The Countess of Wessex stood separately from Queen Consort Camilla and the Princess of Wales on Remembrance Sunday so nobody appeared to replace the late Queen, it has been reported.
Camilla and Kate stood shoulder to shoulder together on the main balcony of the Foreign Office overlooking the Cenotaph in London, where King Charles led the nation in honouring the war dead for the first time as monarch.
There was a poignant empty space, where the late Queen had stood in the middle of the two women to watch the emotional service in previous years when Charles, then Prince of Wales, would lay a wreath on her behalf.
At the service in 2021 when the Queen was unable to attend due to a back sprain, Sophie stood alongside both Kate and Camilla.
However, this year she watched the service from a separate balcony next to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
And according to The Telegraph, Kate and Camilla stood alone together and were given "equal prominence" to ensure that neither took the place of the late Queen.
It added that this arrangement, which saw Sophie stand elsewhere, meant that nobody took her "central spot" and appeared to replace the late monarch at the first Remembrance Sunday since her death just over two months ago.
At yesterday's moving ceremony, Kate and Camilla wore black coats and hats and each had three poppies pinned to them as well as diamond brooches.
Kate sported earrings that once belonged to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana and at one point looked close to tears as she watched proceedings.
Camilla wore the same black hat she wore to the Queen's funeral in September.
Meanwhile, Sophie looked solemn as she stood to pay tribute to the war dead, wearing an elegant black dress and a single string of pearls.
The royal women watched on as the King lay a new poppy wreath incorporating a ribbon of his racing colours, with the design a tribute to the ones used by both his late mother and his grandfather George VI.
He wore the great coat of a No.1 Field Marshal, laid his wreath and took a few steps back before saluting and returning to his place. A wreath was also laid on the Queen Consort's behalf for the first time.
Dressed in his RAF uniform, Prince William lay the same wreath previously placed by his father, who held the title Prince of Wales for more than 64 years before his accession to the throne. It features the white Prince of Wales feathers and bears a new ribbon in “Welsh red”.
Also present were the Earl of Wessex, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
The Queen, who died just nine weeks ago at the age of 96, considered Remembrance Sunday, which commemorates the war dead, one of the most significant and important engagements in the royal calendar.
The nation’s longest reigning monarch, who lived through the Second World War as a teenager and was head of the armed forces, only missed seven Cenotaph services during her reign.
