It’s been a busy few days for two notable duchesses, with both Meghan Markle and Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh providing updates in the kitchen and in the calvary, respectively.
That’s right, after the premiere of Meghan’s new cooking series, With Love, Meghan, Buckingham Palace released a statement about its own duchess, who is likewise kicking goals — albeit with far fewer batches of homemade bath salts. The Royal Family recently shared an update about the Duchess of Edinburgh on social media, revealing that Sophie — the wife of Prince Edward — had visited troops with a full military get-up to boot.
As Royal Colonel of The Queen's Own Yeomanry, The Duchess has visited troops based at Warcop Training Centre in Cumbria.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 4, 2025
🪖 HRH met and spoke to reservists of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry to gain insight into their work. Click below to read more.
“As Royal Colonel of The Queen’s Own Yeomanry, The Duchess has visited troops based at Warcop Training Centre in Cumbria,” the post read. “[Her Royal Highness] met and spoke to reservists of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry to gain insight into their work.” For those not fluent in royal-speak, the translation is that Sophie visited the U.K.’s Armed Forces as part of her ceremonial role to strengthen the bond between the British Army and the royal family.
As part of her visit, Sophie toured the small Warcop Training Centre in the county of Cumbria and observed a training exercise. The announcement of Sophie’s visit — complete with a camouflage-pattern combat uniform — arrived on the same day that Markle, the across-the-pond Duchess of Sussex, shared her lifestyle show on Netflix. Naturally, since she attracts attention like one of those inflatable tube men outside of a car dealership, the cooking series has garnered lots of reactions.
For starters, she admitted on the eight-episode show that she sometimes splurges on Chinese takeout (she’s just like us!), but that she “plates it beautifully” for her husband, Prince William (ok, not so much like us). Elsewhere, we learned that Meghan has always apparently wanted to be a celebrity chef à la Gordon Ramsay (with far fewer expletives), and we met her treasured friend with impossibly chic hair, Delfina Blaquier. Oh, Meghan also got a subtle swipe in at her estranged Royal Family in episode one, and introduced a Marvel-like cameo for her husband in the show’s final episode. Take that, Thanos!
Duchess Sophie isn’t the only royal to have seemingly reigned (ha!) on Meghan’s Netflix premiere parade. On the very same day that With Love, Meghan landed on the streamer, the Duchess’ sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, was declared the U.K.’s most popular royal based on ratings from YouGov. Prince William was named the second most-popular royal, while Meghan came in at 19th place, which might come as a surprise for anyone who was inexplicably invested in her quest to harvest honey and sift through chia seeds throughout the show.
For all their seeming competitiveness, however, we do know that Sophie reportedly shared a similar plight in adjusting to royal life, so perhaps the pair can soon commiserate over a flower arranging session? In the interest of transparency, I watched the first episode of With Love, Meghan, and I can say with confidence that if you’re in the mood for overly saccharine inanity in the vein of Nigella Lawson (who admittedly possesses a more intoxicating vocabulary), then it’s worth a watch — even just as white noise before you fall asleep. Granted, I’d just as soon watch Duchess Sophie put on a combat uniform and climb over barbed wire, so Netflix, where’s her TV deal?
Published: Mar 4, 2025 07:28 pm