West End star Ruthie Henshall is set to reveal new details about her romance with Prince Edward, the late Queen's youngest son, in a candid new memoir. The 59-year-old actress and the late Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son began their relationship while working for Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1988.
A Love Story with the Royal Family
Describing it as her first love, the couple were together for five years before parting on good terms. With the release of her memoir The Showgirl and The Prince approaching, the actress has reflected on life dating a member of the Royal Family – and a rather unfortunate mistake upon meeting Her Majesty.
Speaking to Yours Magazine, she said: "The late Queen in particular was lovely. I remember my dad had told me that if you ever met the Queen you curtsied and called her ma'am. When I did meet her, I forgot to curtsy and grabbed her by the hand saying, 'I'm really pleased to meet you, really pleased to meet you'. Here I was, this chorus girl dating her youngest son - it must have been her worst nightmare!"
Prince Edward: A 'Lovely Bloke'
Discussing her relationship with Prince Edward, Ruthie described him as "kind and thoughtful" and "a lovely bloke". "I genuinely fell in love with him," she told the publication. "I suppose I was not like anyone he'd dated before, a warm and flirty leotard-clad chorus girl, prone to telling risque jokes and drinking and smoking too much."
The couple ultimately parted ways due to Ruthie's hectic commitments as a West End star. Nevertheless, they stayed friends, and she received an invitation to his wedding to Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in 1999.
Life After the Prince
As for Ruthie, she wed Canadian-born British singer Tim Howar in 2004, although the marriage ended in 2010. The former pair met while performing in the West End production of Peggy Sue Got Married and share two daughters.
Before her book's July publication, Ruthie hinted at what readers can anticipate. Posting the cover on Instagram, she wrote: "To release another dream in my life is bonkers but here it is. My book. The Showgirl and the Prince. A deep love, brutally honest and a life beyond my wildest dreams."
Speaking to The Telegraph, she said: "I found old diaries which I began writing in the 1980s and then found all my letters from Prince Edward, and I was struck by how precious this time in my life was. I was on the West End stage – my dream since I was a girl – and shared a love with a man very few people even know. If this was someone else's story, I would think they had made it up. So here it is – a look behind the curtain of a crazy life in musical theatre and what happens next when a showgirl falls in love with a prince."
