Prince Edward and Sophie Share Photos of Queen Elizabeth on Christmas Card: 'In Memory of Happy Days'

PA Images/INSTARimages.com Sophie, Prince Edward and Queen Elizabeth

Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Forfar are remembering "happy days" with Queen Elizabeth II.

The history-making monarch's youngest son and daughter-in-law choose two poignant photos for their 2022 Christmas card, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth in the first holiday season since her death in September. The main photo shows Sophie and Edward standing beside the Queen at the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland back in June.

Another shot, taken by Sophie in 2003, shows Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth sitting in the grass of the Scottish Highlands. The photo was first released to the public following Prince Philip's death in April 2021.

Accompanying the photos is a message that reads, "In memory of happy days," referring to the inset photo of the Queen and Prince Philip.

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The Countess of Wessex Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth

Prince Edward and Sophie were visibly emotional at Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September, with Sophie passing her husband a handkerchief at one point during the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

"The Countess of Wessex was incredible. I saw her putting her arm around three or four people," lawyer Pranav Bhanot, who was a guest at the funeral, told PEOPLE. "It felt like she was really the glue keeping everyone quite strong today."

"She really seemed to be the person keeping the family together," Bhanot explained. "There were a few bishops who started crying when they saw the Queen, and she was kind of comforting them, even though she is the direct family member."

Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex

Prince Edward, 58, and Sophie, 57, joined King Charles III and Queen Camilla along with other members of the royal family at Windsor Castle this week for a pre-Christmas lunch.

After two years of celebrating the holidays largely separated, Christmas for the British royal family will return to some normality this year — complete with gathering at Sandringham, exchanging gag gifts on Christmas Eve and walking to church on Christmas morning.

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However, they will be missing their matriarch.

"It will be hard, as the Queen was all they knew, like most of Britain," a former palace staffer tells PEOPLE in this week's issue.

The staffer adds, "The first year is most difficult, as it is always the first of everything that you notice."