Palace shares new update about Duchess Sophie

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh has returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The visit comes as the United Kingdom marks the 25th anniversary of Women, Peace and Security and UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and builds on the Duchess of Edinburgh’s previous visit to the DRC in 2022.

Visiting from Monday 29th September to Thursday 2nd October, the Duchess of Edinburgh met women peacebuilders working at the grassroots level to highlight their work supporting local peace initiatives and witnessed the devastating impact of the ongoing conflict, particularly on women and girls.

This visit follows the Duchess’s first to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2022.

During this visit, Sophie travelled to the northeastern city of Beni in the province of North Kivu.

Following the capture of Goma by the UN-sanctioned M23 armed group in January 2025, Beni has become the new regional capital and is now home to displaced DRC government authorities, the temporary Joint Force Headquarters of MONUSCO (the UN peacekeeping mission) and an increasingly important hub for humanitarian response, including support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).

According to the palace, the Duchess met UN peacekeeper ‘blue helmets’ from around the world, including the UK, at their jungle training facility, to hear about MONUSCO’s role in protecting civilians, supporting stabilisation efforts, and assisting the Congolese government with governance and security reforms.

On the final day of the visit, she travelled to Kintambo General Hospital in Kinshasa.

Alongside the first woman Prime Minister of DRC, Judith Suminwa, and the Minister for Health, Dr Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, the Duchess met patients, clinicians and members of civil society to better understand what measures are being put in place to strengthen the national health system.