West End star Ruthie Henshall has opened up about a 'scary' encounter with King Charles and Prince Edward during a visit to Balmoral Castle. In her new memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, the 59-year-old actress describes how the royal brothers played a prank on her after dinner, leaving her screaming.
Prank at Balmoral
Henshall, who dated Prince Edward for five years after meeting him in 1988 while working for Andrew Lloyd Webber, recalls a memorable evening at Balmoral. In an extract serialised by the Mail on Sunday, she writes: 'At 8.15pm, we went into dinner in the candlelit dining-room, hung with portraits of ancestors, and sat down at a long table. I was seated between Edward and [Prince] Philip, who was always easy to talk to.'
During the evening, King Charles made her first-ever martini, which she described as 'a polite way of having large amounts of vodka with a bit of vermouth waved at it.' After a few martinis, she excused herself to use the bathroom. 'Edward and Charles told me they hoped I wouldn't bump into the ghosts that lived in the house (they'd spent some time frightening me with ghost stories),' she wrote. 'They then waited outside the loo and jump-scared me as I came out. I screamed the place down. They were hilarious.'
Relationship with Prince Edward
Henshall and Edward parted amicably, with the demands of her West End career putting pressure on the relationship. Despite the split, they remained on good terms, and she attended his wedding to Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in 1999. 'I genuinely fell in love with him,' she shared. '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.' She described Edward as 'kind and thoughtful' and 'a lovely bloke.'
Henshall later married Canadian-born British singer Tim Howar in 2004, but the marriage ended six years later. They met while starring in the West End production of Peggy Sue Got Married and share two daughters.
Book Release
Ahead of the book's release on July 17, Henshall teased on Instagram: 'If you love the golden age of musicals in the 80s and 90s and a love story then this is your jam. I am so proud of this book because it was something I wanted to write when I started my diaries aged 15. I have had a hell of a life. I am luckier than a girl should be. I hope you enjoy the book.'
