Lady Frederick Windsor has painted a stark picture of life inside the British royal family, describing it as “total hell” in a candid new interview with The Times.
“The more I get to know the royal family, the more I get that their lives are total hell and that level of unasked-for fame is a form of torture,” the British actress, born Sophie Winkleman, told the newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.
Lady Frederick Windsor, 45, who married Lord Frederick Windsor — son of Prince Michael of Kent and King Charles III’s second cousin — in 2009, elaborated on the intense pressures of royal life.
“None of them went on Pop Idol or something to be famous,” she said. “To have that sort of blinding spotlight in your face from when you’re born, not knowing quite whom you can trust, not knowing if someone’s going to betray you, people writing lies about you the whole time, is just brutal.”
She admitted feeling deep sympathy for members of the royal family. “I don’t think a life with that much scrutiny and pressure is remotely healthy, but they have no choice,” Lady Frederick Windsor explained.
Reflecting on her own wedding day, the actress, best known for roles in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, revealed she barely knew anyone in attendance. “I had my best pals there, but basically it was full of faces I’d never seen before,” she confessed.
The mother of two daughters, Maud, 12, and Isabella, 9, recalled how her nuptials quickly gave way to a whirlwind of life changes. “We had to move to Los Angeles the day after, and I had to start a brand-new job the day after that,” she told the Telegraph in May. “So, we got married on Saturday and moved everything, our whole lives, out to America the day after. And I’d been so concentrating on the work that I hadn’t thought about the wedding.”
Despite the upheaval, Lady Frederick Windsor says she harbors no regrets about marrying into the royal family. “Family isn’t always brilliant, but this lot are very sweet,” she said, adding warmly, “I love all of them.”
Buckingham Palace has not yet responded to requests for comment.
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