Duchess Sophie shrugs off the royal race as she watches a dance performance in Colombia

The Duchess of Edinburgh appeared in good spirits on Thursday as she visited a dance center in Colombia, shaking off Omid Scobie’s racing routine.

Duchess Sophie, 58, visited Colombia this week at the request of the Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office, where she is committed to supporting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, which works to end sexual violence in conflict.

The royal family looked in high spirits as they enjoyed a dance performance at Cali’s La Licorera, the city’s cultural center for dance and choreography.

The mother-of-two wore a chic blue dress which she cinched at the waist with a brown belt and completed the look with wedge heels.

Sophie attended the dance workshop during a difficult week for the royal family with the publication of Endgame, with the Dutch edition naming two royals who allegedly made comments about Archie’s skin color.

Making sure to keep calm and carry on, she attended the British Council’s new Creative Bootcamp: Dance and Peace programme, which is providing new opportunities for young people in the Pacific region affected by the armed conflict.

Sophie, patron of the Central School of Ballet, met local dancers from Incolballet, the Colombian Ballet Institute (Instituto Colombiano de Ballet), and learned about the positive role the arts must play in healing communities and building peace.

Sophie appears to be unaffected during her tour after royal biographer Omid Scobie described her and Prince Edward as ‘casually bigoted’ in his explosive royal book.

Scobie released his book Endgame, in which he pointed out a “royal mistake” by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in 2021 after Harry and Meghan sat down for their controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey.

After Sophie and Prince Edward turned down the interview during their first appearance after it aired, Scobie claimed they were “stuffy or earless at best, and casually bigoted at worst.”

The book references the couple’s interview with the Telegraph newspaper in March 2021, shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made some explosive statements about the royal family in their sit-down interview with US broadcasting legend Oprah Winfrey.

In the interview, which was their first in more than two decades, the couple jokingly asked, “Oprah who?” when asked if they had seen Harry and Meghan’s amazing performance.

“You know, if you don’t like chat shows, there’s no reason why you should know who she is. At least not in this country,” Sophie said about the American chat show host.

Scobie claimed the royal duo were out of touch over their comments “about the most successful black woman in the world and one of the biggest faces in entertainment.”

He continued: “Sophie’s blunder with Oprah is yet another page to add to the history of recent failures.”

The Duchess’s visit to Colombia comes a year after the International Conference on the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict in London.

While in Bogotá, Sophie celebrated the anniversary at a roundtable with Colombian PSVI stakeholders, as the country prepared to chair the International Alliance for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2024.

Last year’s conference was attended by more than 1,000 representatives from 57 countries, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

Representatives were brought together with a common goal to address root causes, hold perpetrators accountable and provide justice for survivors, and support children born from sexual violence, while addressing the stigma they face in their communities.

At the British residence, the royal family also attended an exhibition on peace and sustainable fashion, ‘Moda-Paz-Sostenibilidad’, which showcased the links between peace and the natural environment in Colombia.

Work by designers affected by the armed conflict, including ex-combatants and survivors, was on display.

Their sustainable fashion brands not only protect the natural world, but have created alternative, viable livelihoods within their communities that have suffered from armed conflict and organized crime, as well as providing a creative outlet to tell their stories.

The Duchess, patron of the London College of Fashion, congratulated the designers before addressing the assembled guests, including those working on issues related to women, peace and security, conflict resolution and the protection of Colombia’s biodiversity.

On Wednesday, the royal family looked relaxed in a floral blouse that she paired with casual jeans and hiking boots as she visited the Trópicos Fruits of Hope Coffee Farm to hear how the farm is contributing to the economic reintegration of more than 130 former fighters, and the role of women in continuing to build peace.

She heard from former FARC fighters in 2016 about the progress and challenges of the historic peace agreement.

Sophie later visited the farm’s seed farms and even tasted the finished product.

The conflict in Colombia has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls, many of whom are survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).

The Royal Family organized a meeting with peacebuilders and survivors of CRSV, to hear their testimonies and experiences and their role in peace processes, ahead of Colombia’s year as President of the International Alliance for PSVI in 2024.