The Duchess of Edinburgh has had a major dream come true as she’s appeared on the long-standing BBC Radio 4 show, The Archers. The soap opera via radio waves has a cult following, including Duchess Sophie and now she’s made a surprise cameo appearance.
The show is set in the fictional village of Ambridge, but the royal had to head to BBC Mailbox in Birmingham to record her own part, playing herself at the fictional Borchester Show, in her real life role as honorary president of Linking Environment and Farming (Leaf).
During the recording Sophie was pictured looking relaxed as she stood in front of her script in the studio, and she was joined by actors Tim Bentnick, who plays David Archer, David Troughton, who stars as Tony Archer, and Susie Riddell, who appears as Tracy Horrobin. She also chatted with Charles Collingwood, who plays Brian Aldridge.
PA Media points out that the website had already hinted about a special guest as it read: “Nerves are frayed on the day of the Borchester Show, and a surprise guest makes their mark.”
The Archers first aired in 1951 and now has more than 20,000 episodes.
The special episode featuring Sophie marks the drama’s 75th anniversary year, and it aired for the first time at 7pm on Thursday.
Other royal special guests
© Getty ImagesSophie may have been incredibly excited for the special invitation but she isn’t the first royal to appear. Queen Camilla played a part in 2011, as she acted out her role as president of the National Osteoporosis Society in a special episode to mark The Archers’ 60th anniversary. Camilla, who describes herself as an “Archers addict”, is said to love nothing more than listening to an episode in “times of stress,” she told Sunny Ormonde, who is the voice behind the bonne vivante and property developer Lilian Bellamy.
To mark their 20,000th episode, Camilla sent a special message to the cast. “Thank you for bringing joy, companionship, laughter, tears, compassion and understanding to your audience across the globe. Here’s to the next 20,000 episodes – and, let’s hope, the end of Rob Titchener!” Just weeks later, the infamous Rob Titchener was dead – did Camilla convince the writers?
But Camilla also wasn’t even the first royal to appear as Queen Elizabeth II’s sister Princess Margaret made a cameo in 1984, when she was a surprise guest at a fundraising fashion show for the NSPCC in the ballroom of Ambridge’s local hotel Grey Gables.
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