Still, much likeMeghan Markle, her entry into the royal family was pretty bumpy.
Sophie is the wife ofPrince Edward, who is King Charles III’s youngest brother.
The two married in 1999 and share two children.
Needless to say, this created something of a media firestorm for the royal family.
Here’s how it all went down.
The New Zealand Herald attributed the last part of this quote to Harkin.
If the princess from England invites you, I mean, you know what Americans are like.
They love it," Harkin reportedly said.
In their book “Sophie’s Kiss,” Garth Gibbs and Sean Smith recount Edward’s response.
When Mahmood asked Harkin about Edward’s sexuality, Harkin didn’t resist the bait.
Instead, he suggested the media might be onto something.
“There have been rumors for years about Edward.
“Tony Blair came out and he gave this completely impassioned, supposedly off-the-cuff speech.
I know it wasn’t off-the-cuff at all because I know who wrote it.
He almost did the Bill Clinton.
We call him President Blair over here because he thinks he is.
That’s his style,” the New Zealand Herald quoted her telling Mazher Mahmood.
She also referred to foxes as “vermin” that needed to be controlled.
“His wife is even worse, she hates the countryside.
She hates it,” Sophie reportedly said.
That didn’t mean the family wasn’t upset about what had occurred.
“I’m not sure we ever heard a tape recording so they were allegations.
They had not been proven,” Arbiter added.
The program’s narrator, Glynis Barber, said more of the same.
The Mirror took a similar approach with “Sophie’s ecstasy and cocaine shock.”
The Sunday Times weighed in with “Ed and Sophie’s sheiky marriage.”
The outlet also claimed that Queen Elizabeth II was enraged about the things Sophie said about the royal family.
Her reputation and image in the public relations space had been badly damaged by Mahmood’s sting operation.
Some thought that, since she worked in PR herself, the duchess should’ve been smarter.
Sophie, however, appeared to have no plans to do so.
“She will remain as a director with some kind of role,” he said at the time.
He added that Queen Elizabeth II played a vital part in helping Sophie to rebuild her public image.
