Royal Family shares King Charles' busy schedule that sees him working until 4am

02 January 2024 , 13:19

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King Charles III waves to well-wishers after attending the Royal Family's traditional Christmas (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

King Charles' hard work ethic has been revealed by a member of the extended Royal Family who counts him among one of her "dear friends."

Peep Show star Sophie Winkleman is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the second cousin of King Charles, and in a new interview, she spoke with particular fondness about her relationship with King Charles. Lord Windsor is the son of Prince Michael of Kent, the first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II and his wife Princess Michael of Kent.

Speaking about the close relationships she has with the royals since marrying into the Windsor family, she said to Tatler Magazine: "[I'm] really good friends with all of them – that’s a really daft thing to say, but behind the camera they’re really fun, clever, kind people.

"I love Sophie Edinburgh, Sarah Chatto [Princess Margaret's daughter] Zara [Phillips], the York girls [Princess Beatrice and Eugenie], Tim and Princess Anne, Fergie [Sarah Ferguson], all the Kents and Gloucesters. I love Kate and William, but they’re so busy and don’t live in London, so I don’t see them much."

But she particularly praised the King, who she called a "very dear friend" whom she spends "a bit of time with." She explained his working day: "You see how he works all day long, has a quick supper and then disappears until about 4am to write letters. He cares about so many things and he comes up with brilliant solutions."

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The actor was involved in a car crash in 2017 and told the magazine she assumed she was in her final moments of life. Medics managed to cut her free and she remarkably left hospital after three days, not paralysed but with a broken foot and three bones in her back. She explained how the royals rallied around, with Prince William asking an air ambulance colleague to "take good care" of her and Sophie, then Countess of Wessex, visiting her hospital bed.

Peep Show star Sophie Winkleman is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the second cousin of King Charles (2022 Max Mumby/Indigo)

She was touched by the support of the now King who supplied her family with two meals a day cooked by his Clarence House chef. Then she spoke with the late Queen at a function around a year after the accident who "asked how I was", to which Sophie explained she was still unable to pick up her children.

The late Queen said: "We can’t have that. You have to go in the water." Sophie continued: "She told us that when horses had broken backs, they swam, and so she let me use her pool at Buckingham Palace. That’s the reason I got better. It was so typically thoughtful."

Rachel Hagan