Britain’s Countess of Wessex has praised "fashionable" Muslim women.
Countess Sophie – who is married to Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son Prince Edward – has spoken out to support women from the Islamic world, saying that despite wearing modest, flesh-covering garments like the burka, they probably wear "something really quite fashionable" underneath.
She told Britain’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine: "It’s very evident that Muslim women can be fashionable while also retaining their modesty… And it’s a great way of bringing people together, and saying, ‘Look, this is what we’re really like’."
"And what people forget is that underneath the burka and everything else, there is somebody who is probably wearing something really quite fashionable."
In September, 49-year-old Sophie held a dinner at Windsor Castle in her role as a global ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation for the Islamic Fashion Festival, where she met representatives from the event and viewed clothes created by a number of designers.
Elsewhere in the interview, Sophie spoke of how she learned to conduct herself in public from observing her mother-in-law.
She said: "It doesn’t matter how tired you are – carry on.
"In the early days, I used to rush around as quickly as I could, but when you observe the queen, she does things in such a measured way, and I hope I’ve learnt to try not to bounce into the room, but do things in a slightly more elegant way.
"The art of talking meaningfully is one that has to be learnt.
"It’s hard to make people feel that the conversation you’ve had with them was worthwhile, but the Queen is very good at that – she makes everybody feel very special."
Countess Sophie praises ‘fashionable’ Muslim women
