It happens every time.
On the big occasions, the set-piece days, we suddenly remember the members of the Royal Family that are forgotten most of the time.
On the day of King Charles’ coronation, there was the inevitable comment on the key roles. The King himself and his Queen, William, Kate and the kids and their antics. The celebrities and stars entertaining us on the stage in the evening.
But a few other people caught our eye too. Princess Anne in her role as the amusingly named ‘Gold Stick in Waiting’, and the ever-glam Duchess of Edinburgh, or Sophie Wessex as many of us might know her.
There they were, doing their duty. Quietly getting on with it, like they always do. The same happened at the Queen’s funeral.
Anne was by her mother’s bedside when she passed away and was the only female royal in the Queen’s coffin procession as she joined her brothers on walk to Westminster Abbey for her funeral.
Sophie was spotted shedding tears and again, we all commented on two people who are rarely in the limelight yet always ‘show up’ as being key to such a momentous occasion, emerging as the reliable ones helping get things done.
It’s not just on big occasions that these often-forgotten key women in the Royal Family are doing their duty. Anne is often dubbed the ‘hardest-working royal’ and carried out 214 engagements in 2022 – more even than the newly-crowned King did.
She started public work at the age of 18 and is now involved with over 300 charities, organisations and military regiments in the UK and overseas, as well as being involved with the creation of several charities.
She’s also President of Save the Children and has been since 1970, visiting its projects across the world, including in Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The same goes for Sophie. She’s the patron of over 70 charities and organisations, including Childline and the London College of Fashion and undertakes over 200 engagements each year, as well as other charity work.
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Sophie has publicly supported key issues, from helping victims of rape, sexual violence and exploitation in war, as well as promoting gender balance and equality in the workplace.
She even secretly volunteered during the Covid pandemic – not for press calls or glory, but apparently just to help out, it would seem.
Yet come next week, we’ll forget about Anne and Sophie, returning to the more headline-grabbing members of the Royal family, or the celebrities that we love to read about, hear about, and talk about.
But while the TV cameras and our interest will move on, these women will undoubtedly carry on just doing what they do, grafting away behind the scenes.
Regardless of your views on the Royal Family and the rights and wrongs of their role in our society, Anne and Sophie are an example of how the world we live in often overlooks the people in the background.
The ones who don’t shout loud, tell us repeatedly about their hard work, the value they bring and the good they do, but quite simply get on with it.
They’re a reminder that while the world is full of big names that we hear over and over again, behind all of those – often supporting them – are the people that quietly keep the cogs turning.
Both Anne and Sophie have dedicated themselves to lives of service, in the same way the King and the Queen before him publicly pledged to do, and in the same way we’ve heard Harry declare loudly and proudly.
Yet they do so without fanfare, and often without recognition. And they don’t seem to mind. For them, just doing their duty is enough, because it’s what they signed up for.
In a world where self-congratulation is more common than ever (just take a look on LinkedIn or Instagram and you’ll see it everywhere), they’re a reminder that perhaps we should all be less keen to garner praise and bask in the spotlight, but be happy to know we’re doing our job, fulfilling our role, and working hard at the stuff we think is important.
That it’s okay to be that person in the background supporting others, getting stuff done, and doing what we signed up to do.
In a weird world where this is so often the case, Anne and Sophie are a breath of fresh air.
Even if we will undoubtedly forget about them until the next big Royal occasion.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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