Inside Prince Edward and Sophie's Love Story

Sophie Rhys-Jones used to play Cinderella at her church's annual festival — but her real-life fairy-tale came true when she married Prince Edward at Windsor Castle on June 19.

The 34-year-old Diana lookalike met her Prince Charming at a tennis event in the summer of 1993 — and they have been inseparable ever since.

"It was love at first sight," said a pal of the prince's.

For months they kept their romance under wraps, meeting at her tiny apartment.

"We can't go out because people will recognize us and I can't cook," she wailed.

But when news they were dating got out, insiders muttered it would never work. Sophie is an ordinary career girl — her dad is a retired salesman, her mom a secretary. She'd been a waitress, a barmaid and a ski rep in Switzerland. And she'd had a string of boyfriends.

Sensitive, marriage-shy Edward, who turned 60 on March 10, made his macho father go ballistic — and call him a wimp — when he quit the Marines to join a theater troupe.

But Sophie gushed to pals, "He's got a great sense of humor. He makes me laugh, he is so charming and sincere."

Together they went wind-surfing, sailing, skiing and snowboarding. She took up hunting and shooting to impress his parents.

But Edward was in no rush to wed. Two years after they met, Sophie's frustration boiled over. One night she burst into tears while stopped at a traffic light, thumped the steering wheel and moaned to a girlfriend, "What can I do? What does he want?"

The pal suggested she open her heart and tell Edward how much she loved him.

"You don't understand. This isn't normal 'boy meets girl.' It isn't that easy," Sophie sobbed.

"It's never going to happen. We'll never marry. We love each other but there's just too much pressure."

But Sophie had his family on her side. Her staunchest supporter, Edward's bad-tempered father, Prince Philip, announced approvingly, "She's bloody good fun."

And Queen Elizabeth pushed the romance along — urging Sophie to move into an apartment next to Edward's at Buckingham Palace.

"She makes Ed happy," the Queen explained to scandalized critics. Soon Sophie was a fixture at every royal event — and she never made a wrong step.

Eventually the exasperated Queen told her son: "Ask her to marry you, or you'll lose that lovely girl."

Loyal Sophie's reward came in January. Edward got down on one knee on a pink sandy beach in the Bahamas and presented her with a stunning $160,000 three-stone diamond ring. "I'm told diamonds are a girl's best friend," he joked.

"No," Sophie shot back, "you're my best friend." And those in the know now predict this story will end in happily ever after.

"They're getting a bargain in this woman," said one royal insider. "And all bets are that this is one royal marriage that won't come unglued. Unlike Diana and Charles, who scarcely knew each other before their wedding, Sophie has been with Edward for so long that she knows to handle him — and the palace machine. She can cope with anything."