Lady Frederick Windsor has spoken candidly about what it’s really like to marry into the British Royal Family, describing the experience of constant attention as “a form of torture.”

The British actress, whose real name is Sophie Lara Winkleman, 45, has been married to Lord Frederick Windsor, 46, since 2009. Her husband is a British banker, the only son of the Prince and Princess of Kent, and a first cousin once removed of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Audiences will recognise Sophie from her acting work, including her role in Peep Show alongside David Mitchell and Robert Webb, and from the US sitcom Two and a Half Men. She’s also the half-sister of The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman.

Speaking to The Times, Sophie said she had gained a new perspective on royal life since marrying into the family.

“The more I get to know the Royal Family, the more I see that their lives are total hell,” she said. “That level of unasked-for fame is a form of torture. None of them went on Pop Idol to be famous. To have that blinding spotlight on you from birth, not knowing who you can trust, people writing lies about you all the time—it’s just brutal.”

She added: “I feel for them all. I don’t think a life with that much scrutiny and pressure is remotely healthy, but they have no choice.”

Away from the pressures of fame, Sophie also reflected on her marriage to Lord Frederick, recalling that their wedding day was far from a typical celebration.

“I didn’t know anyone at my wedding,” she said. “I had my best pals there, but basically it was full of faces I’d never seen before.”

The couple met on New Year’s Eve in 2007 in Soho, when both were leaving separate parties and reached for the same taxi. Lord Frederick instantly recognised her from Peep Show and said, “You’re Big Suze. I love you!”

Two years later, the pair married at the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace in front of 400 guests. Sophie revealed that her mother-in-law, Princess Michael of Kent, handled all the planning—hence the unfamiliar faces in the crowd.

In a separate interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, Sophie described the wedding as “a blur.”

“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 immediately,” she said. “We got married on Saturday, and on Sunday we moved everything out to America.”

She added with a laugh, “I hadn’t really thought about the wedding because I was so focused on work. My hair was disgusting—Freddie still gets upset about it. It was just disgusting.”