimmed-down Labor monarchy, following the resignations of the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of York, the accession of the king, and amid the cancer diagnoses of Charles and the Princess of Wales.

Charles presented his youngest brother with his late father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh on his 59th birthday in 2023, in accordance with the wishes of the late Queen and Philip, in recognition of his commitment to the program of Youth of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.