In marking World Sight Day on 10th October, The Duchess of Edinburgh will join a long-list of famous faces to read a CBeebies Bedtime Story.
Yet, Sophie isn’t the only member of the Royal Family to take centre-stage for the children’s show, with The Princess of Wales reading The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson in 2022, to mark the Children’s Mental Health Week, which also coincided with the 20th anniversary of CBeebies and CBBC.
Sophie will read a bedtime time story for World Sight Day. (BBC Press Office)
The programme will see Sophie read Specs for Rex by Yasmeen Ismail.
The story is about a little lion named Rex who has new glasses, but he doesn’t want to wear them to school. As a result, he tries to hide them in the strangest of places. However, there’s one problem – his glasses are big, round and bright red.
Rex’s specs end up winning him a gold star, a new friend and most importantly, help him to see better.
In a trailer for the CBeebies programme, Sophie said: ‘Millions of us need glasses to see the world clearly. World Sight Day is a reminder to all of us to take care of our eyes, whether we need glasses or not. Our eyes are precious, and our sight is something to cherish and look after. So, let’s remember to take care of our eyes this World Sight Day.’
Sophie posing with a mini lion, like Rex, the main character from her bedtime story. (BBC Press Office)
The Duchess has a long-term passion for working with and promoting the work of charities who help the visually impaired, or support eye health.
Both she and Prince Edward visited the Guide Dogs centre at Forfar in Scotland in 2019, shortly after they became The Earl and Countess of Forfar to mark Edward’s birthday. The King’s sister-in-law then succeeded Princess Alexandra as Patron of Guide Dogs in July 2021.
Sophie is also Patron of the Vision Foundation, where she sat for a sculptural portrait, which was live-streamed! The sculpture aims to provide an opportunity for the blind and visually impaired to get the know her’ likeness.
To mark World Sight Day 2021, the then-Countess of Wessex visited Perseid School in London to see the pupils receive an eye test from the charity, SeeAbility. Sophie is an ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). During the visit, The Countess of Wessex heard how SeeAbility carried out research which found that half of children in special education needs schools have a problem with their vision, with 44% of them having no previous eye care history.
