Duchess Sophie visits Air Ambulance service that 'saved her life' when she needed 'life-threatening' emergency operation
The duchess was previously was airlifted to hospital from her home
Duchess Sophie once relied on the Air Ambulance service to save her life and this week, she is giving back.
The Duchess of Edinburgh, who has had a longstanding involvement with Thames Valley Air Ambulance, shared her support again.
Duchess Sophie update
Sophie, who is the Royal Patron of the charity, toured the expanded education and operations areas.
She also unveiled an official plaque to commemorate her visit this week.
Her visit not only boosts morale for the team, but creates awareness of what the service has described as their “busiest year yet”.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance, which is based in Stokenchurch and serves Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, was called out 3,302 times in 2025.
The charity followed up 1230 cardiac arrests last year, averaging at more than three a day.
They responded to 1162 call-outs in Buckinghamshire, as well as 958 in Oxfordshire and 1090 in Berkshire, as per reports.
Duchess Sophie visits Thames Valley Air Ambulance
Duchess Sophie observed critical care paramedics and doctors going through training scenarios in the Pre-hospital Education Centre which she opened.
James Perks, a critical care paramedic, said they could now create “really high fidelity scenarios” to train those in their service.
“I think something the duchess picked up upon was that it’s not just the procedures or the medicine actually, it’s deploying that and delivering that in austere environments. And that’s what we can do by having these facilities around us,” he explained.
Amanda McLean, chief executive of Thames Valley Air Ambulance, described the “honour” of hosting Duchess Sophie.
“A former patient as well as our Royal Patron, the duchess has always been passionate about our mission to give everyone in the region the best possible chance of survival and recovery,” McLean said.
Royal Patron Duchess Sophie is a ‘former patient’
She went on to say: “She was really supportive during the Covid pandemic. She attended calls with crews online and talking to them and she’s been to our 21st birthday. So she’s very familiar with what’s going on – really interested and really supportive.”
Duchess Sophie was previously treated by the Air Ambulance in her own emergency situation.
The then-Countess of Wessex had to undergo an emergency operation at London’s King Edward VII hospital in 2001.
Sophie, who shares two children with Prince Edward, was airlifted from her home to the hospital by the Thames Valley Air Ambulance when she suffered a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.
She underwent a two-and-a-half hour operation, but sadly lost her baby.
Sophie’s ectopic pregnancy
The NHS website explains that an ectopic pregnancy is “when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes”.
It continues: “The fallopian tubes are the tubes connecting the ovaries to the womb. If an egg gets stuck in them, it won’t develop into a baby and your health may be at risk if the pregnancy continues.
“Unfortunately, it’s not possible to save the pregnancy. It usually has to be removed using medicine or an operation.”
In 2001, Sophie opened up about the tragedy. She said, as reported by the BBC at the time: “I’m obviously very sad, but it was just not meant to be. But there will be other chances. The nurses have been unbelievably fantastic.”
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