The Duchess of Edinburgh has taken on a new royal patronage supporting people with disabilities in Scotland. Sophie has become Royal Patron of Visualise Scotland, an Edinburgh-based charity providing care and support services to people with disabilities across Edinburgh and East Lothian.
The organisation, established in 1987, initially focused on supporting people with visual impairments before expanding its work to cover a wider range of disabilities. The Duchess’s new role reflects her longstanding interest in supporting people with physical, social and visual disabilities, one of several causes she has championed over the years.
Pauline Gray, chief executive of Visualise Scotland, said the charity was “honoured and proud” that the Duchess had agreed to become its Royal Patron. The patronage, she added, would support the organisation’s mission to provide outstanding services through housing support, supported living and a range of day services.
Today the charity provides housing support, care at home and day services, with the people it supports placed at the centre of its work. It says its aim is to promote dignity and quality of life while empowering people with disabilities to live the lives they choose, and it retains strong links with the families who founded it, several of whom continue to serve as trustees.
The Duchess has developed a wide portfolio of work supporting people with disabilities, alongside causes involving health, children and young people, and international development. Her new patronage will see her support Visualise Scotland as it continues to provide services to disabled people and their families across Edinburgh and East Lothian, adding a Scottish dimension to a body of work that has become one of the defining strands of her public role.
