I’M A Celebrity’s Ruthie Henshall said the Queen was “very welcoming” and insisted the Royals are “like a normal family”, as she lifted the lid on her romance with Prince Edward.
The former stage star, 53, told Shane Ritchie I s*****d in the bedrooms” at Buckingham Palace on I’m A Celeb – although she later said she regretted the raunchy comments and didn’t realise she was being filmed.
Ruthie also said she “fell in love with” the Queen‘s youngest son, after a six-year on-off relationship, which started when the Earl of Wessex, now 56, was a production assistant at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre.
Speaking to the Mail last night, Ruthie revealed she was invited to Balmoral and Windsor Castle during the relationship.
And, although she hasn’t watched The Crown, she said her experience couldn’t be further from the cold welcome and ‘Balmoral test’ Margaret Thatcher is shown receiving.
She said: “They were very welcoming and as much as you can say this – because you are with the Royal Family in the Palace or at Windsor or Balmoral, which are not normal circumstances and places – but when they are together, they are a normal family and you are part of that.
“I was absolutely welcomed in. I have nothing but fondness and lovely memories of them being incredibly kind and very interested in my life. I didn’t ever feel like an outsider.”
Ruthie also opened up about the first time she met the Queen, during a visit to Windsor Castle.
She said: “It was that moment of ‘Oh my goodness, it is the Queen.’ And that moment of introduction was so quick. Edward said ‘This is Ruthie’ and she put out her hand and I just grabbed it and shook it.”
During one Balmoral gathering, in 1992, Ruthie says she got drunk on martinis mixed by Prince Charles and performed for the Queen.
She added: “The Queen and Margaret were singing hymns and Diana put her hand on me and sort of very tongue in cheek said: ‘Oh, my goodness, stop them singing hymns! Come on, sing something musical theatre.’
“And Margaret overheard and, of course, she loved the theatre and asked me to sing a song from the show I was in, which was Les Mis at the time.
“So, I sang I Dreamed a Dream. But because I’d never ever had a martini before the key I started it in was not where I finished. But I got away with it.”
Ruthie and Edward split in 1993, when Ruthie realised continuing the relationship would bring an end to her stage career.
The Earl started dating wife Sophie, who he met in 1987, later the same year.
The Queen broke tradition by allowing Sophie to live with Edward at Buckingham Palace before they were engaged.
The pair got married in June 1999 and went onto have kids Lady Louise Windsor, 17, and James, Count Severn, 12.
Royal insiders have often claimed Sophie is the Queen’s “favourite” daughter-in-law, which explains why she’s often chosen to travel with the Queen to the Sandringham church service.
We recently revealed how Vernon Kay and Ruthie Henshall had furious bust-up but ITV cut it from I’m A Celeb.
