Can a conversation bring down a monarchy? You might not think so, but the Duchess of Edinburgh once came pretty close to pulling it off
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is a member of the royal family. She is the wife of Prince Edward, who is King Charles III's youngest brother
The two married in 1999 and shared two children together. Sophie and Edward first met in the late 80s, but their relationship didn't begin until they reconnected at a photo shoot in 1993
The two didn't initially work as full-time royals after they got married. Edward was dabbling in theatre and television production
while Sophie continued to run her own PR company. They had the best of both worlds, so to speak
until an investigative reporter posing as a prospective client got Sophie to say incriminating things about the royal family
As a result, Sophie faced a massive scandal in her early days as a royal
In 2001, Sophie was still considered a new member of the royal family
She was working at her PR company full-time and getting ready to land another client, an Arab sheikh
Little did Sophie know that the supposed sheikh, real name Mazir Mahmood
was working on a red-hot piece for the now-defunct News of the World. I used subterfuge, so if my identity were revealed, I couldn't work
Whenever Sophie and her business partner Murray Harkin met with the sheikh or his assistant
their conversations were recorded without their knowledge, and they both had pretty loose tongues at the time
For example, during one of her conversations with the undercover reporter, Sophie spilled some tea on then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles' relationship status
She even went as far as to say there was no way they would get married while the Queen Mother was still alive
Sophie also said that the couple was number one on the unpopular list
and referred to the Queen Mother as an old lady. She referred to her husband's mother as the old dear too
leaving some to wonder if Sophie actually respected the monarchy. As a rule, royals are strictly prohibited from using their status to make money
It's no surprise, then, that Sophie received plenty of backlash when she posed beside a Rover 75 at a motor show
an act for which she was paid £250,000. The fact that she was willing to do that didn't help her case when her conversations with Mazir Mahmood came to light
During one of the conversations Sophie had with Mahmood, she hinted that her royal status was pretty beneficial when it came to doing business
The Guardian quotes Sophie as saying For instance in your own country when people find we working for you the chances are you get people interested Oh gosh they employed the counters of Wessex PR company
The New Zealand Herald attributes the last part of this quote to Murray Harkin. Either way, a mood was made to understand that Sophie's status could be used to promote his
business. Harkin reportedly said, What you could do is identify some key people, the likes of Julia Roberts, and say
Sophie's inviting you to come to Dubai. If the princess from England invites you
I mean, you know what Americans are like. They love it. It might be safe to say that Sophie wasn't
former Prime Minister Tony Blair's biggest fan. She also had some critical things to say about his
wife, Cherie Blair, while she talked business with the fake shake and his assistant. Per the News of
the World transcripts, she reportedly claimed that the impromptu speech the Prime Minister gave after
Diana's death wasn't so impromptu after all. Sophie claimed, 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. We call him President Blair over here because he thinks he is. That's
his style. Sophie also made it clear that she wasn't happy with the fox-hunting ban Tony Blair
implemented, accusing him of being uninformed about how things are done in the countryside
She also referred to foxes as vermin that needed to be controlled. Sophie also said that former
Prime Minister John Major tried to save his own career by feeding derogatory stories about members
of the royal family to the press, effectively redirecting the public's attention from his own
misdemeanors. Buckingham Palace has weathered numerous PR disasters over the years, so Sophie's
blunder wasn't exactly the monarchy's first rodeo. That didn't mean the family wasn't upset about what
had occurred, however, divulging details about her personal life and the royals to someone she
barely knew made Sophie appear untrustworthy. Still, while one might have expected the palace
to give her the cold shoulder after the incident, the opposite happened. Royal watchers would be well
aware that the Queen Mother adopted former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's unofficial motto
Never complain, never explain for her own family. It has been an unspoken code of conduct since, for better or worse
I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging. But after Sophie's scandal, Queen Elizabeth released a statement defending her daughter-in-law
It read, in part, The Queen deplores the entrapment subterfuge innuendo and untruth to which the Earl and Countess have been subjected to in recent days Appearing on the TV program Edwin and Sophie the Reluctant Royals former Royal Press Secretary Dickie Arbiter revealed that there was plenty of
drama behind the palace walls during this time. He claims this wasn't because the Queen was angry
at Sophie, however. Instead, she was angry at the reporters who deceived her. Once Sophie realized
that she'd been duped by an undercover reporter, she and the palace scrambled to keep the transcripts
the tapes out of the press. The Palace set up a formal interview between Sophie and the News of
the World in exchange for the tabloid not publishing the incriminating quotes Mazir Mahmood managed to
wrangle out of her. Apparently, Buckingham Palace was confident a tell-all interview would satisfy
the tabloids and that would be the end of it. The paper obliged, and Sophie was subjected to
questions about her challenges with infertility and rumors about Prince Edward's sexuality
Sadly, things didn't quite work out in the firm's favor. PR guru Max Clifford was supposedly the
one who set the whole Arab shake scam in motion when he took the story to the News of the World
and he was less than pleased when the outlet backed out and opted for a formal interview instead
Determined to get the transcripts out there, Clifford leaked the story to the News of the
World's competitors, the Sunday Mirror and the Mail on Sunday, who ran with the story
much to the palace's chagrin. To make matters worse, Sophie practically admitted that the
published transcripts were accurate when she wrote letters of apology to then-Prime Minister
Tony Blair and the Tory leader of the time. Once Max Clifford leaked the contents of the
tapes to the media, all hell broke loose. One of the Mail's headlines, for example, read
Queen's outrage at Sophie insults. The tabloids made wild allegations following the publication
of the tape's transcripts, with the Daily Mail claiming that Prince Edward and Sophie's marriage
was in peril and that the prince was absolutely furious about Sophie's conversations with the
fake sheik. The outlet also claimed that Queen Elizabeth was enraged about the things that Sophie
had said about the royal family. Thanks to the controversial comments Sophie had made about
certain politicians, some British government officials were also reportedly left seething. Consumer Affairs Minister Kim Howells even told The Telegraph that taxpayers should no longer fund
the monarchy. He said, I've never understood the attraction of royalty. They're all a bit bonkers. They're not managing
the modern world very well. Vive la revolution! Prime Minister Tony Blair stood behind the monarchy but that didn keep the chairman of the Commons public administration from telling the BBC that Blair should take the necessary steps to modernize the institution With all the hoopla following the publication of some of the contents of Mazir Mahmood tapes
Sophie was reportedly advised by Queen Elizabeth to take a step back from her PR company
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, Sophie should have been smarter
Royal commentator Aisha Hazarika told The Express to have just dished the dirt on someone she didn't really know
was incredibly naive and it had terrible consequences. Shortly after the media storm descended on Buckingham Palace
Sophie announced that she would be stepping down as chair of her company. Murray Harkin handed in his resignation
A couple of months later, The Guardian reported that the palace was putting pressure on Sophie
to dedicate her time to becoming a full-time working royal instead. Sophie, however, appeared to have no plans to do so
In fact, she brought Harkin out of the company and seemed to have every intention of taking back the reins
Jack Cassidy, who ran the company in Sophie in Harkin's stead after the scandal
told The Guardian that Sophie had no plans to part ways with her company to pursue life as a royal
Despite the massive scandal Sophie's taped conversations caused, she managed to weather the storm and later became a respected member of the royal family
Speaking to Good to Know, The Sun's former royal editor Duncan Larkham
admitted that Sophie had a tough time during her early days as a member of the monarchy
mostly thanks to the News of the World debacle. He explained, You could argue that it was worse than Meghan's arrival into the royal family
but after the scandal, she changed her circle of friends and proceeded to transform herself
into an ideal royal wife. Larkin praised Sophie's resolve, saying that she overcame the scandal
because she owned her mistakes and refused to be a victim. He added that Queen Elizabeth played a
vital part in helping Sophie to rebuild her public image. As royal expert Roya Nika told The Express
it was a very painful lesson for her to learn, but the fact that she was able to be rehabilitated
after that shows just how valued she was, and still is, in the royal family. Despite her rocky
start as a royal, it was rumored that the Queen was incredibly fond of Sophie, as was her husband
Prince Philip. In the end, Sophie and Prince Edward gave up their careers on their terms
and became full-time working royals in 2002