Sophie dances up a storm with Rob Rinder at Liberation Day tea in Guernsey
The royals visited Guernsey and Jersey as the Channel Islands marked their Liberation Day.
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Your support makes all the difference.The Countess of Wessex has showed off her skills on the dancefloor in Guernsey with TV judge Rob Rinder.
Sophie wore a ruffled forest-green gown with nude-coloured high stilettos as the pair energetically jived to Puttin’ On The Ritz at a tea dance on the island.
Sophie’s husband the Earl of Wessex, who paired a grey double-breasted lounge suit with a pale-blue tie, also got into the spirit of the occasion as he chatted and waltzed with a female island resident.
The royals on Monday visited Guernsey and fellow Channel Island Jersey as both marked Liberation Day, which celebrates their freedom from Nazi occupation in 1945.
The Wessexes were guests at a parade on Jersey and heard from those who lived under the occupation, before the pair attended the Guernsey tea dance hosted by Mr Rinder, who finished in fifth place on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.
The Queen, on whose behalf the couple are travelling as part of her Platinum Jubilee, sent a message to her “most loyal people” of Guernsey offering her “warmest greetings” on the anniversary of their liberation.
“I am delighted the Earl and Countess of Wessex have the opportunity to represent me on this special day in the island’s calendar,” the Queen added.
“In my Platinum Jubilee year, I am most grateful for your continued allegiance and loyalty and I pleased to reaffirm the close ties that have existed for so long between the Crown and the people of the Bailiwick.”
Sharing a post with photographs of his dance with Sophie, Mr Rinder said: “It’s a 10 from Guernsey… and me.”
During their time in Jersey Edward and Sophie unveiled a new saluting gun battery at Glacis Field, which was commissioned to celebrate the life of the late Duke of Edinburgh.
Following the tea dance on Guernsey, the couple attended a church service before watching a performance by a youth choir followed by a 21-gun salute.
On Tuesday the Wessexes will visit Forest Primary School to meet the winner of the local Platinum Jubilee for Guernsey flag competition, with a ride on the Alderney Railway and presentation of Jubilee medals to the island’s emergency service personnel rounding out the tour.
The trip was in stark contrast to the reception the Wessexes received in late April during a Caribbean tour in which the Queen was urged to apologise by demonstrators seeking reparations.