The Countess of Wessex has been secretly volunteering at a London kitchen, helping to make food for NHS workers fighting the coronavirus outbreak.
Prince Edward's wife has been helping once a week, "privately, without any fanfare," the Daily Mail has revealed.
Sophie's volunteering has been organised by British financier Ian Wace. His team has been producing 59,000 free meals a week, working 24-hours a day, for frontline staff in hospitals across London including Barts, King's, Epsom and St Helier.
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Society events planner Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, who introduced the Countess to the initiative, said: "Sophie's done a fabulous job. She's got stuck into everything, cooking, prep work and cleaning. She's done it privately, without any fanfare, and the staff think she's incredible. The team here are giving everything and it's been a real boost to morale."
Sophie volunteered last week at Rhubarb
Peregrine, who has planned several royal weddings, including Princess Eugenie's in 2018, is also involved with the charity.
The meals are cooked in the kitchens of asset management firm Marshall Wace in London. The company is the one that is funding the initiative. Two meals are prepared everyday – lunch and dinner, by a team of volunteers and staff from Mealforce. The team is supervised by head chef Mark Brown, former chef to Sir Elton John.
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This isn't the first time the 55-year-old royal has volunteered during the coronavirus lockdown. A week ago, the mother-of-two joined the team at Rhubarb, a catering company, to help prepare food to be delivered to hospitals.
The Countess was pictured wearing a protective face mask and gloves, with her blonde hair tied back in a neat plait, as she made noodles in the kitchen and packed meals into boxes ready to be sent to frontline workers.
The organisation said in an Instagram post: "Thank you to Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex for joining us today and working so hard in the kitchen at rhubarb to prepare food for our heroic NHS Hospital Teams."
Prince Edward's wife also helped out at The Hope Hub
HELLO! understands that Sophie was pleased to be able to join the team in the kitchen on Wednesday to help prepare food to a number of NHS hospitals, as well as being able to help the effort which is supporting frontline workers.
And two weeks ago Sophie visited the Hope Hub, which works to prevent and end homelessness in Surrey Heath and surrounding areas. The outing was revealed by the Surrey Heath Council Twitter account, who shared several pictures of the secret visit.
The caption read: "It was a joy to welcome HRH The Countess of Wessex on Thursday 9 April to visit @thehopehub to meet staff & volunteers & help pack emergency food parcels for vulnerable Clients who are in temporary accommodation during COVID-19 and would otherwise be homeless. Chief Exec Mags Mercer." --
