Queen Elizabeth allegedly started to open the door of the royal household to commoners after the disastrous marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Her Majesty realized that commoners could be better than primadonna aristocrats.
Queen Elizabeth Had Some Realizations After Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson's Failed Marriage
The Duke and Duchess of York have remained good friends following their divorce. However, they had a disastrous relationship that opened the royal household to commoners, according to royal expert Camilla Tominey, an associate editor at The Telegraph.
"The Queen particularly is quite in favour of someone — rather unattractively termed a commoner — marrying the members of the Royal Family because she sees middle-class girls with a good university education as a better bet than perhaps the kind of aristocratic primadonnas that might have been singled out for princes in the days gone by," Tominey said in the 2011 documentary William & Kate, Express reported.
"Her experience with people who are less common — say Fergie, who was a commoner of sorts but yet she was the daughter of an army officer and so she probably was from the higher echalones than somebody like Kate Middleton — they’ve gone disastrously wrong."
She added, "So maybe she [the Queen] is quite happy for people who are just stable, middle-class girls."
After Ferguson, the royal doors opened for Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward's wife. She came from a middle-class family. She used to work for public relations but quit her career and business interest to be a full-time working royal when she married the Queen's youngest child.
After Sophie, more commoners joined the royal family. Prince William married Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry tied the knot with former actress Meghan Markle. Just like Sophie, both Middleton and Markle gave up their careers when they joined the firm.
Queen Elizabeth And The Commoner Wives In The Royal Household
Queen Elizabeth has a great relationship with the commoners who join the royal family. She is particularly close to Sophie, with some sources saying she is the Queen's favorite royal. The outlet claimed that Sophie and Prince Edward became the Queen's close confidantes after Prince Philip's passing last year.
In 2019, Sophie delivered a speech to celebrate The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust as it prepared to close in 2020. Prince Edward's wife paid tribute to the Queen in her remarks, whom she called "mama."
"I feel in a way that I have been your eyes, having travelled to Malawi, Bangladesh and India to see the work of the Trust first-hand, witnessing the ambitious initiatives being carried out in Your Majesty's name, and ensuring that the intended legacy would be real and long-lasting," Sophie said in her speech, New Idea reported. "I am very happy to say that Your Majesty's honour has been more than upheld."
The Queen is also very close to Kate Middleton. Several sources said she has faith in Prince William's wife, the future queen consort after Prince Charles' kingship.
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"The queen very much regards Catherine as … a safe pair of hands," royal expert Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty Magazine, told Us Weekly. "She’s been a member of the royal family for 10 years now. … I think given that all that’s going on in the past few years in the royal family in terms of the fallouts. … The queen has great trust in Kate."
Both the Duchess of Cambridge and Countess of Wessex have remained integral working members of the royal family. They are also part of the Queen's fantastic five.
Meghan Markle stepped down from her royal duties in 2020. She and her husband, Prince Harry, are currently based in California.
Stay tuned for more news and updates about the royal family.
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