‘Sanditon’ Cast Member Sophie Winkleman Is Connected to the Royal Family
On PBS’s Sanditon, Sophie Winkleman plays a woman who is mistress to George IV. In real life, the actor has a close connection to the British royal family.
Sophie Winkleman plays Lady Susan in ‘Sanditon’
Winkleman returned to Sanditon for its third and final season. She plays Lady Susan in the romantic period drama.
The sophisticated Lady Susan befriended Charlotte (Rose Williams) in season 1. She’s a high-society figure and the subject of much gossip, as she’s had a long-standing affair with the Prince Regent, who has now ascended to the throne as King George IV. In season 1, she provided Charlotte guidance in her relationship with Sidney (Theo James). When we meet her again in season 3, she’s somewhat astonished to find her friend engaged to marry Ralph Starling (Cai Brigden).
“This is not the life that I’d imagined for you, that you’d marry a farmer and return to your village,” she says.
The ‘Sanditon’ cast member is connected to the royal family through her husband
In Sanditon, Winkleman’s character is engaged in a scandalous royal affair. Off-screen, she has her own link to royalty. The actor’s husband is Lord Frederick Windsor, whom she married in 2009, making her Lady Frederick Windsor. However, she still uses her maiden name professionally.
Lord Frederick Windsor is the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Prince Michael is the first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II. He’s the son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was the younger brother of the Queen’s father, George VI. Prince Michael’s mother, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was a cousin of the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip.
Winkleman’s husband is 52nd in line for the throne, according to People. Their two daughters are 53rd and 54th in line.
Winkleman said no one knew about her royal connections in Hollywood
In addition to Sanditon, Winkleman has appeared in shows such as the FX miniseries Trust, Peep Show, and Two and a Half Men. She even played a fictional member of the royal family in the 2008 ITV series The Palace.
In a 2021 interview with Insider, Winkleman said her royal connections didn’t give her any advantage in Hollywood.
“People in my business in America didn’t know anything about it, because they’d just see ‘Sophie Winkleman’ on the sheet and I’d go and do the audition and then get the job or not,” she said. “And they didn’t find anything out about me. They just knew me from my acting, which was quite important to me.”
Sophie Winkleman on Meghan Markle
Of course, Winkleman isn’t the only member of the royal family who’s an actor. But despite their similar career experience, Winkleman has said she doesn’t know Meghan Markle that well.
“I’ve met her a few times over here, but not well enough to get to know her,” she said of Prince Harry’s wife in a 2020 interview with The Times. “She certainly has very admirable energy and focus.”
Later, she seemed to take a swipe at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a 2022 article for The Spectator. Winkleman celebrated her “growing closeness” to the senior members of the royal family and praised them for being “hardworking, uncomplaining and brave in the face of relentless and brutal media attention, criticism, lies, undermining, and fictional TV programs.”
Sanditon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
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