In this wonderfully entertaining and bittersweet real-life Cinderella story, Ruthie Henshall reveals how she fell in love with a prince and with life in musical theatre.

From much-loved West End and Broadway star Ruthie Henshall, The Showgirl and the Prince is a funny, honest and touching real-life Cinderella story – if Cinders is a lycra-clad chorus girl from Bromley who drinks and smokes too much.

In 1988, Ruthie was at the start of her career, a chorus girl in Cats (third feline from the left). That was when she met Prince Edward, who was working for Andrew Lloyd Webber at the time. Edward is kind and thoughtful; Ruthie is warm, flirty and prone to telling risqué jokes. She’s not like anyone he’s dated before .

In this charming and poignant memoir, Ruthie describes a seminal period in her life, navigating a secret relationship with Prince Edward while determinedly following her dream of landing a leading West End role. She shares hilarious backstage stories from some of the era’s biggest musicals – including Miss Saigon, Les Misérables and Crazy for You – rocks up to Buckingham Palace in dungarees over a leotard (the height of 80s fashion), has tea at Windsor with the Queen and charms Prince Philip at Balmoral. But as she swaps her hotpants for Laura Ashley frocks and tries to be good, she wonders can she have her happy ever after?

Packed with parties, gossip and glamour, The Showgirl and the Prince will transport you back to 1980s and 1990s London, recreating a golden era of musical theatre and the bittersweet joy of first love.