Ruthie Henshall recalls five-year romance with Prince Edward

West End star Ruthie Henshall recalls her secret five-year relationship with Prince Edward in her memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, due July 16. The Ruthie Henshall Prince Edward romance began backstage at Cats in 1988 and lasted until 1993, featuring palace visits, a forgotten curtsey, and Edward calling himself the "runt of the litter." Excerpts published ahead of the book are giving readers a rare look at a largely private chapter of royal history involving the Duke of Edinburgh.

Key Takeaways

• Henshall's memoir The Showgirl and the Prince is scheduled for release on July 16, 2026.
• The couple met at the New London Theatre in 1988 while both worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber's theatre company.
• Their relationship lasted five years and stayed discreet, ending in 1993.
• Henshall recalls palace visits, shaking the late Queen's hand instead of curtseying, and Edward's self-deprecating first greeting.
• Edward wrote Henshall a handwritten letter asking her to be patient before their romance turned physical.

How did Ruthie Henshall meet Prince Edward?

According to excerpts reported by the London Evening Standard, Henshall first encountered Edward at the New London Theatre in 1988. She was 20 and starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats; he was 23 and working as a production assistant for the musical's production company after leaving the Royal Marines.

In The Showgirl and the Prince, Henshall writes that she was "pleasantly surprised by how attractive I found him" and quickly enjoyed his reaction to her "cheeky, slightly irreverent sense of humour." The Telegraph reports that when she greeted him backstage with "Welcome to the litter," Edward replied, "I'm the runt" — a line that made her laugh and, she adds, showed he was not what she expected.

The Times describes the pairing as a "slow-burn seduction" between two single people in their 20s. Two months into rehearsals for a new Lloyd Webber project in May 1988, Edward invited Henshall to Buckingham Palace for dinner and a film; they shared their first kiss that evening.

What did Henshall reveal about life inside the Royal Family?

Henshall's book draws on visits to Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Frogmore estate, where the couple spent many Sundays together. She recalls arriving at the palace in denim dungarees — "the height of 80s fashion," as publisher Pan Macmillan puts it — and describes Edward's friends as "very down-to-earth."

One anecdote that has drawn particular attention involves her first spontaneous meeting with the late Queen Elizabeth II. Henshall says she forgot to curtsey and instead grabbed the Queen's hand and shook it "wildly," leaving her "mortified for a while afterwards." The Telegraph notes that Edward wanted the relationship kept secret to shield them both from media attention; Henshall has described him as her "first real love."

After their first passionate kiss, Edward sent a handwritten letter on Buckingham Palace headed paper asking Henshall to be patient about sleeping together because he "didn't want to go too fast and spoil something so special." The couple became intimate in January 1989, according to serialised excerpts in the Daily Mail cited by the Standard.

Why does this memoir matter now?

Prince Edward, now Duke of Edinburgh, has long been one of the more private senior royals. Henshall, a Kent-born Olivier Award nominee with decades of West End and Broadway credits, had spoken about the relationship before — including on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs — but The Showgirl and the Prince promises the fullest account yet, drawing on diaries and letters she recently rediscovered.

For readers following celebrity breaking news, the memoir sits at the intersection of theatre history and royal biography: backstage stories from Miss Saigon, Les Misérables and Crazy for You alongside weekends at Windsor and tea with the Queen. It reframes a relationship once headline fodder — the Evening Standard once dubbed it "Prince and the Showgirl" — through Henshall's own voice.

When is The Showgirl and the Prince published?

Pan Macmillan will release The Showgirl and the Prince on July 16, 2026. The publisher describes it as a "funny, honest and touching real-life Cinderella story" about a chorus girl from Bromley navigating first love with a prince while chasing a leading West End role.

The Times notes that Henshall and Edward were both in their 20s when the relationship ran its course through 1993. With excerpts already circulating, the full memoir is set to deliver one of the year's most talked-about royal revelations.