With a message from the king
The first royal: Duchess Sophie to visit Ukraine
April 30, 2024, 12:00 a.m
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The British Prime Minister was in Ukraine three months ago, and now a member of the royal family is visiting Kiev for the first time: Duchess Sophie also brings President Zelensky a message from King Charles.
For the first time since the start of the war, a member of the British royal family has visited Ukraine. Duchess Sophie – the sister-in-law of King Charles III. – had traveled to Ukraine for a day at the request of the British Foreign Office, Buckingham Palace announced in the evening. The visit was intended to express solidarity with the women, men and children affected by the war.
Sophie is married to Charles’ younger brother, Prince Edward. The 59-year-old has been campaigning against sexual violence for a long time. In Ukraine, she met President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska and brought a message from King Charles, the palace said. According to the British news agency PA, Sophie also remembered the victims of the Butscha massacre. According to the British broadcaster BBC, she also spoke to survivors of sexual violence and torture.
Last year, Ukrainian First Lady Zelenska attended Charles’ coronation in Great Britain. In February she was received by his wife, Queen Camilla, in London. Charles himself did not attend any public appointments for a long time because of his cancer. He traveled to Romania shortly after the start of the war in May 2022 to meet war refugees there.
A few weeks ago, Sophie called for sexual violence to be punished as a means of war. Survivors in Ukraine and around the world have spoken courageously about their experiences, she said at the time in a video address for a conference in Ukraine, according to the palace. One should not turn away from the horror of this crime. It must not become an accepted part of a conflict, she warned.