Meghan Markle’s assertions about the rigid formality of the royal family, even in private, have been challenged by a revealing new memoir.
West End actress Ruthie Henshall is set to release her new memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, due out on July 16, which chronicles her five-year relationship with Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as her experience with Markle and the rest of the Royal Family.
The pair dated from 1988 to 1993. In excerpts serialized by the Mail on Sunday, Ms. Henshall recounts a weekend stay at Balmoral, where the royals’ relaxed demeanor caught her off guard. This comes just after Markle opened up about career expectations.
She writes, “At Balmoral, the weekend starts on Friday with drinks before dinner in the lounge, a huge room with an enormous fireplace. The sofas had removable covers, which struck me as deeply sensible because they could be washed. There were dogs everywhere, so maybe the Queen had thought ahead. I curtsied when I entered the lounge (as a dancer, I could get low! ). And the Queen’s face lit up when she saw Edward.”
She further notes, “That night, she was sitting on the arm of a sofa, like any other mother. She threw her arms around him and they talked about horses, the wildlife, how Edward’s work was going and I chipped in every so often. “It slightly surprised me how informal they all were.”
Ruthie Henshall used to date Prince Edward (Image: Getty)
This account stands in notable contrast to the picture painted by the Duchess of Sussex regarding the royal family’s conduct behind closed doors.
Meghan discussed the Royal Family’s adherence to formality, even in private settings, as depicted in her and Prince Harry’s Netflix docuseries.
In episode two, the Duchess of Sussex recounted her first meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales, noting that while she adopted a more relaxed approach given the informal environment, her future in-laws maintained their formality, which she found “jarring”.
Prince Edward formerly dated actress Ruthie Henshall (Image: Getty)
She said, “Even when Will and Kate came over and I had met her for the first time, they came over for the first time, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot.
“I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and think, ‘OK we can relax now.'”
“But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me.”
She added, “I was a hugger and have always been a hugger. I didn’t realise that that was really jarring for a lot of Brits.”