Prince Harry’s Ex-Girlfriend Opens Up About the Pitfalls of Dating a Royal

Cressida Bonas.
Photo: Shutterstock

On the surface, dating a prince can seem like a fairy tale—the gowns, the parties, and the elaborate palaces and estates. But there is a dark side, especially if your romance comes tumbling down.

Today, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, Cressida Bonas, who dated Prince Harry from 2012 to 2014, discussed these very pitfalls. The budding actress admitted she felt “pigeonholed” as a royal ex. “Especially in this country, I find that people are very quick to put you in a box or put you in a corner and think, ‘Oh well, you’re that, so you must be that.’ ”

When asked if that was frustrating, she replied: “It’s incredibly frustrating, especially in the industry that I’m in. But you know, it is the way it is . . . It’s making a stand and saying, ‘Actually no, this is who I am, and this is what I want to do.’ ”

To Bonas’s credit, she’s made a name for herself for reasons beyond Prince Harry (who is currently vacationing in Botswana with girlfriend Meghan Markle). The budding actress stars in the new London play Mrs Orwell, where she plays Sonia Orwell—a woman who was overshadowed by her husband, 1984 author George Orwell.

If her BBC interview is any indication, that’s a feeling she knows all too well.