Ruthie Henshall has opened up about a "scary" encounter she experienced while spending time with members of the royal family. The West End star dated Prince Edward for five years after they met while working for Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1988.
In her new memoir, she reveals the Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son was her first love before the pair eventually parted on amicable terms.
During their relationship, the 59-year-old spent time with several members of the royal family and claims they were surprisingly relaxed behind closed doors.
Recalling one memorable visit to Balmoral, Ruthie revealed how Prince Edward and King Charles played a prank on her.
In an extract from The Showgirl and the Prince, serialised by the Mail on Sunday, she wrote: "At 8.15pm, we went into dinner in the candlelit dining-room, hung with portraits of ancestors, and sat down at a long table. I was seated between Edward and [Prince] Philip, who was always easy to talk to."
As the evening unfolded, Ruthie said it was Charles who made her first-ever martini, which she described as "a polite way of having large amounts of vodka with a bit of vermouth waved at it".
After drinking a few martinis, Ruthie recalled excusing herself to use the bathroom, only for the visit to take an unexpected turn.
"As the martinis were whizzing through me, I went to the loo with a candle," she shared.
"Edward and Charles told me they hoped I wouldn't bump into the ghosts that lived in the house (they'd spent some time frightening me with ghost stories).
"They then waited outside the loo and jump-scared me as I came out," she added. "I screamed the place down. They were hilarious."
Ruthie and Edward eventually went their separate ways, with the demands of her career as a West End leading lady putting pressure on the relationship.
Despite the split, they remained on good terms, and she was later invited to his wedding to Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle in 1999.
"I genuinely fell in love with him," she shared. "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."
She went on to describe her former partner as "kind and thoughtful" and "a lovely bloke".
Ruthie moved on and married Canadian-born British singer Tim Howar in 2004, although the marriage ended six years later.
The former couple met while starring in the West End production of Peggy Sue Got Married and share two daughters.
Ahead of the book's release on July 17, she teased on Instagram: "If you love the golden age of musicals in the 80s and 90s and a love story then this is your jam.
"I am so proud of this book because it was something I wanted to write when I started my diaries aged 15.
"I have had a hell of a life. I am luckier than a girl should be. I hope you enjoy the book."
