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As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle approach the milestone of their decade-long relationship, they’re experiencing a significant reduction in their retinue, akin to the shedding of leaves in autumn.
The couple hasn’t confirmed if financial constraints are behind this staff reduction, but it coincides with Meghan’s return to her roots in television. She is set to appear in ‘Close Personal Friends,’ a new film featuring Lily Collins and Brie Larson.
Last November, Meghan was on set in California to shoot her scenes for the movie, which is slated for release later this year.
Meghan Markle was a struggling actress before winning the part playing a paralegal in a TV show called Suits when she started dating Prince Harry
Although her role is a brief cameo—and potentially unpaid—it marks a potential rekindling of her acting career.
However, the question remains: will this lead to greater opportunities? History shows that while many princes have been enchanted by actresses, the actresses’ careers often don’t benefit from royal associations. Let’s delve into a few notable examples…
DOROTHEA JORDAN (William IV)
Dorothea Jordan was an Irish actress who bore ten illegitimate children of King William IV, all of whom took the surname FitzClarence
She was a mistress, but never the wife, of the man who became King William IV.
She bore ‘Sailor Bill’ ten children, but in the end he dumped her when it looked as if the throne might come his way.
An accomplished actress, she came from Ireland and first made her name treading the boards up North before West End success. She wrote the song The Bluebells of Scotland but after being booted out by William never had another successful part, and died destitute.
NELLIE CLIFDEN (Edward VII)
Clifden met the future King Edward VII at a party in England and again when he was spending 10 weeks at Curragh Camp in Ireland with the Grenadier Guards in the late summer of 1861
She was also an Irish actress, but very little known about her career – she failed to capitalise on her royal connections.
Having met at a party in England in 1861, that same year Nellie met the 19-year-old Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) again in Ireland while he was stationed with the Grenadier Guards.
When her tempestuous affair with him became known she was laughingly known as ‘The Princess of Wales’. But when it was over, so was her career.
LILLIE LANGTRY (Edward VII)
Lillie Langtry was infamous for being the semi-official mistress to the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII
Lillie’s affair with ‘Bertie’ boosted her fame and launched her successful career, though they remained friends after it ended; he provided support, even arranging her presentation to Queen Victoria
The actress came into Edward’s life much later, when he’d married the chilly Queen Alexandra.
Society beauty Lillie kept the prince amused for three years until she became pregnant by an ex-boyfriend.
She used the royal affair to springboard her acting career, aided by Oscar Wilde.
UNKNOWN ACTRESS (King George V)
King George V, the great-grandfather of King Charles III was rumoured to have had an affair whilst he was serving in the Navy
He was the great-grandfather of King Charles, and was deeply sexually repressed.
Still, he couldn’t resist the roar of the greasepaint and according to his biographer, ‘kept’ an actress from the Theatre Royal, Southsea, while serving as a midshipman based in Portsmouth.
‘She’s a ripper!’ he wrote about her. We’ll never know how ripping – she disappeared after her brief liaison.
PHYLLIS MONKMAN (George VI)
Phyllis Monkman was a well-known actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in revues and silent films
Prince Albert in the uniform of a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and who became King George VI
The future King George VI was 23 and more than backward in the bedroom department.
The society photographer Cecil Beaton recalled: ‘Prince Albert [as he then was] showed no sign of the usual interest in the opposite sex, so some delightful, trustworthy young woman had to be chosen to initiate him.’ That person was the dancer and actress Phyllis Monkman, with ‘the finest legs on the West End stage’.
Bertie became besotted, and she gave him a cigarette lighter he continued to use for many years after his marriage to the Queen Mother.
She died aged 84 with a picture of her young conquest by her bedside.
ANDRÉE LAFAYETTE (Prince Andrew of Greece)
Andrée Rose Godard was known by her stage name Andree Lafayette and in her later years invented another name and she was known as Countess Andrée de la Bigne
Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg in Athens in January 1921
Like Meghan, she was a successful actress up till she met her prince – in this case, Prince Andrew of Greece.
He was the father of Prince Philip and grandfather of King Charles.
Andrée starred in number of French films before becoming Andrew’s long-term mistress – but after his death her attempts at a comeback ended in failure.
The failed actress re-invented herself as Countess de la Bigne – a title she had no claim to – and pocketed the legacy which should rightfully gone to Philip.
COBINA WRIGHT (Prince Philip)
Cobina came from a wealthy aristocratic family from New York City and started her show business career as a model
A rare picture of Prince Philip of Greece at Gordonstoun in Elgin, Scotland
She was Prince Philip’s first great love, meeting him in Venice when both were 17, and spending three weeks ‘in passionate evenings in gondolas on the Grand Canal’.
That same year she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and disappeared to Hollywood to star in nine films, opposite better-known stars including Betty Grable and Victor Mature.
Later in life she became and alcoholic, but recovered. She kept Philip’s photograph by her bed to the end.
PAT KIRKWOOD (Prince Philip)
Pat Kirkwood was born in Pendleton, Salford, Greater Manchester and was known for After The Ball
A successful Lancashire-born stage actress, singer and dancer of whom Noel Coward was a great fan.
In a rare moment of indiscretion Prince Philip was found breakfasting with Pat after a night out on the town at the time when Queen Elizabeth (then Princess Elizabeth) was pregnant with Prince Charles in 1948. Both denied any impropriety.
HÉLÈNE CORDET (Prince Philip)
Ms Cordet was an actress, known for The Limping Man, Three Steps In The Dark and Tale Of Three Women
Though it was always denied, rumours persisted that the lively actress, nightclub owner and cabaret star who’d known Prince Philip since he was four had had a long affair with him.
Later, when married, it was repeatedly said that the prince had fathered both her children, Max Boisot and Louise Cordet – certainly he paid for their education.
SUSAN GEORGE (Prince Charles)
Susan George’s mother, Billie, was an ex chorus girl and her father was a musician who had a small part in the film Straw Dogs
The beautiful blonde actress got to meet Prince Charles at his 30th birthday party at Buckingham Palace, having received an invitation ‘out of the blue’ after he’d seen her star as a rape victim in the X-rated film Straw Dogs.
A few days later a car was sent for her, and Charles played host to her in a flat overlooking St James’s Street.
According to the doyen of royal reporters, James Whitaker, ‘Susan stayed nearly all night, she did not get home until 7am.’ There were a couple more similar dates, but then the pair went their separate ways. Charles, according to Susan, was ‘very romantic and loving’.
KOO STARK (Andrew)
Prince Andrew was with Koo Stark for two years
This actress met Prince Andrew at his 21st birthday party at Buckingham Palace.
At the time she had a part in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? at the National Theatre, and her acting career looked promising.
The couple were together for two years but their relationship ultimately hit a crisis point and then ended.
Moderately successful as a film and stage actress, since the 1980s she’s concentrated on her work as a photographer.
RUTHIE HENSHALL (Prince Edward)
Ruthie revealed a lot about the royals and when she dated Prince Edward when she took part in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2020
Prince Edward adored the theatre, and it was no surprise he fell for journalist’s daughter and Cats star Ruthie Henshall, whom he dated for a number of years on and off, according to Ruthie, before meeting and marrying Sophie Rhys-Jones.
A five-times Olivier Awards nominee, Ruthie has had a long, varied and hugely successful career as an actress, singer and dancer, appearing on Broadway twice, and starring as Mrs Wilkinson for two years in the West End production of Billy Elliott The Musical.
ROSE FARQUHAR (Prince William)
Rose enjoyed a summer of love with an 18-year-old Prince William after he left Eton, and while their romance didn’t last, their families remained close
A friend since childhood of Prince William, she received a BBC Fame Academy Award to study acting in New York, but after appearing on The Voice things went quiet for Rose.
The daughter of the master of the Beaufort Hunt, she had a romance with William in the summer of 2000, getting caught with him in a field by a farmer on the Highgrove Estate. ‘It was a very sweet and innocent love affair and Rose still laughs about the time they got caught,’ writes William’s biographer Katie Nicholl. Later was a location co-ordinator for Duran Duran.
CRESSIDA BONAS (Prince Harry)
Prince Harry and Cressida Bonas broke up after two years together, with the split said to be ‘amicable’
Cressida is the daughter of famed society beauty Lady Mary Gaye Curzon
This budding actress was introduced to Prince Harry in May 2012 by Princess Eugenie.
The blonde aristocrat had a two-year romance with the Prince after his six-year on-off relationship with Chelsy Davy.
Daughter of famed society beauty Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, she acted at school before landing her first London part at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2015.
She returned to the West End to play the female lead in the musical Gatsby. In 2020 she played Sheila Caffell in White House Farm, a crime drama mini-series for ITV, and in 2024 starred in the film Touchdown.
