Elegant and discrete, she is much loved by the Royal Family – as was clear when she almost died in a major car accident in 2017.
Sophie Winklemanwas left with life threatening injuries when her chauffer-driven car was struck by another vehicle after the driver swerved to avoid a deer.
However, the British actress-turned-royal, who turns 44 today, was hugely supported by King Charles – then the Prince of Wales – and the late Queen Elizabeth.
Sophie, who is married to Prince Michael of Kent’s son, Lord Frederick Windsor, revealed in an interview with Tatler last year how the Queen had offered her use of the pool at Buckingham Palaceto help aid her recovery.
For three days after the crash, Peep Show star Sophie did not know if she would be paralysed. In the end, she broke her foot and two bones in her back.
Sophie Winkleman laughing with Princess Beatrice and King Charles at Royal Ascot earlier this year
The couple pictured together attending the seventh day of Wimbledon in July
Sophie with her husbandLord Frederick ‘Freddie’ Windsor at Ascot Racecourse last year
She told how after a year of physiotherapy she was still ‘in so much pain, it wasn’t working’.
But the Queen’s kind offer helped Sophie to heal. She said: ‘That’s the reason I got better. It was so typically thoughtful’.
The gestures of goodwill did not stop there, Charles – who Sophie has described as a ‘very dear friend’ – alsosupplied her family with two meals a day cooked by his Clarence Housechef.
Sophie’s husband has had a difficult year. In February, his brother-in-law Thomas Kingston – the husband of his sister Lady Gabriella Windsor – took his own life at his parents’ home.
Sophie was born onAugust 5, 1980 in Primrose Hill, London, to her publisher father Barry Winkleman and mother Cindy Black, an author.
She is the half-sister of presenter Claudia Winkleman.
Sophie pictured with her husband and in laws Prince Michael of Kent an Princess Michael of Kent
The couple married in 2009in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey
Actress Sophie (right) pictured on Two and a Half Men as Zoey, with Judy Greer and Ashton Kutcher
Sophie previously revealed how she and her sister had ‘very separate lives’ as children because Claudia, who is nine years her senior, lived with her mother, former newspaper editor Eve Pollard.
Sophie met her husband, who is 53rd in line in line to the throne and second cousin to King Charles, during a night out in Soho and the pair wed at Hampton Court Palace in 2009.
The guests included senior members of the Royal Family, as well as Claudia.
Sophie wore a silk gown with a sweetheart neckline made by Anna Bystrova from Roza Couture, favourite designer of her new mother-in-law, Princess Michael of Kent’s.
The dress featured hand-embellished sequins, beads and crystals, and a three-metre train.
Sophie shares a father – publisher Barry Winkleman – with her half-sister, celebrity presenter Claudia Winkleman
King Charles and Sophie pictured together at Royal Ascot last year
They have two daughters together -Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina andIsabella Alexandra May.
Cambridge-educated Sophie and Lord Frederick moved to Los Angeles the day after their wedding and spent seven years there so Sophie could continue her acting work.
She had a recurring role as ‘Big Suze’ in hit TV comedy Peep Show.
Sophie also portrayed the girlfriend of Ashton Kutcher’s character Walden in US sitcom Two and a Half Men.
She has also had roles in Death in Paradise, Sanditon and This is Going to Hurt.
At Wimbledon this year, Sophie wore a radiant yellow belted dress as she attended with her husband
As his wife has continued her roles on screen, Lord Frederick has worked as an executive for the bank JP Morgan.
Sophie and her husband recently enjoyed an outing at Wimbledon. She looked radiant in a yellow belted dress.
The 770 Edie Lemon frock came from British designer Beulah London – a favourite brand of the Princess of Wales.
Her husband opted for a classic British summer look in white trousers and black blazer with a pink tie.
