Sophie Winkleman has spoken about her famous friends in a new interview, including one of her daughters' godparents. The actress, 45, who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, is close friends with celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, after the pair met while filming Food Revolution USA back in 2011.
When Sophie and Frederick's second daughter, Isabella, arrived in 2016, the couple chose Jamie to be one of the tot's godparents, with the christening taking place in the Chapel at Kensington Palace when she was five months old. Isabella even wore the royal christening gown worn by the likes of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The Honiton lace gown is a replica of one made for Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Victoria, in 1841.
Speaking to The Times, Peep Show star Sophie praised the TV chef, saying: "Jamie's trying to do something good. It's another weird British thing: if someone tries to put themselves above the parapet, people hurl rocks at them. He could just be a loaded chef and [ headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh] could be in charge of the best school in Britain, but instead they try to change lives."
Jamie, now 50, rose to fame on his BBC Two series, The Naked Chef, in 1999 – a reference to the simplicity of his recipes. Since then he's fronted many TV shows and penned numerous cook books. He's also the owner of a number of restaurants, including Jamie Oliver Catherine Street in Covent Garden.
In 2005, he started a campaign, Feed Me Better, to introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods, which was later backed by the government. Jamie shares five children with his wife, Juliette "Jools" Norton. Sophie also revealed that Jamie created a special cake for her 40th birthday five years ago – a chocolate layer cake with "Twixes and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups".
Family life and fighting screen-based learning
Sophie and Frederick, who married at Hampton Court Palace in 2009, reside in London with their two daughters after spending the first seven years of their marriage living in Los Angeles, where their eldest daughter, Maud, was born in 2013. Second daughter Isabella arrived in 2016 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.
Speaking to The Times, she shared that her parents, who live nearby, help out a lot: "We rely on them so much. I'm very strict with them. They're not allowed to get ill; they have to eat just kale and beetroot for the rest of their lives." And she's against screen-based learning in schools for children, having organised talks and events on the subject.
"Silicon Valley guys send their children to schools where the tech use is unbelievably moderate because they know how addictive this stuff is, and yet we're lapping it all up like idiots," she said. "It's absolute junk but it looks progressive and shiny, so billions are being invested into it that should go into having more teachers in state schools, with higher salaries. I don't understand why decision-makers don't talk to teachers, who see how rubbish this all is. Or to doctors — they are seeing so many bad effects from too much screen use: eyesight issues, hormone disruption, sleep imbalance, posture deformation."
While she admits that her eldest daughter, Maud, now owns a smartphone, she does not have social media.