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Cressida Bonas - Biography

Everything to know about Prince Harry's former girlfriend, Cressida Bonas 

cressida bonas at mary katrantzou party
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Cressida Bonas is a model and actress who is known for her relationship with Prince Harry from 2012. The pair split amicably in 2014, and Cressida was a guest at his wedding to Meghan Markle. Here's everything to know about the 'it girl'... 

Relationship with Prince Harry 

Romance blossomed between Harry and Cressida after his cousin Princess Eugenie introduced them. When the royal, who was a pilot in the army at the time, went to Afghanistan, he stayed in touch through letters and phone calls. On his return, the relationship quickly became serious, with the pair spending days closeted away together at his Kensington Palace apartment.

prince harry cressida bonas© Photo: Getty Images
The pair split in 2014

While Cressy, as she's known to friends, attended Glastonbury with Prince Harry for the first time. At the music festival the Prince jokingly warned Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood off his girlfriend. "He introduced me to his bird," said guitar ace Ronnie. "I gave her a cuddle and he said 'Oi, get your hands off'." The pair split in 2014, with Prince Harry writing about the situation in his memoir, Spare. He said: "There was massive affection, deep and abiding loyalty - but not love everlasting. She was always clear about not wanting to take on the stresses of being a royal, and I was never sure I wanted to ask her to do so, and this unalterable fact, though it had been lurking in the background for some time, became undeniable on those Kazakh slopes.  Suddenly it was clear. This can't work."

cressida bonas princess eugenie
Cressida with Princess Eugenie

Early life 

The English rose was a boarder at exclusive public school Stowe, before going on study dance at Leeds University and at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Born in 1989, she is the daughter of Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, 66, a celebrated Sixties beauty and daughter of the 6th Earl Howe. 

Her father is Lady Mary-Gaye's third husband, the businessman Jeffrey Bonas. Their daughter was named after Shakespeare play Troilus and Cressida. Sadly, their marriage only lasted six years. Previously Mary-Gaye was the wife of Esmond Cooper-Key. 

Cressida Bonas smiling at hilma screening© Getty
Cressida Bonas attended a special screening for Hilma on Wednesday

In 1973, they had a daughter Pandora, who works for Vivienne Westwood. She has three more children from her nine-year union to John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe: Georgiana, born 1978, Isabella born 1980 and Jacobi born 1983. She is now married to Richard Branson's son Sam. At their exotic nuptials in the South African bush, Cressida sang George Gershwin's Love Is Here To Stay

Cressida Bonas at the Serpentine Gallery summer party in 2019© Getty
Cressida Bonas at the Serpentine Gallery summer party in 2019

Acting career

Cressida has several TV roles under her belt, including The Bye Bye Man and Tulip Fever and the hit ITV show White House Farm, where she played Sheila Caffell. She also starred as Daisy Buchanan in a production of The Great Gatsby back in 2017.

Cressida Bonas and Harry Wentworth-Stanley holding their baby son
Cressida had a special tribute to her husband

Marriage and children

Cressida tied the knot with property investor Harry Wentworth-Stanley in West Sussex in 2020. The pair welcomed a baby son, Wilbur James, in November 2022, with Cressida revealing that she had gone through IVF after struggling to conceive. Writing about her difficulty in getting pregnant on The Sunday Times, she wrote: "My mind was on a constant worry loop and my obsession with getting pregnant became overwhelming, No matter how many Mystic Megs I saw or expensive supplements I took, nothing was working, and I felt as if my body was failing me."

cressida bonas welcomes baby© Photo: Instagram
Cressida Bonas with her baby son

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