Duchess Sophie had big shoes to fill when she became the new patron of Wellbeing of Women, a charity dedicated to life-saving research into all areas of women’s reproductive health in 2021.
It was a role close to her heart and previously held by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who dedicated her hard work to the charity’s efforts in the 1980s.
The charity hopes to amplify all areas of women’s reproductive health across a woman’s life course, from menstrual health to menopause.
When Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh’s patronage commenced, she joined a conversation with the charity chair, Dame Lesley Regan DBE, raising that “hidden” women’s health issues such as period problems and the menopause must be brought “out into the open”.
During the meeting, Duchess Sophie was not afraid to talk about these health messages with a cutting four-worded response: “Time to say enough.”
The royal further added: “We all talk about having babies, but nobody talks about their periods. Nobody talks about the menopause. Why not? It’s something that’s incredibly normal.”
Speaking about her role as patron of the charity, Sophie, who was Countess of Wessex at the time, said: “I’m delighted to take on this role. I have a vested interest in it. Not a woman on the planet can say they haven’t had to access support.
“We’ve all been there, and it’s about time we really had a grown-up conversation about it.”
The late Diana, Princess of Wales was also devoted to the charity from the moment she became the patron in 1984. According to author Tina Brown, it was the organisation the Princess most closely related to after AIDS.
Her involvement massively impacted the reach and exposure of the charity, known as ‘Birthright’ at the time.
Ms Brown said: “Her involvement with the charity had attracted stars from the entertainment world. Big names equal big money. They managed to raise roughly $5,000,000 for the charity, which has helped it improve the survival rate of some premature infants by up to seventy percent.”
In January 2024, Duchess Sophie continued her work with educating young women about menstrual issues. She spoke about the “worst” part of heavy periods at a female-led workshop in East Dulwich at Harris Girls’ Academy.
The event was run by Wellbeing of Women and during an important discussion, Sophie led the conversation and highlighted how periods affect some women.
According to a social media post on X by the Daily Mail’s royal correspondent Rebecca English, Sophie started an important discussion. She wrote: “Sophie said sanitary products should be kept ‘out of the closet’ to encourage more conversations about periods in the home.
“She also revealed her own challenges telling students: ‘When you have heavy periods worrying about when you stand up from a chair. That’s the worst one’.”
The 59-year-old has previously discussed her own personal experience with menopause. Sophie once opened up about the impact that menopause had on her life, including discussing that she suffered with memory loss.
