Prince Harry’s Aunt Sophie Hopes He and Meghan Markle Will Be ‘Happy’ After Stepping Back From Royal Family

A royal ally. Prince Harry‘s aunt Sophie, Countess of Wessex, shared her wish for him and his wife, Meghan Markle, after they stepped back from their royal duties and moved to Los Angeles.

“I just hope they will be happy,” Sophie, 55, told the U.K.’s Sunday Times, in an interview published on Saturday, June 7.

The countess is married to Harry’s uncle, Prince Edward, and she said she could relate to Markle, 38. Sophie comes from a middle-class family, her mother worked as a secretary and her father worked as a sales director for a tire company. Sophie was working for Capital Radio when she met Edward, 56, and she went on to work as a publicist at a PR firm. She began her own journey as a member of the British royal family after the couple got engaged in 1999.

“It took me a while to find my feet,” Sophie admitted. “Remember I’d had five years to adjust,” she said about her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son. She added, “for our six-month engagement I was even staying in Buckingham Palace. Not that you necessarily know how it will pan out.”

Meanwhile, Markle and Harry’s romance was a whirlwind. The couple got engaged in November 2017 after only one year of dating. They tied the knot six months later in May 2018 and they welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May 2019.

With less than two years to get acquainted with the royal family’s traditions and rules, Markle found a “confidante” in her aunt-in-law. They were even neighbors after Markle and Harry, 35, moved from Kensington Palace in London to Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle — which is just 10 miles from the home Sophie shares with Edward in Bagshot Park.

“We all try to help any new member of the family,” Sophie added.

Unfortunately, Harry and Markle announced their decision to step back from their duties as senior members of the royal family in January. They completed their previously scheduled engagements for the first quarter of the year and they were spotted sitting next to Sophie and Edward at their final royal event at Westminster Abbey in London for the annual Commonwealth Day service in March.

Markle and Harry spent some time in Canada before settling down in L.A., which is where they are quarantining amid the coronavirus pandemic in Tyler Perry’s mansion. While the transition out of royal life has been an adjustment, Markle and Harry have “no regrets” about their decision, an insider exclusively told In Touch in May.