Sophie and Edward tipped to inherit Queen and Philip’s patronages

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Prince Edward have been tipped to take on “more patronages” following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams suggested the couple could be passed on some of the organisations that used to be championed by the Earl of Wessex’s beloved parents.He told Express.co.uk: “The Earl and Countess of Wessex have a highly significant role in the Royal Family.”It is now reduced in numbers and their input is enormously valuable.”Sophie was close to the Queen. Both she and her husband Edward are attached to some 70 patronages and she undertakes some 200 engagements a year.”She especially supports charities which help those with learning disabilities and the visually impaired as well as agricultural charities. Sophie and Prince Edward are associated with some 70 charities each (Image: GETTY) Prince Edward is a trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (Image: GETTY)”Their Charitable Trust helps children and the young.”She has become increasingly high profile and is also often in the news for her fashion choices.”It is likely that she and Edward will be carrying out more engagements in future and may take on more patronages, as the Queen and Prince Philip were attached to so many institutions.”Mr Fitzwilliams warned that the large number of patronages held by both the late Queen and Prince Philip that have yet to be distributed and the restricted pool of senior royals that can take them on exposes many organisations to the risk of losing their links to royalty.READ MORE: QUIZ: Can you pass the UK citizenship test Meghan struggled with? Sophie has been described by commentators in the past as the Queen’s ‘favourite’ (Image: GETTY)He said: “The fact that the Royal Family is already slimmed down mean that many much-prized links with royalty, unless renewed, may well disappear.”Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, became the patron of more than 500 organisations during her life.These included well known associations such as Cancer Research UK and The British Red Cross Society as well as smaller charities such as Norwood, a Jewish organisation supporting vulnerable children and their families, children with special educational needs and people with learning disabilities and autism.Her late Majesty, who was also the patron of military organisations, continued to fully support and champion her patronages well into her late years.DON’T MISS King Charles’ country home is a short drive from Camilla’s bolthole [REPORT]Prince Harry memoir torn apart by Steph McGovern [CLIP]Kate greets adoring royal fans lined up to meet her in Scarborough [INSIGHT] Sophie and Prince Edward are among the working royals supporting the King (Image: GETTY) Sophie and Prince Edward at the Royal Windsor Horse Show with the Queen in May (Image: GETTY)During the height of the pandemic, she embraced video calls to be able to virtually meet staff and volunteers of a number of organisations, including the Carers Trust.The late Duke of Edinburgh supported an even greater number of associations than his beloved wife throughout his life, tying links with 992 organisations.Prince Philip also launched in 1956 the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a youth programme that has since expanded in 144 nations.His younger son Edward has been hugely involved in the Award for years, as a trustee of the main organisation and chairman of the The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award. Sophie and Prince Edward got married in 1999 (Image: GETTY)Both the Queen and Prince Philip passed on to their younger relatives some of their patronages during the past decade, but many are yet to be reassigned.As noted by Mr Fitzwilliams, Sophie was particularly close to the late Queen, and has been described in the past as Her late Majesty’s “favourite”.The Wessex family’s closeness to the late Philip and Elizabeth was candidly shown by the Countess in an interview with the Telegraph in June 2021, when she recalled how she and Edward used to carry out socially-distanced visit to Windsor Castle during the Covid lockdowns.She said: “We used to see them stand on the balcony, which was about 20 feet up in the air. We’d see them waving. We’d shout at them and they’d shout back at us. It always seemed to be windy, so we could barely hear each other.”