Who is Lord Frederick Windsor? Royal married to Peep Show actress Sophie Winkleman
Lord Frederick Windsor turns 45 today, April 6, but his journey towards a settled life has been far from smooth.
There was a time when the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent was known as a confirmed hedonist.
‘He was constantly surrounded by girls, was chucking back vintage Krug and had a fag permanently hanging out of his mouth,’ said one observer from his younger days.
At one point, Lord Frederick’s parents even made him visit a drugs rehabilitation clinic to warn him about the potential consequences.
But after being caught taking cocaine in his early twenties, Frederick – known as Freddie – vowed to focus on his studies and later married glamorous actress Sophie Winkleman of Peep Show fame.
Lord Frederick Windsor came to be known as a party lover who frequented London night spots
Lord Frederick and sister Lady Gabriella at a lavish £100,000 21st birthday celebration at Kensington Palace. It featured live camels and food served in carts pulled by miniature ponies
Freddie and his mother, Princess Michael, at a film premier. She took him to see a drug rehabilitation centre after he was caught taking cocaine in his twenties
These days, he leads a settled life as a financial analyst.
Appropriately enough, Sophie has landed roles playing aristocrats in TV series such as Sanditon and Belgravia.
Today they live in Chelsea, but the couple have bounced between the United States and the United Kingdom, following her career.
Freddie’s father, Prince Michael, is a first cousin of the late Queen, and the family was brought up in Kensington palace as close neighbours of Princes William and Harry.
Freddie showed academic promise at school, becoming an Oppidan Scholar at Eton College before going on to study Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a 2:1 in 2002.
His winding career path started with a stint as a model. He worked with Kate Moss on a spring campaign for Burberry which featured pictures shot by Mario Testino.
He wrote about music for Tatler magazine, but then changed direction once again, taking a law conversion course before settling for a long-term career at JP Morgan in 2006.
Since settling down as a city financier, Freddie has married Peep Show actress Sophie Winkleman. They are pictured together at the 2022 Platinum Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving
Lord Frederick and sister Gabriella are the children of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Prince Michael is first cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth
Princess Michael of Kent pictured leaving St Mary’s Hospital with four-day old Lady Gabriella Windsor. Her husband is holding a young Lord Frederick
A portrait of Freddie with his father, Prince Michael of Kent – in the days before he had a beard
His life as a young adult had been marked more with chaos than ambition.
A 20-year-old Freddie admitted to taking cocaine when he was photographed spread-eagled on the floor of a London club after attending a film premiere.
His mother, Princess Michael of Kent, expressed her dismay saying: ‘I brought up my children to be anti-drugs and I am disappointed but he has assured me he won’t do it again and I trust him.’
She added: ‘He’s down as a drug user, but he’s not. You just have to watch him in action. Freddie is not a junkie.’
Freddie responded that: ‘It’s very difficult to avoid getting into this sort of thing when you move in these circles.’
To teach him a final lesson, Lord Freddie and his younger sister Lady Gabriella Windsor were taken by their mother to a drug rehabilitation centre so they could see the problems caused by addiction.
It was reported at the time that both children were sick after leaving, having been left shocked by the aged state of a 17-year-old addict they met, the Princess said.
After declaring that he was going to start taking his law studies seriously, he was still spotted enjoying himself at party spots, drinking champagne and turning up for swanky gambling events at London clubs.
Lord Frederick is accompanied by his father, Prince Michael, sister Lady Gabriella and his mother, Princess Michael, on his first day at Eton College
Freddie towers above young cousins William and Harry in the front row on the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour
Freddie and sister Gabriella grew up as neighbours of William and Prince at Kensington Palace
Yet his parents, too, have come in for occasional criticism, notably when they threw a champagne party for their children at Kensington Palace on the day the Queen Mother’s lying in state began in 2002.
The £15,000 birthday celebrations, which lasted until 5am, involved a dinner after which tables were cleared and the pavilion was turned into an impromptu nightclub with drinking and dancing.
The Kents are known for their lavish parties, hosting a £100,000 party at Kensington Palace for Freddie’s 21st, featuring live camels and food served in carts pulled by miniature ponies.
Establishing himself at an investment bank, where he has now been made Executive Director, seemed to steady the socialite and in 2009 he married Sophie Winkleman after meeting her on a night out in Soho.
Nicky Haslam and Lord Freddie Windsor at a New Year’s Eve party in 2007, left, and right in 2004 at a football-themed party
Lord Frederick married actress Sophie Winkleman at Hampton Court Palace in 2009. They met on a night out in Soho. Sophie is half-sister to Claudia Winkleman, who co-presents Strictly
The actress, best known for playing Big Suze in the sitcom Peep Show, was born into the media elite as her father Barry Winkleman was a successful publisher. Her mother is the children’s author Cindy Black.
TV presenter Claudia Winkleman is her half-sister from her father’s first marriage to the journalist. Eve Pollard.
Another high achiever, Sophie was educated at the private City of London School for Girls before completing an English degree at the University of Cambridge and joining the Cambridge Footlights.
Since marrying into the royal circle, she has landed a number of acting roles, including returning for her part as Lady Susan in season 3 of Sanditon and it has been reported that she is set to play one of the lead roles in the second series of Lord Julian Fellowes’s drama, Belgravia.
She spoke to Hello! magazine about how the kindness of the royal family aided her recovery, saying: ‘Prince Charles sensed correctly that everything would be chaos at home, so he asked his cook, instead of taking care of him, to take care of us.
‘So our lunches and dinners were cooked at Clarence House then delivered for weeks on end while I was in hospital and then still disabled at home.’
The actress is best known for playing Big Suze in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show
She added: ‘I heard from pretty much every member of Freddie’s family, I was spoiled to bits by them.’
She has since spoken of her admiration for her husband’s ‘brave’ family, writing in The Spectator: ‘I cherish my growing closeness to the senior members of the royal family who are so hardworking, uncomplaining and brave in the face of relentless and brutal media attention, criticism, lies, undermining and fictional TV programmes – and always so good to me that I’m honoured to know them.’
There has been further sadness for the family in recent times with the suicide of Freddie’s brother in law, Thomas Kingston, husband to sister Lady Gabriella.
Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor have two daughters: Maud, born in August 2013 and Isabella, born in January 2016.
In 2017, Lord Freddie was seen taking his eldest daughter, Maud for her first day at Thomas’s School in Battersea where she joined in the same class as her distant cousin Prince George, eldest son of Prince William and Kate.
Maud’s parents had made sure that their daughter was looking her smartest in the school’s navy and scarlet uniform, even fastening a red velvet ribbon into her curly red hair for the occasion.
Princess Eugenie is a godmother to their eldest daughter, who was born in Los Angeles, and Maud was a bridesmaid at the princess’ wedding in 2018 alongside Princess Charlotte.
Freddie said he was ‘thrilled’ to have a second little girl after the birth of their youngest daughter, Isabella.
Lord Frederick assists his mother, Princess Michael of Kent, at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II
Frederick and Sophie have two daughters, Maud and Isabella, pictured here at the 2019 wedding of Frederick’s sister, Lady Gabriella Windsor to Thomas Kingston
The couple stand with Prince and Princess Michael of Kent at Gabriella’s wedding
He told Hello!: ‘I didn’t realise how funny little girls can be until I had one.
‘I’m also thrilled they will have each other.
‘As a child I had – and still have – a close bond with my younger sister (Lady Gabriella Windsor) and it will be wonderful to watch Maud and Isabella play and grow up together like we did.
‘The bond you form with your sibling can be the closest one you have with anyone in your life.’
