Sophie Wessex opens up about royal life in rare interview, breaks silence on 'Megxit'

In a rare interview, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, has given her fans an insight into her life as a royal, and other tidbits about the British royal family.

In a conversation with The Sunday Times in March, Sophie Wessex opened up about her experience of giving up her career in public relations after marrying into the British royal family, her husband Prince Edward's role as a father and the future of her two children. The royal also spoke about the resignation of her nephew Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle as senior royals.

The 55-year-old revealed that despite being part of the royal family, she, her husband, and their two children Lady Louise and James Viscount Severn enjoy very normal family life. Sophie also said that instead of taking on official royal roles and getting funds from the Sovereign Grant, her two children will likely have to "work for a living," but the final decision will be theirs.

"We try to bring them up with the understanding they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it's highly unlikely," the royal said.

Sophie also revealed that her husband, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, is a hands-on father and also helps her with everyday chores at home such as cooking. "He is very good at barbecues, and the children love those. He takes our son fishing, does a lot of riding with our daughter, he is very engaged as a father," Sophie said.

Although Louise, 16 and James, 12, make occasional appearances at important royal events, such engagements are kept to a minimum as Sophie and Edward have tried to keep their children's lives private since they were born. "They go to a regular school. They go to friends for sleepovers and parties," Sophie said about her children.

While talking about how her children spend their weekends, Sophie, who has often been quoted as the favourite of her mother-in-law, noted that the queen is just grandmother to the kids when they spend time together.

"At weekends we do lots of dog walking and stay with friends. I guess not everyone's grandparents live in a castle, but where you are going is not the important part, or who they are. When they are with the Queen, she is their grandmother," said the royal, who resides with her family at Bagshot Park in Surrey.

The royal also spoke the future hopes for her teenage daughter and said she would like to see her go to university, and even though she "wouldn't force her," Louise will likely pursue further studies as "she's quite clever."

Several reports suggest that Sophie and Edward's royal duties have increased significantly since the beginning of this year when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced to quit as working royals of the British royal family. However, Sophie denied doing extra works and said: "I am pretty busy already, so I'm not sure how much more I can do. People may pay more attention to what I am doing, but I remain as busy as I have ever been."

About their exit and relocation to Los Angeles, Sophie said: "I just hope they will be happy," adding, "we all try to help any new members of the family."

Recalling her own experience of joining the family and press attention towards it, Sophie said: "Remember I'd had five years to adjust. And for our six-month engagement I was even staying at Buckingham Palace. Not that you necessarily know how it will pan out."

The royal also recalled how she struggled to separate her expertise in public relations from her royal duties when she started going to public engagements.

"I couldn't turn up at a charity and go, right, I think you should be doing this, because that's what I was used to doing in my working life. I had to take a really big step back and go, 'OK, they want you to be the icing on the cake, the person to come in to thank their volunteers and funders', not tell them how to run their communications," said Sophie, who is now royal patron to over 70 organisations.