Prince Edward’s former girlfriend’s tell-all could shatter his quiet image just as the Andrew arrest has the Palace reeling.

Prince Edward and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor during the annual Trooping the Color Parade; (Inset) Ruthie Henshall attends the Abingdon Theatre Company 25th Anniversary Gala. Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Max Mumby/Indigo; (Inset) Noam Galai

Prince Edward has found himself stepping into a rather uncharacteristic media storm. Long considered the steady hand of the Royal Family, the Duke of Edinburgh is currently facing a rare moment of personal exposure, thanks to a former flame. An upcoming memoir by West End star Ruthie Henshall — often described as Edward’s first real love — is threatening to disrupt his quiet reputation, particularly at a time when the Palace is already reeling from the Andrew-Epstein scandal.

Ruthie Henshall attends The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals Red Carpet at the AO Arena on January 27, 2025, in Manchester. (Image Source: Getty Images | Jeff Spicer for The National Lottery)

The timing could not be worse for Buckingham Palace. The monarchy is currently facing an immense media storm following Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s February 19 arrest — an event royal experts describe as one of the most damning crises in modern royal history. Just as the Firm is trying to circle the wagons, Henshall’s memoir The Showgirl and The Prince is set to land this July, which might just shatter the drama-free image of the Duke. But why tell this story now, decades after their 1993 split?

Speaking to The Telegraph, the 58-year-old Broadway veteran shared that the book wasn’t exactly planned. “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…I was on the West End stage – my dream since I was a girl – and shared a love with a man very few people even know,” she told the outlet. Her publisher, Pan Macmillan, called the memoir “funny, intimate, and touching,” describing the relationship between the two as a “real-life Cinerella story,” albeit one involving a “lycra-clad chorus girl from Bromley.”

Prince Edward attends the 98th Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association annual parade and service in Hyde Park. (Image Source: Getty Images | Max Mumby/Indigo)

Interestingly, Edward and Henshall met when the Prince was 23 and working as a production assistant for Andrew Lloyd Webber. Their relationship saw the stage star allegedly making secret trips to the Palace and even enjoying tea at Windsor with the late Queen Elizabeth II. “I genuinely fell in love with him,” Henshall previously admitted, though she eventually chose her career over the constraints of royal life. “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 stayed with him,” she said, highlighting why the couple parted ways.

Despite Henshall’s alleged friendly rapport with Edward and his wife, Princess Sophie, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams has warned that the book’s potential for ‘intimate insights’ is causing a significant headache within the Palace. “If she is as open about their romance as she was on television, just think what it could contain,” he told the Daily Mail, noting that for courtiers “the potential mix of scandal and stardom may well be nightmarish.” The memoir is being released at a particularly precarious time for the Royal Family. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attends day eleven of the Wimbledon Tennis Championship. (Image Source: Getty Images | Karwai Tang/WireImage)

With the royal workforce already stretched to its limit, the risk is clear. According to Fitzwilliams, the Duke could easily be “drawn into the line of fire” just as he and Sophie have established themselves as the indispensable backbone of the King’s slimmed-down monarchy.