Ruthie Henshall, the 59-year-old West End star who once dated Prince Edward, has revealed that she grabbed the late Queen by the hand instead of curtsying during their first encounter. Speaking to Yours Magazine ahead of the release of her memoir The Showgirl and The Prince, Henshall recalled the blunder: "When I did meet her, I forgot to curtsy and grabbed her by the hand saying, 'I'm really pleased to meet you, really pleased to meet you'. Here I was, this chorus girl dating her youngest son - it must have been her worst nightmare!" Despite the gaffe, she found the Queen "lovely".
Henshall and Prince Edward began their relationship in 1988 while both worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber. Describing him as "kind and thoughtful" and "a lovely bloke", she said: "I genuinely fell in love with him. I suppose I was not like anyone he'd dated before, a warm and flirty leotard-clad chorus girl, prone to telling risque jokes and drinking and smoking too much." The couple stayed together for five years before splitting amicably, largely because of Henshall's demanding schedule as a West End leading lady.
“Ruthie Henshall forgot to curtsy and grabbed the Queen's hand during her first meeting while dating Prince Edward.”
They remained on good terms, and Henshall was invited to Edward's 1999 wedding to Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle. Henshall later married Canadian-born British singer Tim Howar in 2004, but the marriage ended in 2010. The pair met while starring in Peggy Sue Got Married and have two daughters together.
Now, ahead of her book's July release, Henshall shared the cover on Instagram, writing: "To release another dream in my life is bonkers but here it is. My book. The Showgirl and the Prince. A deep love, brutally honest and a life beyond my wildest dreams." Speaking to The Telegraph, she added: "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."