Prince Edward's Undercover Lover: Duke's Partner 'Smuggled' Into Buckingham Palace and Later Bonded With King Charles

Prince Edward celebrated a quarter of a century of marriage to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, in June, but before his storybook union with the Duchess, the Duke of Edinburgh was smitten with West End star Ruthie Henshall.

There was even a time in the early 1990s when the "shy" royal snuck Henshall into Buckingham Palace, defying royal protocol and security.

"He was the one who'd call me up and say, 'You're rehearsing at 2 o'clock' or whatever,'" Henshall told a publication in 2020. "And he said to me: 'Would you like to come to mine and watch the film of A Star Is Born, and you can have some dinner?'. I was like: 'What, at the Palace — is that where you live?'"

The actress and Prince Edward met in the late 1980s, when she was starring in the West End production of Cats. Their relationship is believed to have taken place from around 1990 to 1992. At the time, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's youngest child was involved in theatrical production and had his own television production company, Ardent Productions.

Their relationship was reportedly serious but lasted for a relatively short period. Henshall has described their time together as significant and memorable, and despite their breakup, they maintained a friendship.

"I think I had hopes that we could walk on in our relationship, but really and truthfully I think I was very aware that I wouldn’t be able to do what I do for a living if I’d have stayed with him... there was nothing — at that stage — that was more important than what I did," she added during the interview.

"I think if I had been talking about deepest, darkest secrets, or negativity, possibly it might have been a very different thing, but I don't have anything negative to say about any of the family," she further added when discussing her experiences within the world's most popular monarchy.

She even joked about attending cookouts with the late Queen and watching then-Prince Charles "turning the sausages."

Ultimately, the relationship was not meant to be.

"I'm not busting any secrets that aren't mine to talk about, but also they're not really secret — it's just a part of my history, and I'm completely up for embracing that. It's been a long time, too — I mean, I was 20 when I met him," she concluded, while also mentioning that she still has the Duke's phone number somewhere.

Edward began dating Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1993 during the era when the PR operative was frequently compared to Diana, Princess of Wales before their wedding in mid-1999.

Daily Express reported on Henshall's comments.