Did You Know Prince Edward’s First Date With Wife, Sophie, Was To Play Real Tennis?!
The scoring term “love” isn’t the only romantic thing about Real Tennis. Apparently, it’s also a royal first date activity!
Forget dinner and a movie — if you really want to impress someone on a first date, take them to a Real Tennis court. That’s what T&RA’s Patron, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, did when he made his first moves toward Duchess Sophie, whom he married in 1999.
The tale is recounted in a new book by Sean Smith, Sophie: Saving the Royal Family, which takes readers back to 1993, when Prince Edward met a young Sophie Rhys-Jones at a charity tennis challenge that her PR agency was working on at the time. Former pro tennis player Sue Barker had to drop out of a photocall for the event, and Sophie ended up filling in for the day.
"Nobody at the photocall noticed any electricity between them and there was no question of the prince phoning up to suggest a trip to the movies," Smith writes. Sophie gave the prince her phone number "in case there were any problems with the challenge," and one day a few months later, he rang "out of the blue" and reportedly asked her "to join him for a game of Real Tennis and perhaps a bite of supper afterwards at the palace."
According to Smith, Sophie didn't know a lot about Real Tennis, but Prince Edward "was happy to knock a few balls about" whilst explaining the game. And that’s when Sophie reportedly played a trump card by suggesting she should” take some proper lessons so that she could give the prince a 'real' game."
The prince was apparently charmed by her proposal, and as their relationship progressed, he would go on to give her a very special gift: "her own Real Tennis racket."
