Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, has made a surprise appearance on the BBC Radio 4 soap opera, The Archers. The 61-year-old royal visited BBC Studios in Birmingham in May to meet cast members and record her cameo.
During her visit, the Duchess was photographed reading a script and laughing with cast members, including Tim Bentinck, David Troughton, and Susie Riddell. She wore a longline teal dress for the occasion.
The Archers, set in the fictional county of Borsetshire, first aired in 1950. The Duchess's appearance marks the second time a member of the British royal family has been featured on the show. In 1984, Princess Margaret recorded a cameo, playing herself as a guest at a fundraising fashion show in the show's fictional village of Ambridge. Unlike the Duchess, who traveled to Birmingham, Princess Margaret recorded her part from a makeshift studio in Kensington Palace.
This cameo follows recent public appearances by the Duchess, including her debut of a new, shorter hairstyle at the Groundswell Regenerative Agriculture Festival in Hertfordshire earlier this month. She was seen at the event, which promotes sustainable farming methods, wearing a denim midi skirt and a blue blouse, with her reading glasses perched on her head.