Duchess Sophie kissed Princess Charlotte on the cheek as the two royal families reunited at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the 11-year-old princess smiled and hugged her back.

The moment came during a track cycling event at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on 1 August 2026, when the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh met up with the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — on the penultimate day of the Games, ahead of Sunday's closing ceremony (Hello!).

Sophie, dressed in a patterned white blouse and denim skirt, greeted Charlotte — wearing a polka-dot dress — with a kiss, and Charlotte happily returned the hug. The Commonwealth Games mascot, Finnie, also got in on the family mood, high-fiving all three Wales children and fist-bumping the Princess of Wales during the outing (Hello!).

The reunion followed an earlier warm greeting between Sophie and Kate themselves. At a swimming competition earlier in the Games, the two women — Kate, 44, and Sophie, 61 — shared a heartfelt kiss as they met (Hello!). Sophie was not accompanied by her own two children, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, during the Commonwealth Games visit (Yahoo Entertainment).

The Duke of Edinburgh's presence at the Games was no formality. He is Vice-Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation and has attended every Commonwealth Games since Edinburgh hosted the event in 1986 (royal.uk). The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were also photographed arriving at the SEC Centre in Glasgow during the Games.

Royal author Ingrid Seward has described the relationship between Kate and Sophie as "a sisterly bond," calling Sophie "the older sister Kate never had" (Hello!). Kate married Prince William in 2011; Sophie married Prince Edward in 1999.

The Wales family are no strangers to the Commonwealth Games circuit. In 2022, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, accompanied by Princess Charlotte, spoke to athletes about the Team England Futures programme during the Birmingham Games (royal.uk).

For all the pageantry that surrounds royal appearances, this was a straightforward family scene at a sporting event — two households watching cycling together, a mascot working the crowd, and an aunt kissing her niece.