The Countess of Wessex has paid her respects to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

Sophie visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where the remains of an estimated 250,000 people are interred.

She looked at the rows and rows of family photographs of victims, reaching out to touch some of the haunting images.

Sophie was also shown some of the skulls displayed at the site as a reminder of the horror of the atrocity.

The countess, who has been carrying out an official visit to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, travelled to Rwanda on Wednesday.

She described the memorial as “very moving” in a message in the book of condolence.

“A very moving and fitting tribute to those who were lost, but with hope for the future,” she wrote, signing her message “Sophie”.

The countess also lay a wreath of white roses in tribute.

In 1994, hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi community were slaughtered in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists.

In total 800,000 people, including three quarters of the country’s minority Tutsi population, died during 100 days of slaughter in Rwanda that year.