Ruthie Henshall enjoyed “hot sex” with Prince Edward.
Ruthie Henshall once dated Prince Edward
The 59-year-old actress met the prince when she was 21 and performing in the chorus of the Really Useful Group’s production of Cats and he was 23 and working as a production assistant at the company, and they enjoyed a low-key romance betwen 1988 to 1993, which Ruthie has documented in her new memoir The Showgirl and the Prince.
Recalling rumours at the time about Edward’s sexuality, Ruthie told The Sunday Times magazine: “Believe me, [homosexuality] is not part of that man’s past…
“We had a lot of very hot sex.”
The Cabaret star was abused as a child and Edward helped her to feel better about herself and more “clean” during sex.
She explained: “Because if you have been abused, you definitely figure you’ve done something wrong somehow as a child. I never felt clean. It was always like I was trying to wash it off me…
“He was so gentle and loving, and there was not an ounce of aggression in him. There was something safe about him, so I felt really good about my body. There was so much love there.”
Despite her hopes at the time that she would marry the now-Duke of Edinburgh, Edward insisted he could never subject her to the scrutiny of royal life amid her acting ambitions.
She recalled he said: “Ruth, I couldn’t put you through the job.
If I could, I would have two wives. One for the job, and one whom I loved, because you would never subject the woman you love to the job.”
And he recently told her: “I was trying to protect you.”
Ruthie – who has two daughters with ex-husband Timothy Howar – met up with Edward a few times to talk about her book with him and he has insisted he doesn’t mind her sharing her story.
She said: “I rang Edward and said, ‘Look, I’ve written this story. You’re part of it. I wanted to give you a heads-up because I know you value your privacy, and I want you to know that you and your family will come out of this very well.”
Of their subsequent lunches together, in which she shared their old correspondence, she added: “I brought the letters with me and gave him a couple and said, ‘You might find this amusing’, and he read them and said, ‘Oh my goodness, we were so young.’
“We’ve seen each other a few times because I wanted to allay any fears that he had, but he said he didn’t have any. He hasn’t really asked me what’s in it.
“I can’t see that he would be upset with any of it because it shows him for what he was, which was terribly kind, terribly generous and looking out for me. I didn’t understand at the time, because I thought I was being hidden away…
“He didn’t even ask me [if he could read it]. He just said, ‘You have every right to tell your story. You are a person of profile,’ and I said to him, ‘Hopefully I have treated this and you very respectfully… It might make you blush a couple of times.’ ”
And Ruthie couldn’t be happier for Edward and the life he has built with wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and their two children.
She said: “They clearly love each other very much. They are each other’s best friend.”
