Prince Edward’s Ex-Girlfriend to Write Tell-All Memoir with All the Details of Their Romance

Actress Ruthie Henshall is set to release her memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, in July. The book recounts her on-and-off relationship with Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, before he met Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.

Now 58, Henshall said the idea for the memoir came after she discovered old diaries and letters while cleaning out her garage five years ago.

“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,” she explained. The letters, written when Edward was in his early 20s, form the emotional core of the book.

When they met in 1988, Henshall was making her West End debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. Edward was working within theatrical circles at the time, and their worlds connected backstage before their relationship deepened.