He is the baby of the family – the fourth child of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, born when his oldest brother Charles was already 16. 

The age gap between Prince Edward and Charles was there for all to see in the  Royal Family documentary of the 1960s when Charles, 21, was playing his cello and little Edward somehow got in the way. A broken cello string twanged his face. 

On Sunday, the youngest of the King’s siblings will reach his landmark 60th birthday – yet, in a much reduced Royal Family, Edward and his wife Sophie, 59, stand out as relative youngsters in an elderly House of Windsor.

Today, there are just four working royals under the age of 70: the Prince and Princess of Wales and Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. 

With the King laid low by his cancer treatment, the Princess of Wales out of action as she recovers from her abdominal surgery and even her husband, Prince William unexpectedly missing from last week’s memorial service for the late King Constantine of Greece ,Edward and Sophie are more important than ever to what some perceive as a perilously small Royal Family.

Moreover,  Edward – Steady Eddie – and Sophie are among the most dependable members of the Royal Family, working hard up and down Britain on public engagements, and abroad too.

The prominence of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – they were given the titles by the King a year ago on Edward’s 59th birthday – is a far cry from the dramas of earlier times.

For years, the couple were among the lower profile members of the Royal Family.

Even Edward’s wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones was a more subdued affair than those of his older brothers, Charles and Andrew, whose marriages to Diana and Fergie were media circuses at St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. 

By the time Edward married Sophie at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in 1999, however, both brothers’ marriages had ended in divorce. A more low-key ceremony was thought appropriate.

In his early adult years, Edward grabbed the headlines with a series of embarrassments. 

First came his departure from the Royal Marines in 1987, dropping out after completing just a third of the commando course and saying he did not want to make the service his long-term career. 

It didn’t help that his father was then Captain General of the Royal Marines.

After that, he attempted a life in the entertainment industry, joining Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company and working on productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express and Cats. 

Theatre life brought him a girlfriend: the musical star Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for three years.

Next came the world of television and his own company,  Ardent Productions.  This produced little of note except a programme about Edward’s great-uncle Edward VIII and his abdication, although that sold well abroad. 

The entertainment business also brought him something approaching notoriety thanks to the Grand Knockout Tournament, known forever afterwards as It’s A Royal Knockout.

Devised by Edward, this involved four teams led by Andrew, Anne, Fergie and Edward himself going head-to-head in a series of silly games televised at Alton Towers.  A well-meant attempt to raise money for charity, it was derided.

There was further embarrassment a few years later, in 2001, when nephew Prince William was studying at St Andrews University. 

A crew working for Prince Edward appeared to break an understanding reached between the media and the University of St Andrews by continuing to film in the town . 

In its defence, Ardent said that it had permission to be there and had not attempted to film Prince William.

The fuss blew over but one year later, in 2002, Ardent was wound up and Edward announced that he would instead focus on supporting his mother, the Queen.

Around the same time came the sting that trapped his wife Sophie and her PR business. She was filmed appearing to trade off her royal connections and referred to her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth as ‘the old dear’.

She gave up her business, joining Edward as a full-time working royals.

Marriage brought domestic happiness with the birth of two children, Louise and James. They were particularly precious after Sophie suffered an ectopic pregnancy – one that takes place outside the womb. 

The family moved to the rambling mansion of Bagshot Park 11 miles south of Windsor and for many years they seemed somewhat in the royal shadows. 

Edward, who began life as third in line to the throne after his brothers, slid down the pecking order as Charles and Andrew married and had children. 

He is now 14th in the line of succession, below not only William and Harry but their children and those of his brother Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie and their offspring.

Living in Bagshot Park meant that the couple were among Elizabeth II’s closest neighbours when she lived at Windsor Castle.

Sophie in particular was said to be a firm favourite of the Queen while their daughter Louise learnt carriage driving from her grandfather Philip.

Louise and her mother would also spend time at Windsor with the late Queen, often enjoying watching old movies together.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth II knew that she could rely on Edward to deputise for her: she sent him to represent her as Supreme Governor of the Church of England at General Synod in 2021. 

The Prince can often be seen attending events at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, such as its Christmas services of carols and lessons.

Just how close the couple were to the late Queen was apparent when they were photographed arriving at Balmoral on the day Queen Elizabeth died. Sophie Wessex looked stricken. 

The couple were part of the family’s key ceremonials to mark the Queen’s demise, with Edward joining his two brothers and sister Anne to keep watch around the catafalque as the queen lay in state in Westminster Hall.

Since Charles acceded to the throne Edward and Sophie have continued a regular round of duties, becoming two of the Royal Family’s most well-travelled working principals, clocking up thousands of miles around the globe. 

Much of the travel for Edward is linked to his work with the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme, founded by his father in 1956. 

His work as its international trustee and Chairman of Trustees for The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation – a position he has held since 2015 – means he is one of the most well-travelled of the royals – only rivalled by his wife. 

Much of her work involves a focus on women’s rights and she has focused often – at the request of the Foreign Office on conflict-related sexual violence, travelling to Baghdad and South Sudan. 

Diplomats have come to rely on the Duchess as a safe pair of hands: someone who does her homework, shows great empathy for the ordinary people she meets who have been caught up in conflicts but can also put on the glamour when needed. 

The couple’s links to the Commonwealth, which have been carved out through their visits to many of its member nations, will be apparent the day after Edward’s 60th birthday when they are due to attend the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. The royal turnout will be much depleted. 

In 2017, there were seven of them, led by Elizabeth II; in 2020 there were nine, although the service was marred by the evident froideur between the Waleses and the Sussexes as Meghan and Harry took part in their last ever public engagement. 

This year there will be no King, and no Princess of Wales either, as she recovers from surgery. But Sophie and Edward are due to be there, never hogging the limelight, always reliable, steeped in a sense of duty that Elizabeth II always insisted upon.

These extraordinary aerial images, taken over a period of decades, show how modern society has transformed the planet, with industry leaving strangely beautiful marks that give some areas the appearance of an alien world. Others show natural landscapes that look like abstract paintings from above.

The transfixing pictures have been taken by world-renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, who has spent 45 years taking photos from a god-like perspective achieved by the use of helicopters, small jets, hydraulic poles, and drones.

Now over 90 of his extraordinary images have been compiled in a lavish coffee-table book called Edward Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction (published by Steidl), essentially a catalogue of an exhibition at Saatchi Gallery London running until May 6 that shares the name.

The exhibition features 94 of Burtynsky’s large-format photographs, and 13 high-resolution murals – making it the largest exhibition of his work ever staged. It is also the European premiere of Burtynsky’s new multimedia piece, ‘In the Wake of Progress’, an immersive art experience further exploring the impact of human industry on the planet.

Burtynsky said: ‘I have spent over 40 years bearing witness to the ways in which modern civilisation has dramatically transformed our planet. At this time, the awareness of these issues presented by my large-format images has never felt more urgent. I am grateful to be mounting the largest exhibition of my career at Saatchi Gallery in London, UK, and I hope the exhibition experience will continue to provide inflection points for diverse conversations on these issues and move us all to a place of positive action.’

Paul Foster, Saatchi Gallery Director, said: ‘This is an exhibition that reminds us how beautiful our planet is. Burtynsky has even captured how beauty remains evident in the ways that humans have exploited its resources for our own ends. However, these images are also a wake-up call for humanity to change its ways or face a precarious and uncertain future. I cannot think of a more important exhibition that we could have presented.’ Scroll down to see MailOnline Travel’s pick of the bunch from the book’s pages, presented with descriptions from the accompanying captions. 

Paris Fashion Week 2024 witnessed the unique bamboo structures of Indian fashion designer Shakuntala Kulkarani, who showcased women’s empowerment in her own innovative way.

It’s the season of fashion glamor and glitter. With the highlight of Milan Fashion Week, the streets of Paris are buzzing with different fashion trends. And once again India shines bright! Indian fashion designer Shakuntala Kulkarni transformed the Dior stage when she presented her bamboo-structured tailoring collection at Paris Fashion Week 2024.

With her flowing robes made of bamboo skeletons, she sought to explore the female experience in different contexts. The skeleton served more of a dramatic backdrop, used as a metaphor for celebrating freedom for women, empowering them and more

‘of bodies, armor and cages’ was the title of a series that functions as a metaphor for feminine strength, courage, resilience, generosity and dignity. The fixtures emphasize the paradoxical nature of clothing and armor: elements designed to clothe, protect and transform the body can also imprison and restrict it.

In addition to the spectacular spectacle, Kulkarni also showed fragments from her 2016 film Juloos on canvas. According to Dior’s official website, the piece “explores feminine subjectivity, not only in light of the social and political vulnerability of the body, but also, and more importantly, its power within the urban space and social system in which we evolve .”

Kulkarni is known for her work in contemporary art. She skillfully tries to make the transition from flat surfaces to sculpture, performance and new media.

Shakuntala is not only known for its modern aesthetic, but also for the provocation of its installations. Her work often focuses on themes such as identity, gender, social norms and more. Kulkarni is known for her innovative use of materials, especially bamboo, which she manipulates to create intricate and symbolic shapes.

The Prince of Wales  is to spend £3 million on affordable housing at Newquay on land controlled by his Duchy of Cornwall. 

This sounds impressive – but less so when you read the small print. 

Only 40 per cent of the proposed development will actually be classed as affordable. One hundred per cent of the rental income will go into William’s coffers.

The unvarnished reality is that the Duchy, which William has inherited now that he has succeeded his father as Prince of Wales, is a hard-nosed business that seeks to maximise its profits. 

It provides William with a regular income estimated at £24m.

Of course any investment in affordable housing is welcome but let us not be fooled by the idea that this is unbridled generosity. It isn’t.

When, last November, a cheeky 11-year-old asked Prince William what was in his bank account, the heir to the throne feigned a sort of jocular ignorance.

A wise move. 

‘Too much to count,’ might be one answer. One billion pounds is another.

That’s the answer according to the calculations of the Sunday Times, which compiles an annual Rich List.

It is all rather opaque – deliberately so, no doubt.

For example, we don’t know how much has been passed to William in the way of money, art works or property by his wealthy relatives, including his late mother and the late Queen Mother.

Uniquely, royal wills remain secret.

We do know about William’s main source of annual income: the £24 million or so he now receives from his semi-feudal ownership of the Duchy of Cornwall, a sprawling estate of landholdings, businesses and properties.

The title is misleading as the bulk of the land it controls is in neighbouring county Devon, along with 160 miles of coastline plus residential and commercial properties galore across the country.

The tentacles of the Duchy stretch as far as Kent and include the Oval cricket ground in London.

It has become a formidable money-making machine.

Previously owned and controlled by his father as Prince of Wales, the Duchy of Cornwall is particularly interesting, not least in the light it sheds on how the royals first got rich – then stayed rich.

An often neglected point about the British Royal Family is that by 1760, as George III came to the throne, they were effectively bankrupt. 

That’s why the King did a deal with Parliament to hand over Crown lands to the state  in return for an annual maintenance grant known as a civil list. The lands in question are today managed by the misleadingly named Crown Estate – misleading because they now belong to us, not the Royal Family.

Parliament, meanwhile, would pick up the bill for costs previously falling to the monarch, such as for the army and the civil service.

The royals certainly did hand over a great deal of land – but this included neither the Duchy of Cornwall nor the Duchy of Lancaster (the companion land and business holding, which is now controlled by William’s father, the King.)

Why was the transfer never made? Only because wild tracts of south west England and the Bowland Forest were essentially worthless back in 1760. 

It has proved a costly oversight for the tax payer – and increasingly so as the years pass and modern property values inflate Prince William’s profits.

Not that modernity and the Duchy of Cornwall – which dates from 1337 when Edward III was on the throne go – hand-in-hand.

Some of its rules still have a feudal taste.

Take, for example, the dubious and little-known practice called Prince’s Consent whereby the Prince of Wales receives notification in advance of intended legislation.

Well before MPs get a chance to examine certain proposed new laws, a Prince of Wales can  argue for exemptions should the laws affect his private interests.

We know a little about this because, during a House of Lords debate in October 2021, Lord Berkeley asked for details of the issues on which the Consent of the Prince of Wales had been requested. 

There was a long and somewhat surprising list, including provisions to give direction to waste carriers and those concerning the way that smoke control areas were to work. 

On other occasions, Consent has been sought from the prince for Bills such as the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) Scotland Act 2021 and the Parking (Code of Conduct) Act 2018. 

Why, we do not know. 

However, the fact that consent had been requested and then recorded means, in practice, that the exemptions are available to the Prince of Wales.

Another exemption can be found in Section 14 of the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition and Inspections) Act 1998.

This means that William can get out his chemistry set and cause a nuclear explosion safe if the knowledge that he won’t be prosecuted. 

This is absurd, perhaps, but other exemptions are rather more sinister. 

The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 exempts the Duchy of Cornwall from its provisions  meaning that William’s tenants are unable to buy their properties in perpetuity. 

Most other people in the country can. Just not William’s tenants. 

They do not even have a right to secure a lease extension.

Leasehold arrangements  – under which a landlord owns the ‘freehold’ and a resident can only buy a form of ownership, a ‘lease’ for a number of years – are hugely controversial and undergoing important changes.

Once again, however,  it seems the Duchy will be exempt from parts of the relevant legislation, in this case the new Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill currently winding its way through parliament.

One Duchy resident, Jane Giddins, has called this ‘naked feudalism’. 

The leases themselves are often abnormally short, perhaps 21 years, loading the dice still more heavily against the tenant. 

In one case, the Duchy allowed someone to fund and build a house on Duchy land, but demanded they sign a short lease enabling the transfer of the building to the Duchy after the death of the leaseholder – without compensation.

The Mail On Sunday reported that local people were asked to apply to live in a bungalow on a short, two-year lease. Yet the same building was offered with a much fuller ten-year lease to the doubtless more affluent readers of Country Life magazine. 

Meanwhile, rent increases, particularly on the Scilly Isles – which are claimed by the Duchy – have been rising steeply beyond inflation. This is fine for wealthy incomers wanting holiday homes, not so fine for the native population who have been there generations.

We can be in no doubt about Prince William’s personal involvement, by the way.

The latest Duchy report notes that ‘the Dukes of Cornwall have traditionally managed their own estates, and today the new Duke of Cornwall will carry the custom forward by actively leading the Duchy and chairing the Prince’s Council.’

The Prince’s Council  is the hands-on management committee of the Duchy. 

The senior officer is the new Lord Warden of the Stanneries, Hugo van Vredenburch C, FAC, IC, Rem, RC, CPDC, NZTF. His background is in investments and a new Investment Committee has recently been established to maximise income for William.

It is questionable how familiar the elevated Lord Warden is with the day-to-day challenges of the ordinary people who comprise the 600 or so Duchy tenants.

One aspect which will certainly be of interest to him and the Prince relates to those who live in the Duchy but subsequently die without leaving a will or any obvious relatives.

Under an antiquated provision called Bona Vacantia, which dates back centuries, the estates of such individuals are captured by the Duchy. 

In 2022, this amounted to the tidy sum of £293,000. A further £811,000 is being held in case of future claims, and is no doubt earning useful interest at the bank.

The Duchy has long said that this income is used for charitable purposes, after generous processing costs have been deducted of course, but recent revelations have shown that money from this source is in fact being used to improve Duchy properties, so pushing up potential rental income for William.

The latest Duchy report shows £109,000 was made in charitable donations in 2022, which seems modest when the overall profit is north of £20million.

The Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are significant to the royals – and should be significant to us to. Not just because they were acquired in doubtful circumstances and not just because they are exploited with  acumen.

They are important because they sum up the ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ approach to finance that sees the Windsors’ income  balloon even while the rest of the economy flatlines.

The Royal Family, and especially King Charles, insists that this sprawling assemblage of land is a ‘private estate’. And that questionable assertion is used to avoid public scrutiny.

As they are judged to be private concerns, we have little means to establish the facts about the business conducted by the Duchies or the profits that they generate.

Yet, at the same time, the royals insist that, unlike every other private estate, no corporation or capital gains tax is payable. 

In fact, when he was  Prince of Wales (and owner of the Duchy of Cornwall), Charles tried to claim everything he could as a business expense so as to minimise tax. 

He included all 28 of his personal staff – butlers, valets, gardeners and the like – and costs related to Camilla’s Wiltshire home long before they were married. He even tried to claim his polo pony bills. 

You might think this had little to do with the operation of the Duchy.

The claim that these are private estates might seem to be undermined by the fact that the Duchies are regulated by the Treasury under an 1838 Act.

There is a requirement to produce an annual report for Parliament – which doesn’t sound so very private to me. 

In my view, all  profits from the Duchies should be paid over to Parliament as are the profits from the Crown Estate. 

For William to keep the £20 million plus that comes from the Duchy of Cornwall is daylight robbery.

So far, King Charles has been adamant that profits from the Duchy would end up in only his pocket.

Can we expect anything different from William?

Charles says he wants to modernise the monarchy, and William has if anything been even more robust on this point.

But modernising has to mean more than simply reducing the numbers on the Buckingham Palace balcony. 

To be at all meaningful, modernisation has to mean, among other things, the end of medieval slush funds.

William is not King, but he can lead the way by publicly accepting that the Duchy should be a public asset, not a private one, and oversee its integration into the public Crown Estate.

So is he going to be a truly reforming prince? On current evidence, I doubt it.

• Norman Baker is author of …And What Do You Do? What the Royal Family Don’t Want You to Know, published by Biteback 

By Jessica Hamilton

Published: 11:50 EST, February 28, 2024 | Updated: 12:10 EST, February 28, 2024

Cillian Murphy was on hand to cheer on his Oppenheimer co-star Robert Downey Jr. to support during the 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Maltin Modern Master Award ceremony on Friday.

Downey Jr., 58, was recognized with the esteemed Maltin Modern Master Award at the Arlington Theater.

The 47-year-old Irish actor – who played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster – beamed with pride as he posed with the guest of honour.

Dressed in a timeless suit and looking dapper, Cillian was seen with his arm around the Marvel star, who effortlessly stole the spotlight in a stylish purple ensemble.

Downey Jr. – whose searing performance as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer is generating plenty of Oscar buzz – was also joined by superstar pals Rob Lowe, David Duchovny, Natasha Leggero, Chelsea Peretti and more.

The Modern Master Award is the highest award according to the SBIFF website.

“Established in 1995, it was created to honor an individual who enriched our culture through achievements in the film industry,” the statement read.

The award was renamed the Maltin Modern Master Award in 2015, in honor of longtime SBIFF moderator and renowned film critic Leonard Maltin.

Past winners include Jamie Lee Curtis Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Bill Murray Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington.

A two-time Academy Award nominee and recipient of the prestigious Golden Globe, Downey Jr. boasts a prolific career with more than 110 acting credits.

Most notably, he took on the iconic role of the title character in the Iron Man franchise, a groundbreaking move that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He won a Golden Globe Award for his leading role in the action-adventure film Sherlock Holmes.

He received two Academy Award nominations for his roles in Tropic Thunder and his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's 1992 biographical film Chaplin.

In his role as Lewis Strauss, one of the founding commissioners of the Atomic Energy Commission, which was crucial in shaping America's post-war nuclear policy, Downey Jr. Oppenheimer's main administrative opponent.

He leads the campaign to revoke Oppenheimer's security clearance and discredit him.

Until Downey Jr.'s upcoming acting endeavors. includes his involvement in Max's TV adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer, in which he takes on four supporting roles.

He will also star in the Paramount Pictures remake of Alfred Hitchcock's iconic thriller Vertigo.

'Robert Downey Jr. has staged one of the most spectacular second acts in show business history… and we in the audience are the beneficiaries,” Maltin said in a statement ahead of the film festival.

“He controls the screen without any visible effort, which is perhaps the greatest achievement of all.”

• Did you see what happened? Email alesia.fiddler@mailonline.co.uk

By Alesia Fiddler

Published: 09:36 EST, February 2, 2024 | Updated: 11:11 EST, February 2, 2024

He's a pop star with several high-profile acting roles to his name, but Harry Styles is impacting the film world in more ways than one.

Fan fiction based on the pop star and his former bandmates in One Direction is being made into a movie, with fans convinced the stories have inspired a long line of rom-coms.

Anna Todd's New York Times bestselling After series, based on One Direction, has been adapted into five feature films released between April 2019 and September 2023.

The latest addition of After Everything – which grossed $10.6 million in box office sales after its limited theatrical release on September 13 – proves the phenomenal power behind the Harry Styles and 1D fanbase.

Meanwhile, fans are convinced – despite denials by the author of the book on which it is based – that Anne Hathaway's upcoming film, The Idea of ​​You, is about a 40-year-old single mother who falls in love with a younger man who is the singer is under a spell, also inspired by Harry Styles.

The After series began in 2013, when superfan Anna Todd, 34, from Ohio, wrote an 80-chapter book on the social writing app Wattpad.

The young adult novel is based on Tessa, a college freshman from Washington State, who falls in love with a punk “Harry Styles,” with the two ending up in a tumultuous relationship.

In the original chapters – which can still be read on Wattpad – the real names of Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall are used for the characters.

However, for legal reasons the names had to be changed when the stories were published, and so the main character was changed from Harry to Hardin.

Within a month of publishing the content online, the story was viewed 544 million times.

By 2014, author Todd had signed an official publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, and the novels were released later that year.

Paramount Pictures spied the opportunity to expand on its rising popularity and acquired the screen rights in October 2014 to produce a film adaptation of the first novel After.

After four years of production, After was finally released on April 12, 2019, starring Josephine Langford as Tessa Young and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Hardin Scott.

Due to the film's commercial success – having raked in some $30 million in box office sales worldwide – a sequel was planned with the cast of Tiffin and Langford reprising their roles as Tessa and Hardin.

After We Collided was released in September 2020, with the success of the sequel leading to all the books being turned into feature films, again starring Tiffin and Langford.

After We Fell was released in 2021, followed by After Ever Happy in 2022 and the final part of After Everything in September 2023.

In May 2022, Harry Styles himself was interviewed on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Showin which the Watermelon Sugar crooner was asked if the series was based on him.

In a rather awkward response, Styles said, “I don't know how much… I don't know. I do not really know.'

He added: 'I don't know if I can confirm it. I'm not entirely aware of the origins of the script or anything… I've heard of it, yes. But I don't know in terms of…I'm not really sure.”

Fast forward to 2024: A romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine called The Idea of ​​You will be released in May.

The Amazon-produced film is based on Robinne Lee's novel of the same name and focuses on Sophie, a 40-year-old single mother whose husband left her for a younger woman.

After taking her daughter to Coachella, she meets Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of a boy band called August Moon. The pair begin a passionate affair, but discover they must navigate the realities of their very different lives.

It's no secret that Style's dating history includes relationships with women several years older than himself, such as with Olivia Wilde, who was 36 when Styles was 26, and Caroline Flack, who was 32 when she dated the then 17-year-old Styles. .

However, author Lee denies that her book is based on the As It Was singer Fashion in 2020: 'This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles, nor was it ever intended to be a classic, vague romance.

She added: “It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching her 40s reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point where society traditionally writes off women as desirable, viable and whole.”

She’s best known for playing the glamorous and vivacious Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the hit TV sitcom Modern Family, but now, fans are seeing a completely different side to Sofia Vergara.

For her latest role, the 51-year-old actress transformed into the ‘Cocaine Godmother’ Griselda Blanco – a Colombian drug lord who created one of the most profitable cartels in history.

The six-part Netflix drama proves Sofia can tackle a serious and gritty part just as well as she can perform a comedic role, and she previously revealed that she spent two hours in the makeup chair every single day to transform into ‘The Boss’ during filming.

From sniffing cocaine and chain-smoking cigarettes, to puffing on a crack pipe and beating a guy with a baseball bat – Sofia went all in to tell the story of Griselda and her rise to power in Miami in the late 1970s.

The actress previously admitted that she was out of her comfort zone in such a serious role, and sometimes spent two months practicing certain monologues for scenes in the show.

‘Believe it or not, I had to act for the first time in Spanish and I had to do a drama for the first time, which I was not comfortable [doing] because Modern Family… that’s all I know how to do,’ she said during an appearance on Good Morning America on January 16.

‘It’s been a pleasure and a torture at the same time to be a part of this project. I have been working on it for a long, long time, for like almost 15 years, so I’m very, very proud of it.’

It was clearly a lot of firsts for Sofia and it’s a first for fans seeing her like this too – as the actress explained: ‘It was a lot because I have never done anything like that, I didn’t even think I could cry in a scene, I’d never even tried. 

‘I took like two months before to prep with someone to help me understand what  really serious, dramatic acting was so it was a lot of preparation.’

Here DailyMail.com takes a look at some of the most shocking scenes from the Netflix series… 

Sofia shows off her violent side when she beats a guy up in the street using a baseball bat as Griselda

In the very first episode of Griselda, viewers get a taste of what’s to come when they see Sofia beat a guy up in the street in broad daylight using a baseball bat. 

The epic scene occurs about halfway through the first instalment when Sofia decides to get revenge on a man named Johnny who steals her cocaine from her during one of her first nights out in Miami.

Determined to get her drugs back, Griselda follows Johnny in her car the following day and spies him in a bar trying to sell her kilo of coke to a guy named Eddie.

When Johnny exits the bar and heads to the trunk of his car to get the drugs, Griselda confronts him with a baseball bat and whacks him straight in the legs – causing him to fall to the ground.

She continues to hit him a few times and demands that Johnny gets her a meeting with Eddie so that she can sell her drugs and make a profit.

‘Get me a f**king meeting!’ she yells before spitting on him and walking away with both her bag of cocaine and the baseball bat. 

Sofia wields a gun when she shoots her onscreen husband dead in the first episode

The real Griselda was married three times and at least two of those husbands were believed to have been murdered by her.

In the Netflix series, her second husband, Alberto Bravo, is played by Narcos actor Alberto Ammann and viewers get to see Griselda murder him in cold blood after he tells her that she needs to have sex with his brother in order to pay off their debt.

In the explosive first episode, Griselda begrudgingly does the deed with Alberto’s older sibling and then goes to meet her husband at a local bar to let him know the debt has been cleared.

The couple end up having a heated argument which results in Griselda telling Alberto that she’s leaving him before storming outside into the parking lot.

When Alberto insults her and her three children, and tells Griselda that she won’t get very far, she pulls a gun out on him and shoots him dead – but also ends up injured herself.

The impromptu murder is what causes Griselda and her brood to flee Colombia as she soon realizes that if she sticks around, she’ll end up dead when Alberto’s brother finds out about what she did.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ammann opened up what it was like shooting the dramatic scenes with Sofia and described her as being ‘very professional’.

‘We talked a lot, and we laughed,’ Ammann revealed. ‘Actually, the scene in the car I said to her, “Sofia this guy is terrible”, and she told me – we were speaking in Spanish – and she told me, “yes you are a sh*t!” We laughed a lot and we talked about the profession.’

Sofia gets down and dirty with her co-star Alberto Guerra for a raunchy yet tastefully-filmed sex scene 

Modern Family is known for being a PG-rated show, so Sofia certainly wasn’t used to stripping off and filming intimate scenes in her role as Gloria.

However, in Griselda she didn’t mind doing so and participates in one particular raunchy sex scene with professional hitman Darío Sepúlveda – played by Alberto Guerra.

Darío went on to be Griselda’s third husband – who was also murdered by her (via a hitman) – and in the third episode of the show, viewers see them romantically linked for the very first time as Griselda starts to gain notoriety.

The blink and you’ll miss it scene is filmed from behind and gives viewers the tiniest hint of Sofia’s breasts as she goes topless for the scene. 

There’s several other scenes that show Griselda and Darío passionately kissing, but the only other hint of sex comes during episode five when Marta Ochoa – played by Julieth Restrepo – informs Griselda that she has invited a female companion to a party in order to have fun with her.

It’s been previously reported that the real Griselda had a love of sex, and was known for holding regular bisexual orgies and drug-fueled parties.  

Commenting on her portrayal of Griselda, Sofia told Good Morning America: ‘It’s been a pleasure and a torture at the same time to be part of this project.’

Sofia strips off and gives Netflix viewers an eyeful in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bath scene

As well as getting down and dirty in the brief sex scene, Sofia also strips off for a shot in Griselda – whist taking a bath in her luxurious Miami home.

About 40 minutes into episode four, viewers see Griselda attempting to relax amidst a day of more murder and misery.

Cleverly shot using the bath water to protect Sofia’s modesty and avoid a full frontal  situation, the scene is very brief but fans still get to see another side of the Modern Family actress.

It comes after Sofia claimed she had to hide her eye-popping curves when playing the terrifying drug lord.

During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in the UK, Sofia claimed she wore unflattering underwear in order to ensure her usual physique wasn’t necessarily on show.

‘The hardest thing was that I had to wear a wig, fake teeth, fake nose, and have a plastic forehead. I also had to wear uncomfortable bras that pushed me down to make me look less Latin,’ she told the TV host.

She then added: ‘It was a complicated character for me, but it was my first film in Spanish, which was so liberating.’

Sofia smokes crack and sniffs cocaine as Griselda after admitting she’d never tried a cigarette before at the age of 51

Not only did Sofia learn how to smoke cigarettes for the role, she has also admitted that she had to practice how to snort a line of cocaine.

Part of the smoking scenes involved Griselda puffing on a crack pipe during episode five when she threw a huge lavish birthday party for her husband, Darío, at her Miami mansion.

At one point it seems that Griselda is hooked on the drug, but unfortunately it drives her paranoia as she begins to question everyone close to her and suspects several of her nearest and dearest of co-operating with the cops. 

In a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sofia revealed that Griselda director Andrés Baiz, 49, mentored her throughout filming.

‘I didn’t know anything. He taught me how to smoke. He taught me how to do cocaine,’ she explained, admitting that she was 51 and didn’t even know how to light a cigarette.

‘I had never done cocaine. It was amazing. It was a great experience,’ she said, before quickly clarifying that the cigarettes and the cocaine were fake: ‘I had to pretend, but the acting was real.’

Sofia shows off Griselda’s manic side as she forces couple to have sex in the middle of a party at gunpoint 

Perhaps one of the most shocking scenes in Griselda is when Sofia’s character loses it at her husband’s birthday party after smoking crack and uses the gold-plated machine guy she bought him to spray bullets into his car.

After telling Darío, ‘You’re lucky it wasn’t you,’ she charges back inside, still carrying the gun, and proceeds to tell one man to strip and get on all fours.

Once down on the ground, Griselda demands that he starts barking like a dog and then turns her attention to a couple of other partygoers behind her.

Clearly terrified, they too offer to bark like a dog, but instead she orders them to strip and start having sex – and they don’t hesitate for a second. 

It’s unsure just how far Griselda would go in this moment, especially with a gun, but luckily for everyone else, her good friend Carmen – played by Paulina Dávila – arrives just in time and convinces her to hand over the weapon.

However, just moments later Griselda turns on Carmen too after she tells her she has been approached by a cop. 

Still feeling paranoid about who is talking to the police, Griselda attempts to strangle Carmen in her bedroom – but is stopped just in time by Darío.

Griselda is available to watch on Netflix now.