Sophie, Countess of Wessex, sheds tears for late father-in-law Prince Philip

Countess of Wessex, Sophie, teared up as she spoke about her late father-in-law Prince Philip. 

The Countess talked to BBC presenter Naga Munchetty on Wednesday, and broke down in tears while speaking about the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

“He has left a giant-sized hole in our lives,” she said.

Sophie also reflected on her time spent in Scotland where she photographed Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as they relaxed during the trip.

“We were lucky enough to go to Scotland for half-term, and I don’t know if you remember the photograph that I took,” Sophie recalled.

“Just to be there, in that place, was an ‘Oh my God’ moment. Um, so I think they’ll come and go, but you have to let them come, and let them go,” she said as her voice broke and she fought to hold back her tears.

“But just talking to you now, it’s a bit of an ‘Oh my goodness’ moment, which you don’t necessarily expect, and you don’t expect them to come. And I had the same when I lost my mother. You know, I’d be fine, absolutely fine, fine, fine,” Sophie said.

“And then something happened, or you’d hear a piece of music, or you’d do something, and suddenly you would, you know, get taken off at the knees. So there’ll be lots of moments like that. But it’s good to remember,” she continued.

Touching upon the topic of coping with the loss and grief and how it has been compounded owing to the pandemic, Sophie said: “I think unfortunately the pandemic has slightly skewed things, inasmuch 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 easy. I think the whole grieving process is probably likely for us to take a lot longer,” she shared.

“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,” Sophie explained.

“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,” she added.