On the latest episode of Palace Confidential, Olivier Award-winning performer Ruthie Henshall shares stories from her passionate, five-year romance with Prince Edward.

Henshall, 59, first met the Prince in 1988, when he was 23 and had just left the Royal Marines to work backstage in the West End.

The Queen and Prince Philip had reservations about this surprise career pivot, Henshall claims, but ultimately gave their blessing, with Edward having developed a passion for the performing arts during his years at Cambridge.

Henshall and Edward grew close while she worked on an Andrew Lloyd Webber stage project, with the Prince acting as her day-to-day contact, before he invited the young star to Buckingham Palace to watch the 1954 classic A Star Is Born.

On the l atest episode of Palace Confidential , Olivier Award-winning performer Ruthie Henshall shares stories from her passionate, five-year romance with Prince Edward

Henshall first met the Prince in 1988, when he was 23 and had just left the Royal Marines to work backstage in the West End

Henshall has told Palace Confidential that she believes the Queen's favourite of her children was Edward, going against the popular belief that Andrew was the apple of her eye

'It was a real pinch me moment', Henshall recalled.

'The food, the wine, everything was just beautiful. He was an utter gentleman.

'I don't remember anything about the film because my mind was just spinning as I sat there.

'At one point, towards the end of the evening, our hands were touching and we weren't moving them. That was the start of really getting to know him and getting to know him slowly. I think the first big kiss was after about three months of seeing each other.'

Following their evening together at the Palace, Henshall and the Prince embarked on an on-again, off-again romance for five years, which they kept hidden from the public.

The actress says she was welcomed by the wider family with open arms, spending time with them at Windsor and during a stay at Balmoral which included an evening 'cookout' at the remote cottage at Loch Muick.

She met both the Queen and Prince Philip on several occasions, and recalls the late monarch complimenting her singing voice after performing a rendition of I Dreamed a Dream for the family.

Henshall told Palace Confidential that she believes the Queen's favourite of her children was Edward, going against the popular belief that Andrew was the apple of her eye.

'People talk about Andrew having been the Queen's favourite: I don't think that's correct at all', she said.

'Her face lit up whenever Edward came into a room.'

Henshall disclosed that the amicable end of the relationship came in 1993, realising she would eventually have to choose between her career or a life as a royal wife.

She said Edward made clear on a few occasions that continuing their relationship would mean giving up the stage, since her career in live theatre would require nightly security searches of audiences and backstage areas.

The pair ultimately drifted apart, with Edward beginning a new relationship with his now-wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, later that year

The pair ultimately drifted apart, with Edward beginning a new relationship with his now-wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, later that year.

Looking back, Henshall said Edward was 'the love of my life,' and praised those men and women who take up the difficult task of being married to a member of the royal family.

She said: 'When people ask me what the royal family are like, I remember something that Edward said to me.

'He said: 'In a perfect world, you would want two wives. One for the job and one you love, because putting the one you love through the job seems wrong.'

'There is a job to be done, and I think that's why there's a sort of divide. We see the royals doing their jobs, we don't see them behind closed doors.

'I think we need to remember that, they have a duty and the Queen, she put that front and centre. Her duty was to this country. So, they were brought up like that.

'I think I would have been a good wife for the job until I wasn't… I would not have been able to keep it up. That's a hell of a job. To be judged, to be looked at, to be one of the most famous women on Earth.'

Henshall's memoir, The Showgirl and the Prince, is available to purchase now.

Hear Ruthie Henshall's full story in her own words by subscribing to Palace Confidential on YouTube.