The Queen and Prince Philip’s enduring love story is quite remarkable – but some are sceptical about Philip’s fidelity. The couple met when the young princess was just 13 – and their relationship eventually evolved into a 73-year marriage that lasted until his dying day.
But now actor Michael Sheen has made the surprising claim that the prince ”had affairs all his life”. The Welsh actor made the cheating allegations during an appearance on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre podcast.
He was there to talk about his experience playing Prince Andrew in ‘A Very Royal Scandal’, which focused on the Duke of York’s now-infamous disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.
Michael started to discuss how Andrew had been “forced into a divorce” from Sarah Ferguson. The couple split in 1996 after ten years of marriage. He said: ”Yeah, well, that’s the story. Apparently, Prince Philip, who had been having, allegedly, affairs all his life, didn’t like it when Sarah Ferguson had an affair, and it got out into the papers, and he felt…he just didn’t like her.”
He went on: “He didn’t like her personality. And he said, allegedly, you have to divorce her. And I did feel kind of sorry, because you remember there was another, an actress, an American actress called Koo Stark that he had a big affair, a relationship with, and he was told that he couldn’t be with her either.”
In another part of the conversation, Michael shared his thoughts on playing the prince and confessed he worried about making him overly relatable, reports the Mirror.
The 55-year-old actor explained: “Because I was a bit worried that, so having done it and filmed it and everything, I was a bit worried because people started saying, like, you sort of, you maybe meet up with the director when you do some ADR, like sound stuff later, and then you maybe, you know, meet up with the producers when you do a screening and that kind of thing.
“And people were starting to say, you know, people kind of quite like him in your performance.’I said, no, I don’t want to be the person who made everyone like Prince Andrew.’
“But the problem is, you know, once I agree to do something, at the moment where I say yes to it, that’s the moment where I have to decide whether I think, you know, the whole piece is being done responsibly or whether I agree with what’s sort of being said about these characters and all that kind of stuff.”Because then once I go into it, then, you know, it’s just all about playing this character. And I have to forget what my opinions are about that person.”
”And people were starting to say, you know, people kind of quite like him in your performance.
‘I said, no, I don’t want to be the person who made everyone like Prince Andrew.
”But the problem is, you know, once I agree to do something, at the moment where I say yes to it, that’s the moment where I have to decide whether I think, you know, the whole piece is being done responsibly or whether I agree with what’s sort of being said about these characters and all that kind of stuff.
”Because then once I go into it, then, you know, it’s just all about playing this character. And I have to forget what my opinions are about that person.”
The 2019 Newsnight interview, which was widely labelled as a “car-crash”, featured Prince Andrew discussing his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a frank exchange with Maitlis.
Andrew used the platform to strongly refute allegations of sexual relations with then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, asserting that he was at Pizza Express in Woking on the day in question.
The interview inflicted severe damage to Prince Andrew’s public image and is considered by many to have precipitated his downfall. In the wake of the broadcast, he declared he would step back from royal duties, acknowledging that the Epstein scandal had become a “major disruption” to the Royal Family.
Following this, Andrew reached a financial settlement with Ms Giuffre, thereby settling the civil case in the US without admitting any liability, while continuing to vehemently deny any misconduct.
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