Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Skipped Princess Diana's Funeral Because She Looked Too Much Like Her

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh Skipped Princess Diana's Funeral Because She Looked Too Much Like Her

BY YEET MAGAZINE — ROYAL DESK | October 9, 2026

September 6, 1997. Westminster Abbey. Two thousand people packed the pews. A billion more watched on television. Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12, walked behind their mother's coffin. The world cried. But one royal was missing. Sophie Rhys-Jones — the woman who would become the Duchess of Edinburgh — wasn't there. She was dating Prince Edward. She'd been in the family orbit for years. So why wasn't she at the funeral? A new book has the answer. Sophie stayed home because she looked too much like Diana. She was scared the crowd would lose it if they saw her.

Why Sophie Skipped Diana's Funeral

Sean Smith wrote the book. It's called Sophie: Saving the Royal Family. Published in July 2025. Smith got the story from a palace insider.

The friend said: "She had an obvious and reasonable excuse: a friend at the palace explained, 'Sophie decided it would be too upsetting for the crowd if she went. She's well aware that she looks like Princess Diana from a distance and made her decision in a caring and thoughtful way. The Royal Family fully supported.'"

Sophie and Diana had the same blonde cropped haircut. Same blue eyes. From far away, they looked alike. Sophie knew it. The palace knew it. On a day when a million people lined the streets of London to say goodbye to Diana, seeing a Diana lookalike would have been too much.

What Did Sophie Say About Looking Like Diana?

Sophie talked about it in the 1990s. She told the Daily Mail: "I don't deny that we do look alike. But I couldn't ever compete with Diana's image. I'm not Diana."

She knew the comparison was there. She knew people talked about it. But she never tried to be Diana. She just had the same hair and the same coloring.

Did Sophie and Diana Get Along?

No. Not even close. Smith wrote that Diana didn't like Sophie. At all.

According to the book, Diana would say: "Oh look, here comes my double" or "Here comes Miss Goody Two Shoes" when Sophie walked into a room.

Smith wrote: "The two women did not like each other. The polite description of their relationship, as preferred by the more diplomatic of Sophie's friends, was to say that there was 'no love lost' between them."

Andrew Morton wrote in Diana: In Pursuit of Love that Diana once stared at Sophie so intensely at a family dinner that Sophie fled in tears.

Smith said Diana's issue with Sophie was simple: Sophie was a "middle class girl from Kent who might succeed where she, an authentic aristocrat, had so abjectly failed."

The Timeline: Sophie and Diana's Relationship

What Happened to Sophie After the Funeral?

Sophie married Edward in 1999. She became the Countess of Wessex. Then in 2023, she became the Duchess of Edinburgh. She's now one of the hardest-working royals. She focuses on people with disabilities, avoidable blindness, and survivors of sexual violence in conflict.

She's 60 now. She has two kids — Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and James, Earl of Wessex, 17.

She grew her hair out. No more Diana bob.

What Was Diana's Funeral Like?

It was one of the biggest televised events in history. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched. Over a million lined the streets of London.

The funeral started at 9:08 a.m. when a bell tolled at Kensington Palace. The coffin traveled through London for one hour and forty-seven minutes. Eight Welsh Guards carried it. Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry, and Earl Spencer walked behind.

The service at Westminster Abbey began at 11 a.m. Tony Blair read from Corinthians. Elton John sang "Candle in the Wind." Diana's sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, read poems.

Sophie wasn't there. She was at home. Because she looked like Diana.

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