Sophie Wessex Says Daughter Lady Louise Was Shocked to Learn Her Grandmother Is the Queen

Sophie, Countess of Wessex opened up about her daughter's realization

Photo: David Hartley/REX/Shutterstock

Queen Elizabeth is arguably the most famous woman in the world.

But for a long while, to her granddaughter Lady Louise Windsor (the eldest child of Prince Edward, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex), she was simply known as Granny.

Sophie shared the story of how Louise learned of her grandmother’s rather uncommon job with the BBC this week, and apparently Louise made it all the way to her school days without realizing her grandmother’s influential position.

“It happened a little while ago,” Sophie said.

Asked how she took the news, Sophie said: “Well for Louise, actually, it was much more of a shock to the system. It was only when she was coming home from school and saying, ‘Mummy, people keep on telling me that grandma is the queen.'”

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Sophie then asked her daughter how she felt about her grandmother’s title, and she responded that she “didn’t understand.”

“I don’t think she had grasped that perhaps there was only one queen.”

Sophie said she and Edward have tried to shelter their children – Louise, and her younger brother James, from the pressures of royal life.

“Certainly when they were very young we tried to keep them out of it,” Sophie said. “Only because for their sakes, to grow up as normally as possible we felt was quite important.”

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“And they’re going to have to go out and get a job and earn a living later on in life and if they’ve had a normal a start in life they possibly can get, then hopefully that will stand them in good stead.”

Louise recently joined her grandmother for her stunning 90th birthday portrait alongside several of the other royal great-grandchildren.