One glaring error Prince Edward’s famous ex-girlfriend made while meeting the Queen
Prince Edward’s famous former girlfriend has revealed the royal faux pas that still haunts her to this day.
In an interview with Yours Magazine ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, West End star Ruthie Henshall spoke of her very first encounter with Queen Elizabeth II – and how it quickly went awry.
West End star Ruthie Henshall has reflected on her time dating royalty. PA Images via Getty
The 59-year-old West End star and the late Queen’s youngest son began their relationship while working for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1988.
Henshall described the prince, whom she was with for five years before parting on good terms, as her “first love” – offering rare insight into the realities of dating within the royal family.
In doing so, she reflected on the one glaring error she made upon meeting Her late Majesty.
“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,” Henshall told Yours.
“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!”
She went on to detail her experience dating the prince, describing him as kind, thoughtful and “a lovely bloke.”
“I genuinely fell in love with him,” she added.
The pair began dating while working for Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1988. UK Press via Getty Images
“I suppose I was not like anyone he’d dated before, a warm and flirty leotard-clad chorus girl, prone to telling risqué jokes and drinking and smoking too much.”
Despite their relationship ending due to Henshall’s West End commitments, the pair remained friends.
The star even attended Edward’s marriage to Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle in 1999.
Further teasing the contents of her upcoming memoir on Instagram, Henshall described it as a “brutally honest” glimpse into “a deep love... and a life beyond my wildest dreams.”
Per The Telegraph, inspiration first struck when she found old diaries that she’d begun writing in 1980.
“And then [I] found all my letters from Prince Edward, and I was struck by how precious this time in my life was,” she revealed.
“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.”
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