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Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
King Charles and actress Sophie Winkleman are seen enjoying royal box experience at Ascot racing festival
King Charles appeared in great spirits at day four of the Ascot racing festival as he was joined by actress Sophie Winkleman in the royal box. The Monarch looked deep conversation with Ms Winkleman, the wife of Lord Frederick Windsor and half-sister of TV presenter Claudia, as they watched the excitement unfold on Thursday. His Majesty sported a dapper grey morning suit, the same one he has worn for the three previous days, this time paired with a stylish pink waistcoat. Lord Windsor, who is the son of Prince Michael of Kent and second cousin of King Charles, was also present alongside his wife, who donned a navy buttoned up blouse and matching hat, and Queen Camilla. Despite the joyous atmosphere, the King and Queen's racing pot of gold failed to materialise once again as their horse Purple Rainbow was well beaten in the aptly named Sandringham Stakes race. Charles and Camilla watched the fast-paced race from the royal box and were glued to monitors, with the King animated in the closing stages of the mile-long sprint. He bobbed on the spot as if willing on his jockey Warren Fentiman, who was unfortunately unable to challenge the front runners. The couple looked up in the closing stages to watch the race as it came past the stands but were left opened mouthed as Never Let Go crossed the line first. Charles, 76, and Camilla, 77, will have to wait another day to try to double their tally of Royal Ascot winners. The King and Queen Camilla kicked off events earlier in the day after they were seen waving to racegoers as they arrived in a horse-drawn-landaus. They were joined by Camilla's old school friend Lady Cavendish and her husband Lord Cavendish in their coach during the traditional carriage procession along the course in Berkshire. Charles' nieces Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall were also seen beaming as they chatted with His Majesty. Zara donned a chic baby blue pantsuit with a matching hat, while Princess Eugenie wore beige top coupled with a white hat and skirt. The pair were in high spirits as they shared a warm embrace upon their arrival to the festival earlier today. Princess Eugenie's mother, Sarah Ferguson, was also present at the prestigious event, wearing a polka dot black and white dress paired with a matching black hat. Not to be outdone, Camilla oozed glamour in a white chiffon dress with embroidered flowers from Anna Valentine, paired with a feathered Philip Treacy hat. Eugenie's husband Jack Brooksbank was also spotted in the parade ring alongside former defence secretary Ben Wallace when the royal procession arrived in the exclusive area. The late Queen was a passionate owner and breeder of thoroughbreds and had more than 20 Royal Ascot winners during her 70-year reign. Charles and Camilla have taken on her stable of horses and enjoyed their first Royal Ascot winner in 2023 when their horse Desert Hero triumphed in the King George V Stakes. His Majesty's appearance today comes after Princess of Wales sparked concern as she pulled out of attending the festival on Wednesday, apparently at the last minute. But royal sources insisted there was nothing to worry about and that it was simply a case of crossed wires. Aides also stressed that Catherine was continuing to 'balance her return to public life' following her cancer diagnosis last year, after which she made clear that she would resume her duties with a slow and measured approach. The mini-drama came as her husband, Prince William, handed out the prize for the Prince of Wales stakes at the racecourse in Berkshire. Executives at Ascot had expected the princess to join him, travelling down in the carriage procession from Windsor Castle with King Charles and Queen Camilla. Zara appeared in good spirits as she attended the occasion alongside her royal relatives At 12pm they issued the procession list for the day, featuring the Prince and Princess of Wales in the second carriage after the King and Queen. But 22 minutes later, guidance was issued which said Catherine would not be attending. It is understood an 'inaccurate version' of the list was 'issued in error'. An updated list was circulated and Lord Soames – a good friend of the King – lost his seat to make way for William in the first carriage with Charles and Camilla. They were also joined by Saudi's Prince Saud bin Khalid Al-Saud. Sources stressed there was 'no cause for alarm' and Catherine was following guidance palace aides have always given: that she would 'balance her return to public duties', following appearances at Trooping the Colour on Saturday and Monday's Order of the Garter service. They added that she was 'disappointed' not to attend but 'has to find the right balance'. Catherine, 43, had abdominal surgery last January, after which she was told cancer had been present, forcing her to undergo preventive chemotherapy.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sophie Winkleman looks elegant in £795 Beulah London dress at Trooping the Colour with Lord Frederick Windsor
Sophie Winkleman and Lord Frederick Windsor put on an elegant display at Trooping the Colour yesterday. Though King Charles 's second cousin, 46, and his Peep Show actress wife, 44, haven't appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony since 2019, they presumably observed the RAF flypast from inside. Nevertheless, Sophie put on a striking display in a £795 'Ahana' long-sleeved belted midi dress in purple from Beulah London. The mother to daughters Maud, 11, and Isabella, eight, added a striking pale pink fascinator and a matching pearlescent bag to complete her ensemble. Frederick looked as equally smart for the occasion in a black tailcoat jacket, grey suit, and blue tie. Beulah London, who also dressed Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh yesterday, shared a snap of the couple on Instagram, writing, 'Lady Sophie Windsor in our Ahana at Trooping the Colour'. Over the years, the number of royals invited onto the balcony has steadily dwindled - especially during the reign of King Charles, who ascended the throne in 2022 after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II. In 2024, 15 members of the Royal Family took to the historic spot on the occasion of the King's birthday celebrations. This year, the turnout was even smaller, with just 14 royals taking to the famous location - amid King Charles' plans for a more 'slimmed-down' monarchy. Charles, 76, is thought to prefer the idea of a slimmed-down monarchy and has been selective about which royals appear to wave at the crowds. This year, unsurprisingly, King Charles and Queen Camilla stood front and centre on the balcony to watch the Red Arrows flypast, with a host of senior royals alongside them. They were joined by Prince William, 42, the Princess of Wales, 43, and their children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven. The King's younger sister, Princess Anne, 74, also took up a spot on the balcony alongside her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, 70. Two other popular royals, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, 60, and her husband Prince Edward, 61, were also present. However, Sophie and Edward were not joined by their daughter, Lady Louise, 21. Also absent was their son James, the Earl of Wessex, 17, who also missed the ceremony last year. Among the older royals to take to the balcony were the Duke of Kent, 89, and the Duke of Gloucester, 80, joined by his 78-year-old wife Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester. As expected, Prince Harry, 40, and his wife Meghan Markle, 43, did not attend this year's celebrations. They have not been present at Trooping the Colour since 2019, following their decision to exit working royal life. The other notable absentee was Prince Andrew, 65, who remains exiled from royal events amid the fallout from his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and the claims made by his late accuser Virginia Giuffre - which the royal has denied. Elsewhere yesterday, Prince William and Kate Middleton's youngest child, Louis, put on his most animated display yet as he waved excitedly at fans while showing off his gap-toothed grin - much to the amusement of his siblings. Ever the composed older brother, Prince George gently tried to calm Louis down by placing one hand on his arm as their father William, 40, looked affectionately down at his sons - while Princess Kate and Charlotte, 10, took in their surroundings. At one point, Louis turned to his grandfather Charles and appeared to make an observation about the fighter jets flying overhead as a body language expert noted Louis' effervescent personality shone through from the balcony. If Louis once found the proceedings overwhelming, you wouldn't know it from the way he snuck in one final wave before Kate, 43, gently ushered her brood back into Buckingham Palace after the spectacular flypast was concluded. Commenting on the young royal's reluctance to go back inside, Judi James told MailOnline: 'There was a seismic change in royal body language signals on the balcony with Louis suddenly morphing into the most visible and active royal but for all the right reasons. 'Instead of his usual playful activities, he appeared totally focused on the aircraft, only turning to his dad to show off his plane spotting skills, with the affirming nods from William suggesting his younger son is becoming a bit of an aircraft expert 'It was also Louis lingering longer before going back in, to gaze down at the crowds and to keep up the increasingly royal looking waves longer than the rest of the Firm.' Taking cues from his father and grandfather, Louis attempted different variations of his royal wave while making sure his siblings were thoroughly entertained throughout their balcony appearance - one of the most eagerly-awaited moments of the day. Louis also joined Princess Charlotte, Prince George, and the Duchess of Edinburgh in observing one minute of silence in honour of the 241 passengers and crew killed in the Air India plane crash on Thursday, when a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for Gatwick Airport came down in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. During the King's Birthday Parade - the third of Charles' reign - the Wales children rode in a carriage with Kate as they waved at onlookers gathered along The Mall to watch the procession. Prince Louis caught the attention of royal watchers as he flashed a cheeky grin and waved at the assembled crowds during Trooping the Colour. As the carriage made its way towards Buckingham Palace, Louis grinned sheepishly at Prince George as Kate and Charlotte - who both paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II by wearing pieces of jewellery she loved - laughed and chatted away. As their carriage pulled up outside the gates of Buckingham Palace, George couldn't help himself from laughing as Louis pulled funny faces while feigning exasperation as the cheekiest royal dramatically leaned back into his seat. When Prince George covered his face, his younger brother quickly followed suit and copied his actions before Kate led her and Prince William's children inside to prepare them for the flypast. Ahead of yesterday's celebrations, crowds of well-wishers and royal fans had started lining the Mall. If the cardboard cutouts they carried were any indication, the Princess of Wales' arrival was most eagerly anticipated. Photos showed a group of Britons holding up a life-sized picture of the Princess of Wales, wearing the red, long-sleeved Alexander McQueen dress she most famously donned for the Diamond Jubilee pageant in 2012. Another person was carting around a cut-out of King Charles, dressed in full military regalia, in a show of support for the monarch as he continues to receive treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer. No doubt the appearance of Prince Louis - the youngest of the Wales' siblings - was also highly anticipated. He is known for his cheeky antics, and last year he stole the show. During one of his many animated displays, the young prince was caught on camera scrunching up his face, while Kate appeared to crouch down to talk with her son on a balcony on Horse Guards Parade. The Prince and Princess of Wales' youngest child was also captured yawning at the London event, which usually consists of more than 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses, 400 musicians and a flyover of 70 aircraft. Seemingly not occupied enough by the parade, at one point, the cheeky prince was even caught tugging on the cord for the blinds as he chatted to his mother. Louis, who was wearing a double breasted blazer, a pair of shorts, a crisp shirt and a tie last year, could not hide his facial expressions - much to the enjoyment of fans. He even attempted to try and open the window on the balcony next to the Duchess of Edinburgh, gripping the frame as he tried to pull it up. And the prince looked less than impressed during the ride, knitting his brows together at points as he stared out of the window, open-mouthed. The Wales were once again, typically stylish for the event this year as they made their arrival. Trooping the Colour is a centuries-old tradition that marks the Sovereign's official birthday. It dates back to the 17th century and is rooted in battlefield custom, when regimental flags, or 'colours,' were trooped in front of soldiers to ensure they could be recognised amid the smoke of combat. What is Trooping the Colour? The Trooping of the Colour has marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign for more than 260 years. Over 1400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians come together each June in a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare to mark the Sovereign's official birthday. The streets are lined with crowds waving flags as the parade moves from Buckingham Palace and down The Mall to Horse Guard's Parade, alongside Members of the Royal Family on horseback and in carriages. The display closes with an RAF fly-past, watched by Members of the Royal Family from Buckingham Palace balcony. Once the Sovereign has arrived at Horse Guard's Parade in Whitehall, they are greeted by a Royal salute and carry out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats. After the military bands have performed, the escorted Regimental Colour, or flag, is processed down the ranks of soldiers. Over one hundred words of command are used by the Officer in Command of the Parade to direct the several hundred soldiers. Once the Foot Guards have marched past the Sovereign, they ride back to Buckingham Palace at the head of the soldiers, before taking the salute again at the Palace from a dais. The Sovereign is then joined by other Members of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past by the Royal Air Force. A 41-gun salute is also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion.
News.com.au
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Lady Frederick Windsor spills ‘disgusting' detail about her royal wedding
'Disgusting'. That's not a word you hear too often when it comes to the royal family unless it's some anonymous Windsor source huffing down a Bakelite phone about Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's latest home shopping network juicer side-hustle. That or someone has left oat milk in the palace fridge again. But not today with a royal bride having come out and given a shockingly (and wonderfully) candid interview, revealing she didn't pick out her own wedding dress, knew very few people at the reception and even admitting that there was one detail she found 'disgusting'. Everyone say a polite hello to Sophie Winkleman who is also Lady Frederick Windsor and while she might not be a household name in Australia, she is very much between the royal bosom. Back before it was restricted to working members of the royal maily, she used to be able to be spotted the Buckingham Palace balcony, and these days you are likely to spy her having a jolly old time of it with 'dear friend' King Charles in the royal box at Ascot or doing her bit to support Kate, The Princess of Wales' annual Christmas concert. Extra points if you knew her daughter Maud Windsor used to be in the same London class as Prince George and was a bridesmaid at Princess Eugenie's wedding. Specifically, Sophie is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Micahel of Kent and the King's second cousin, and while Freddie is so far down the line of succession you have to squint at number 54 but still, the couple are very much in the titled thick of it. (Lord Frederick was 17th in line when he was born.) This week Sophie, who also happens to be a working actress, has given a new interview and admitted some wonderfully indiscrete details about her own royal wedding. The year was 2009, long before the les Windosrs would 'welcome' another TV gal into their midst, and with Prince William yet to pop the question to long time squeeze Kate Middleton, what the UK needed was a royal wedding. A guest list was assembled about the length of an abridged copy of Burke & Peerage, Hampton Court Palace was rightfully booked for the affair and various HRHs were assembled (Princess Eugenie, the Duke and Duchess of Kent). However now Sophie has admitted that there was a part of the day she found 'disgusting'. Speaking to the Telegraph this week she said: 'It was such a blur because we had to move to Los Angeles the day after and I had to start a brand new job the day after that…I'd been so concentrating on the work that I hadn't thought about the wedding.' Enter unto the breach her future mother-in-law and longtime Buckingham Palace balcony stalwart Princess Michael of Kent who 'sort of took it all over,' said Sophie. 'I actually didn't mind at all. I thought, 'Great, do everything''. The end result, based on photos, is of a frou-frou-y affair that even diehard Cinderella-stans might have considered OTT; 'fairytale' was never going to be used as an adjective. In the cold light of 2025, Sophie does not sound exactly enamoured of all that bugle-beaded 'everything'. 'My hair was so disgusting and Freddy still gets upset about it. It was just disgusting. And my mother-in-law chose my dress, which was very sweet and puffy, but I looked barking,' she told the Telegraph. 'I look back on it and think I should have worn a simpler dress and I should have got my hair blow dried by someone who'd done it before'. This is not the first time that deliciously unfiltered Sophie has pulled back the curtain on her Windsor nuptials and what goes into planning a royal hitchin'. 'I didn't know anyone at my wedding. I had my best pals there but basically it was full of faces I'd never seen before,' she told Tatler in December last year. During that same interview she enthused about Princess Michael having 'brilliantly' 'taken full personal charge' of the 400-person event and said, 'I was so determined not to be a bridezilla, I didn't even work out my hairstyle and I cannot tell you how disgusting it looked.' Coming up the aisle, the first thing I said when I saw Freddie was, 'I'm so sorry about the hair.'' He said, 'Yes, what on earth have you done?'' While the Sussexes have hardly been tight-lipped about what a rough trot Meghan had joining Crown Inc, Sophie has only ever raved about her extended in-laws. She told Tatler last year: 'Behind the camera they're really fun, clever, kind people...I love Catherine and William, but they're so busy and don't live in London, so I don't see them much.' Meanwhile, Charles 'is a very dear friend'. 'I spend a bit of time with him,' she told the Times in 2020. '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. 'I've been incredibly welcomed with open arms by all of them. I haven't had a single negative experience. 'They'd never tell me off at all if I wanted to play some [racy] role. Everyone's looked after me.' And she means that quite literally. The late Queen and Charles both offered practical support after Sophie broke her back in a 2017 car crash during she thought she was 'a goner'. After the accident, Charles (then the Prince of Wales) tasked his Clarence House cook to provide Freddie and Sophie's family with twice-a-day meals, 'for weeks on end . . . It was life saving'. Then, during her recuperation, Queen Elizabeth suggested a solution to help her manage the pain of rehab. As Sophie told Tatler: 'She said, 'We can't have that. You have to go in the water.' 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.' Blimey. The Palace pool. 'Disgusting' hair. Looking 'barking'. It would be remiss of me here to not play a quick game of Sussex Subbing. What if all of this had come out of Meghan's mouth instead? Imagine a lit match going off in a fireworks factory built on top of an oil refinery. Kablooey. There is a lesson in all of this for any Cinderella-ish aspirants. Don't overlook the very clear benefits to being wed to No. 54 rather than anyone in the single digits, of marrying far farther down the royal rung. Just think, all the invitations to Ascot and Westminster Abbey, none of wing-clipping self sacrifices of senior royaldom and the occasional chance to do a lap in the palace pool. Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years' experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Sophie Winkleman: ‘The Royal family are very sweet. I love them all'
Sophie Windsor had never been the type to post much on the class WhatsApp group. The actress, best known for her role as Big Suze in Peep Show, preferred to keep a low profile. 'I just didn't go anywhere near them,' admits the 44-year-old, who has two daughters, Maud, aged 11, and Isabella, aged 9 with her husband Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. 'But then I had to become that maniac mother who got everyone together before Year 7 and said, 'Can we maybe not do this?'.' What Windsor – or Winkleman, as she is known professionally – wanted was to persuade fellow parents not to automatically give their offspring a smartphone on arrival at secondary school. According to Ofcom, the online safety regulator, nine in 10 children own a mobile phone by the time they leave primary school. But having become increasingly alarmed by research revealing how harmful they are to children's health and education, Winkleman attempted to lead a parents' revolt. 'It was so anti my nature to do that. [To be] the sort of noisy, irritating goose at the school gate,' she admits. 'The screen thing I was quite fanatical about because it was so obvious during lockdown that it was such a terrible way to learn. They are completely un-put-down-able – all these devices.' It started out well, but then slowly 'everyone sort of started folding', she explains. 'Year 7's so hard and so stressful. [Maud] was already self-conscious about me being a mum who was against phones – there's nothing less cool, I mean, what a loser. So my daughter's got one now.' She clarifies that the old iPhone allows her to send 'sweet little texts' but doesn't have any apps enabled. Like any parent of Generation Z and Alpha children, Winkleman had tried to resist the lure of screens from an early age. 'I'm incredibly lazy in every other way, apart from screen use. I'm not a hands on mum; they don't do cello and they don't do Chinese, they can just do what they like.' But everything changed when ' their schools gave them iPads without telling me.' She despairs: 'So they're on screen for a lot of the day. They come home, they open up the damn thing again, and they're on screen for two hours doing homework. And it's such a physically unhealthy way to learn. It's so bad for their eyesight, it's bad for their posture, it's bad for their sleep rhythms. It's even bad for hormones and it's terrible cognitively.' Knowing what she does now, having read extensively on the subject, she admits: 'I wasn't robust enough to immediately take them off them. I regret that. I could have just said, 'No, you're not having them' and had a week of hell. I was a bit pathetic.' But now the mother of two has become a leading voice campaigning for phone-free schools – and the removal of most of the educational technology ('EdTech') from classrooms. Earlier this year, she warned of the 'digital destruction of childhood' during a hard-hitting speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. She recently joined forces with Jonathan Haidt, the American social psychologist and author of the 2024 book The Anxious Generation – to raise awareness alongside fellow actor and father of five, Hugh Grant. Haidt, who believes smartphones should be banned for under-14s, and under-16s should be prohibited from using social media, argues screens have not just caused an 'epidemic of mental illness' in children, but 'rewired' their brains, resulting in 'attention fragmentation'. The Government has rejected calls for a law banning phones in classrooms, and Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has dismissed the demands as a 'headline-grabbing gimmick'. At a recent event organised by the campaign group Close Screens, Open Minds at Knightsbridge School in London, Grant, 64, urged parents to take on the Government: 'I don't think politicians ever do anything because it's the right thing to do, even if it's the right thing to do to protect children. They'll only do what gets them votes. They only care about their career.' Winkleman agrees. 'I'm beginning to worry that this country just doesn't care about children. I've been banging on about screen damage to children for about three years now – and now there's a spate of very intelligent articles about how screens are ruining adults' cognitive health and suddenly everyone's very interested.' Like Haidt, who argues modern parents have underprotected their children online and overprotected them in the 'real world', Winkleman is also dismayed by the lack of traditional forms of play. 'It's so healthy for a child to get really bored and start making his or her own fun. That doesn't need to involve any money. I mean, it can involve a piece of paper and a pen or, you know, if you're a baby, a wooden spoon. You don't need these jazz hands tools to be entertained.' She also advocates a return to pen and paper and for children to be encouraged to handwrite rather than type, insisting it 'implants information so much more profoundly and long-lastingly into the brain than typing does'. She adds: 'I think children's brains are completely atrophying because they're just passive vessels for all sorts of content. They're not developing their imagination anymore because they've got these machines, they can be constantly entertained and it's such a mistake. Apparently, if kids keep going on the way they are, spending seven hours a day on screens, it will amount to 22 years of their lives. That's more than a quarter of a person's life.' Sophie is the daughter of Barry Winkleman, publisher of The Times Atlas of World History, and the children's author Cindy Black. The television presenter Claudia Winkleman is her half-sister from her father's first marriage to the journalist Eve Pollard. Educated at the City of London School for Girls and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she studied English literature, she developed a passion for acting after joining the Cambridge Footlights. Considering herself 'lucky' to be brought up in leafy north London, she says: 'I was very irritatingly lucky. I have two very wonderful parents who I'm far too close to. It's actually awful how close I am to them. I wish I liked them less. I grew up in Primrose Hill before it had a Space NK, when it was still quite shabby and full of lentil shops.' She met Freddie, who is 54th in line to the throne, after sharing a taxi from a party in Soho on New Year's Eve in 2006, when he recognised her from Peep Show. He works as an executive director at JP Morgan and the couple live in south London. Their 2009 wedding at Hampton Court Palace was attended by around 400 guests, including Princess Eugenie, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, actress Jane Asher, Lady Helen Taylor and the singer Bryan Adams. 'It was such a blur because we had to move to Los Angeles the day after and I had to start a brand new job the day after that. So we got married on Saturday and moved everything, our whole lives out to America the day after. And I'd been so concentrating on the work that I hadn't thought about the wedding. 'Which meant that my hair was so disgusting and Freddy still gets upset about it. It was just disgusting. And my mother-in-law chose my dress, which was very sweet and puffy, but I looked barking.' Princess Pushy, as she was cruelly named by the tabloids, chose her dress? 'She sort of took it all over and I actually didn't mind at all. I thought, 'Great, do everything.' I was concentrating on this acting job and saying goodbye to my darling granny who wasn't very well and just doing other stuff. But now I look back on it and think I should have worn a simpler dress and I should have got my hair blow dried by someone who'd done it before.' The Royal family, she insists, were always welcoming. 'Family isn't always brilliant but this lot are very sweet. I love all of them.' Despite finding having the children 'astoundingly knackering', Winkleman has balanced an acting career with a huge amount of charity work and is patron of a number of organisations including the Children's Surgery Foundation and School-Home Support, which, she says, 'keeps children from very tough homes in school and learning.' One of the reasons she campaigns on screens is because of the adverse impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 'The reason we need government intervention is that I think it's predominantly a middle class thing at the moment. It's middle class parents having the confidence to rally people around and say, 'Let's not do this.' And poorer kids are being destroyed by these things. It's not a patronising thing to say. It's true. They're on them all night long. They're going to school wrecked, not focusing, eating rubbish, being angry. I know this because of the education charity and so many teachers I've spoken to. That's why it needs to be a big, old governmental piece of legislation.' Although she says 'I don't think kids should have internet-enabled devices till they finish their GCSEs,' she realises 'it won't happen'. Instead she wants the UK to follow Sweden's lead and remove most of the EdTech from schools, except in the lessons where it's essential, such as computer science. 'They've been very brave and admitted they made a big mistake – that EdTech is a failed experiment. They got computers out of the classroom and reinvested in books, paper and pen. And the children are doing brilliantly. Surprise. Surprise.' The Safer Phones Bill and Online Safety Bill are currently going through Parliament, but Winkleman believes neither go far enough. 'Parents all over the country can get a better grasp on this. I think we have to go towards the doctors and there's a brilliant group called Health Professionals for Safer Screens and they are paediatricians, psychiatrists, optometrists, speech and language therapists. They're all at the coalface seeing what damage screen use in and out of school is doing to children. I think it needs to be a public health warning. They're saying that even 11 to 17-year-olds shouldn't have more than one to two hours of screen time per day.' Parents can mount a revolution, she argues, but ultimately 'it has to come from all the young people'. She adds: 'There was a recent report which interviewed teenagers and asked them, 'If social media and smartphones were banned for all of you, would you be OK with that?' They all said, 'Yes, please,'.' And with that, Winkleman is off to her next acting job: to record a radio play in which she's portraying a mole. She has just finished filming a BBC One drama called Wild Cherry, 'about a group of horrible, competitive, wealthy mothers and their very screwed up teenage daughters.' She laughs: 'I'm playing a complete maniac, which is really fun.' It will certainly be a departure from her clear-eyed and cool-headed quest to lead the mother of all campaigns to end the digital destruction of childhood.
