Duchess Sophie, Prince Edward recreate special moments in tribute to late Queen

The Duchess of Edinburgh appeared deeply moved as she and Prince Edward paid tribute to the late Queen during a heartfelt visit to Malta. 

The couple recreated photos of the former monarch and her husband, Prince Philip, taken over 70 years ago at the Maltese villa where they resided as newlyweds.

During their visit to Villa Guardamangia, the Edinburghs learned about the restoration efforts being undertaken at the former residence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who lived there from 1949 to 1951 while the prince was serving as a Royal Navy officer in Malta.

While there, Edward and Sophie met Elizabeth Pule, whose mother, Jessie, worked as a housekeeper when the late Queen and Prince Philip inhabited the villa on the outskirts of Valletta.

Edward told her: "I know that my mother spotted your mother in a crowd when she came on a visit. She never forgot her."

The couple was given a tour of the house, where they explored an exhibition featuring photographs of the late Queen and Prince Philip displayed in the garden.

During their visit, Edward and Sophie waved to two individuals standing on a balcony of a nearby property that overlooked the garden.

At one point, the Duke and Duchess found a moment of privacy at the far end of the garden, near a dilapidated fountain, where they engaged in conversation and absorbed their surroundings. Midway through the tour, bells rang out, specially rung by a local priest in honor of their visit.

To conclude the tour, Edward and Sophie posed for a photograph on the villa's roof, and they were asked to switch positions to recreate a famous image of the late Queen and Prince Philip taken on that same roof decades earlier.

Giancarlo Azzopardi, assistant curator at Heritage Malta, noted that there is a strong "attachment" between the villa and the British royal family.

"Specifically with the older generation that remembers Malta as a British colony and later as a British base, there's always that attachment," he said. "Obviously, there’s a nostalgic element and then you obviously have the celebrity status of the royal family, so there is that link."

He said it was meaningful to have the duke and duchess visiting the property on Wednesday. "It always pulls a crowd," Mr Azzopardi said. "We get people knocking on the door – ideally they don't do that – unfortunately we can't let anyone in but we do get a bit of fans."

He also told of a 'misconception' that the late Queen was living in Malta as a 'regular sailor's wife'. He said: "The princess was living here at a time when there was a question about whether or not independence was going to happen and the princess was at work putting on a public image for Britain, for post-war Britain.

"Despite the idea, the misconception, that she was here as a regular sailor's wife, she was quite busy. Every single day she was at an event."

Heritage Malta has been granted around 10 million euros (£8.4 million) to restore the dilapidated property and plans to refurbish it as a 1950s house by 2030/31.