Sophie Winkleman says royal life is ‘total hell’ and a ‘form of torture’ because you ‘never know who is going to betray you’

Sophie Winkleman has said life as a working royal is ‘total hell’ and a ‘form of torture’.

The actress, 45, is married to King Charles’ second cousin Lord Frederick Windsor and is close with senior members of the Firm, including the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

In a new interview, the Peep Show star, said she ‘felt for’ her family because ‘life is brutal’.

‘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,’ she told the Times.

Sophie, who is starring in a new TV show Wild Cherry, added that members of the Royal Family have had a ‘blinding spotlight’ thrust onto them from the moment they are born.

‘None of them went on Pop Idol or something to be famous. 

‘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. 

‘I feel for them all. I don’t think a life with that much scrutiny and pressure is remotely healthy, but they have no choice,’ she added.

Sophie first met Frederick, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, during a night out in Soho on New Year’s Eve and later married him in a lavish ceremony at Hampton Court Palace.

Just before the couple celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary last year, Sophie told Tatler she ‘didn’t know anyone’ at her own 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,’ she recalled. 

However, Sophie said she was ‘so determined not to be a bridezilla’ that she didn’t even make a fuss about her hairstyle on the big day – which turned out to be a ‘disgusting’ mistake.

She told the magazine: ‘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?”‘

Sophie, 45, first met Lord Frederick Windsor during a night out in Soho and later married him in 2009 in a ceremony at Hampton Court Palace

Their wedding party was hosted by Lord Frederick’s godmother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, at her palatial grade-II listed home, Ormeley Lodge near Richmond Park.

The couple share two children, daughters Maud, 11, and Isabella, nine. 

Sophie previously opened up about her relationship with the other royals and said she adores ‘all of them’.

‘Family isn’t always brilliant but this lot are very sweet,’ Sophie told The Daily T podcast earlier this year.

She added: ‘I love all of them.’