Duchess Sophie's 'handwritten letter' to comedian after behaviour at Royal Variety Performance
The incident happened in December 2022Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, once sent Frank Skinner a handwritten letter after her behaviour at the Royal Variety Performance in 2022.
The Royal Variety Performance 2025 will be held on November 19 at the Royal Albert Hall. The Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to attend.
Back in 2022, Duchess Sophie attended the show. However, the 60-year-old royal made some critical comments to Frank Skinner after the performance, telling him not to “give up the day job”.
What did Sophie, Countess of Wessex say to Frank Skinner?
Back in December 2022, comedian Frank Skinner performed with David Baddiel and The Lightning Seeds during the show. They sang their song, Three Lions.
However, Frank said he had become ill. He admitted that it “hurt to sing”.
After the performance, Frank spoke to Sophie and her husband, Prince Edward, who were in attendance.
Speaking on Absolute Radio at the time, Frank revealed that Sophie had told him not to “give up the day job”.
“It’s supposed to be just banal compliments. I said, ‘Was it that bad?’ And she said, ‘Well, you know, I could tell, you know, it’s not what you do,'” Frank said.
Frank then reportedly explained to Sophie that he and David are comedians. She then countered by saying perhaps they’re not used to live audiences.
The comedian then reportedly responded by saying that he’d performed at London Palladium two days before.
Duchess Sophie’s ‘awkward look’
The comedian continued, saying that Sophie reportedly shot him an “awkward” look after his comment.
He described it as Sophie thinking: “You’re not supposed to be arguing, I don’t think you’re supposed to be arguing with me, you’re supposed to just nod.”
He also revealed that Prince Edward had given him some criticism too. However, he couldn’t remember exactly what the Duke of Edinburgh had said.
It’s a bit of a skill just talking to someone for ten minutes and not upsetting them.
However, Frank argued that they weren’t “rude,” just “inexperienced”.
“I think that what’s happened is they don’t really do this stuff much, and they’ve been reduced in numbers for various reasons, and so they’ve been pulled out to do this, and it’s a bit of a skill just talking to someone for ten minutes and not upsetting them,” he said.
Sophie’s apology to Frank
In February 2023, during another edition of his radio show, Frank revealed that Sophie had sent him a letter.
The royal sent the comedian a handwritten letter, apologising for her comments.
“I got a very lovely note this week, unexpected, from someone I’ve talked about on the radio show,” he said. “And I’m not going to tell you exactly what was in it, but it was lovely. And you know when the word classy springs to mind… I was quite moved by it.”
He then explained that it had come from Sophie.
“It was the most beautiful thing, handwritten and lovely. I was very pleased. It was a lovely thing, I love her now,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking on ITV show Lorraine at the time, Frank explained further: “I think it was just a misunderstanding. She doesn’t need to send a note to someone like me. It was handwritten, really lovely and polite.”
Read more: Duchess of Edinburgh Sophie in tears during Remembrance Sunday tribute as she supports Duke of Kent
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