Duchess Sophie recalls mother-in-law the Queen telling her to ‘just go!’ from the dinner table

The Duchess of Edinburgh was at Balmoral with her in-laws the night Team GB won gold in women’s hockey at the Rio Olympics. In a teaser for her BBC Radio 5 appearance, Sophie recalled watching the 2016 match at the royal residence in Scotland before dinner with her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth. 

“I was sitting at dinner thinking ‘I really want…what’s going on? What’s going on?'” the Duchess remembered. Thankfully, someone who was helping at the table, whom Sophie described as “an avid hockey fan,” kept returning to the room and whispering the score to her. 

“And we were sitting at the end of dinner and I was twitching and eventually Her Majesty sat there and said: ‘Oh, for goodness sake, just go!'” Sophie revealed with a laugh. 

And go she did. 

Sophie ended up running to the library to watch the final, where she was joined by her father-in-law, Prince Philip. “He loved good sport,” the Duchess said. “And he sat down and he was watching it with me. In fact, actually, I think he was watching my reaction more than he was watching the television because I was literally living and breathing every moment.”

“I suddenly realized that it was getting to the point when, you know, I was leaping up and screaming and everything and the drawing room is right next door and I suddenly was sort of conscious of this presence and Her Majesty had come through and she was standing in the doorway watching, and it was getting so pressured,” Sophie continued. “She was watching the penalties. She couldn’t cope with pressure. She had to take herself away again. She couldn’t cope with it.”

Although the Queen couldn’t handle the pressure, the Duchess was leaping up and down while her father-in-law laughed at her. Then, after Hollie Pearne-Webb scored the winning goal, earning the team the gold medal, Sophie admitted she was “in floods of tears, moving up and down, screeching.”

The clip of Sophie’s interview is from a special BBC Radio 5 Live program marking the tenth anniversary of the team’s gold medal. The Duchess of Edinburgh has been patron of England Hockey since 2006.  

Sophie has previously spoken about her love of the sport, saying back in 2014: “I always really enjoyed playing hockey, it’s so much more than just a team sport. Hockey has a great social side and is a thoroughly enjoyable game to both play and watch.”

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After the Duchess visited the Bisham Abbey National Sport Centre in 2023, England Hockey’s CEO said: “We are honoured that she continues to play a positive and active role as our patron.”

“Her Royal Highness has such a love and passion for the game and was able to share this with the staff, board representative, and the senior GB men and women players,” the CEO added. “Her knowledge and understanding of hockey was there for all to see and hear, and we are delighted to have such a leading role model overlooking our progress as a sport.”