Royal weddings are known to be extravagant affairs with thousands of guests—take Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 ceremony at Westminster Abbey, when 1,900 people filled the historic church. Prince William is said to have told his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, that he didn’t know most of the guests on the draft invitation list, prompting her to tell him to tear it up and start over. On September 12, 2009, another royal couple walked down the aisle, this time at Hampton Court palace—and according to the bride, she experienced the same problem as the now Prince of Wales.
“I didn’t know anyone at my wedding,” Sophie Winkleman—who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor—told Tatler in 2024. “I had my best pals there but basically it was full of faces I’d never seen before.”
Winkleman’s husband is the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and is a second cousin of The King and a third cousin of Prince William and Prince Harry. However, unlike Prince William, Sophie—who has starred in movies and TV series such as Wonka, Peep Show and Two and a Half Men—admitted that she let her mother-in-law take the reins when it came to wedding planning.
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Sophie Winkleman and Lord Frederick Windsor married at Hampton Court Palace on September 12, 2009.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Winkleman admitted she let her mother-in-law plan the wedding.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Winkleman is seen with The King and Queen Camilla at Royal Ascot.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“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,” Winkleman told Tatler. The actress added that she was so hands-off that she didn’t even come up with a plan for her hair ahead of time, resulting in it looking “disgusting.”
“I was so determined not to be a bridezilla, I didn’t even work out my hairstyle and I cannot tell you how disgusting it looked,” she told Tatler. “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?’ That’s pretty much all I can remember about it. My hair and being such a moron.”
Terrible wedding hair aside, the couple went on to welcome two daughters, Maud, 12, and Isabella, 9, and celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary on September 12. While Sophie and her husband don’t make many public appearances with the Royal Family, fans should expect to see them at his aunt, the Duchess of Kent’s, funeral on Tuesday, September 16.
It turns out the late duchess, who died on September 4 at the age of 92, helped select the music for Sophie and Frederick’s wedding. “She introduced me to Rutter and suggested ‘Soave sia il vento’ from Così Fan Tutte, which is beautiful in the mouths of the little Hampton Court choirboys,” Winkleman said.
