10 months ago
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Sophie Winkleman is an actress and a minor member of the British royal family. She married Lord Frederik Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent and his Nazi wife Princess Michael of Kent. Sophie can go by “Lady Frederick Windsor” if she so chooses, although I think she’s mostly kept her maiden name, which is what she still uses professionally as well. Sophie is currently starring in Belgravia: The Next Chapter, where she plays the Duchess of Rochester. While she came from a well-heeled “middle class” family, she moves around quite comfortably in the aristocratic and royal sets. She covers the February issue of Tatler to promote the show and talk up the royal/aristo set which welcomed her with open arms. Gee, I wonder why those same sets didn’t welcome a Black American actress? Some highlights from this piece:
She has a small role in ‘Wonka’: ‘Timothée [Chalamet] was adorable and it was super-fun to be around all these great actors playing daft cameos.’
Her husband was a huge fan of ‘Peep Show’: The couple met 17 years ago on New Year’s Eve in Soho. ‘We were leaving two different parties and we went for the same taxi. His very first words to me were, “You’re Big Suze, I love you!” I looked back at this ridiculously beautiful face and thought, “Oh God. Hello, everyone. I’m going to be in trouble here.” I don’t want to be a smug wanker, but it was quite Richard Curtis.’
Her background: ‘Dad’s dad was the chairman of something called the Artists for Peace Committee, which I think was Marxist. My family definitely weren’t interested in me marrying into royalty. I think Freddie could probably sense that.’ After two years, Lord Frederick proposed with a diamond engagement ring that had belonged to his grandmother Princess Marina.
They married at Hampton Court Palace. ‘I didn’t know anyone at my wedding. I had my best pals there but basically it was full of faces I’d never seen before. My mother-in-law, Princess Michael of Kent, took full personal charge of it all and did it brilliantly, including what dress I was wearing… I was so determined not to be a bridezilla, I didn’t even work out my hairstyle and I cannot tell you how disgusting it looked. Coming up the aisle, the first thing I said when I saw Freddie was, “I’m so sorry about the hair.” He said, “Yes, what on earth have you done?” That’s pretty much all I can remember about it. My hair and being such a moron. But it was such a beautiful place.’ The Duchess of Kent helped choose the service’s music. ‘She introduced me to Rutter and suggested ‘Soave sia il vento’ from Così Fan Tutte, which is beautiful in the mouths of the little Hampton Court choirboys. And then my friend Bryan sang.’ Bryan? ‘Bryan Adams, I’d met him at a charity thing in the early 2000s. He sang “Heaven” as our first dance, which I love. We went full Magic FM.’
They moved to LA right after the wedding: Soon she was cast as Ashton Kutcher’s character’s girlfriend Zoey in the US sitcom Two and a Half Men. They stayed for seven happy years, living in West Hollywood, with Lord Frederick working at JPMorgan Chase (he’s now based in the company’s London offices). ‘He utterly loved it. He made a whole gang of dear friends who had no clue of anything about him and that was amazing. Not that he would remotely ever say he was anything; he’s very, very modest and a distant cousin of the senior lot, but there was a sort of scene around him in the old days, and he completely left it behind and started from scratch.’
She liked working in America: ‘One of the things I love about America is they want things to succeed, they’re not mildly sour like British people can be. You can go to almost the head of Universal Studios with an idea and they’ll go, “Yeah, like it!” and pay you to write it. Here, it’s such a tiny clique of writers, you can’t really break through.’
She was less enamored with LA’s industry fixation. ‘I found it really comical that someone who had been in some show was genuinely considered a more significant person than another.’ Inevitably, the couple found themselves hanging out with fellow Brits. ‘I did a play with Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Jane Leeves – she’s still a great friend. They were all so fabulous.’
She got into a terrible car accident in 2016: She’d won a part in Trust, Danny Boyle’s TV drama about the Getty kidnapping, but while being driven home from set, she suffered a crash that left her trapped in the back seat of the upside-down car. Paramedics cut her out. ‘I was completely lucid throughout. I assumed I was a goner and you just go into a strangely un-romantic mode of thinking, “Right, this is my last few minutes. I’ve got to do something practical.” So I was thinking things like, “Hope my parents stay well to help Freddie take care of the children, hope he meets someone nice…”’
She had broken her foot and three bones in her back. She was touched by the support of the then Prince Charles, whose cook at Clarence House supplied her family with meals twice a day for months. ‘It was lifesaving, having this massive thing twice daily that I didn’t have to worry about,’ Winkleman says. Other royal cousins rallied round. Prince William asked an air ambulance colleague to ‘take good care of her’, while Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visited her in hospital. Still, her recuperation was slow and agonising, with Winkleman unable to pick up her children for a year. ‘It was quite sobering. Physio left me in so much pain, it wasn’t working.’ Then she spoke with the Queen at a function. ‘She asked how I was, and she said, “We can’t have that. You have to go in the water.” She told us that when horses had broken backs, they swam, and so she let me use her pool at Buckingham Palace. That’s the reason I got better. It was so typically thoughtful.’
She adores the royal family: She says she’s ‘really good friends with all of them – that’s a really daft thing to say, but behind the camera they’re really fun, clever, kind people. I love Sophie Edinburgh, Sarah Chatto, Zara, the York girls, Tim and Princess Anne, Fergie, all the Kents and Gloucesters. I love Kate and William, but they’re so busy and don’t live in London, so I don’t see them much.’ The King, she continues, ‘is a very dear friend. I spend a bit of time with him. You see how he works all day long, has a quick supper and then disappears until about 4am to write letters. He cares about so many things and he comes up with brilliant solutions.’
She hates smartphones: ‘I’m the biggest bore about smartphones. I want to get a revolution together to say let’s get every parent in England to not give out a smartphone to children. If we all did it, then no one would be missing out.’ She walks the talk, eschewing all social media, although she admits at times it would have benefited her career. ‘I’m not saying it in any kind of holier-than-thou way but people have become so self-obsessed it’s sad.’
She has republican friends: ‘I have so many republican friends. Luckily we can have spirited conversations where I say, “Fine, but what would you replace the Royal Family with?” Because I’ve seen what endless good they do.’
This feels accurate: “One of the things I love about America is they want things to succeed, they’re not mildly sour like British people can be.” It’s presented as “Americans are more optimistic and positive” but really, I think it probably says more about the British character. As for what she says about the royals… that was her experience and so be it. They accepted her and helped her out. Once again, it says more about the royals that they didn’t behave the same way when another actress joined their ranks. I hate this too: “but what would you replace the Royal Family with?” The answer is pretty simple, right? In a democracy, you elect people to represent you. Also: her wedding story is insane.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Tatler.
