Smiling Sophie: New photo of Duchess of Edinburgh as she marks 60th birthday
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A new photograph of the Duchess of Edinburgh looking happy and relaxed has been released to celebrate her 60th birthday. Sophie reaches the milestone age on Monday, and is marking the occasion privately at home with the Duke of Edinburgh. The image was captured by London-based portrait, fashion and commercial photographer Christina Ebenezer at Bagshot Park this month.
The duchess, wearing a cream pleated skirt and dark long-sleeved knit, is perched on a window seat in the image. She appears to have been snapped mid-laugh in the casual portrait by Ebenezer, who is said to find inspiration in classic portraiture and cinema.
Buckingham Palace said Sophie was interested in Ebenezer’s creative style of photography and wanted to support a rising female photographer. Ebenezer was born in Nigeria, spending her early years in Lagos, before moving to join her immediate family in London.
She has been named both a British Fashion Council New Wave Creative, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 Arts & Culture Leader. Two of her portraits were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in partnership with Chanel last January. The Palace said that as the duchess looks ahead to turning 60, she has a renewed sense of excitement and commitment to her work around gender equality and looks forward to further embracing and championing this issue in the future.
Sophie, a favourite of the late Queen’s, has risen in public prominence over the past year. She has been hailed as a dependable figure in the slimmed down working monarchy, which was left further stretched in the wake of the King and the Princess of Wales’s major health troubles.
