Cressida Wentworth-Stanley
Born
Cressida Curzon Bonas

(1989-02-18) 18 February 1989 (age 34)
Winchester, Hampshire, England
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
Years active2009–present
Spouse
Harry Wentworth-Stanley
​
​
(m. 2020)​
Children1
Relatives

Cressida Curzon Wentworth-Stanley (née Bonas; born 18 February 1989[1]) is an English actress and model.

Early life and education

Bonas was born in Winchester, Hampshire,[2] the only child of 1960s "it girl" Lady Mary-Gaye Georgiana Lorna Curzon[3] (daughter of the 6th Earl Howe's second marriage) and her third husband, Old Harrovian entrepreneur Jeffrey Bonas.[4] The Bonas family, once grocers and butchers, also owned textile mills in Castle Gresley and Burton-on-Trent; they constructed looms for their own use, and subsequently manufactured them for sale to other companies. The "Bonas Brothers" company closed operations in the 1980s, having produced, as its final line, elastic for women's tights.[5][6][7]

She has seven half-siblings: three paternal half-brothers from her father's first marriage; one maternal half-sister from her mother's first marriage; and two maternal half-sisters and a maternal half-brother from her mother's second marriage, including actress Isabella Calthorpe.[8]

Bonas studied ballet from the age of nine at the Royal Ballet School.[9] Later, Bonas won a sports scholarship to Prior Park College in Bath, Somerset, then completed her formal education at Stowe School. She went on to study dance at the University of Leeds, graduating with a 2:1, before undertaking postgraduate dance studies at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in Greenwich.

Career

Whilst at school, Bonas played cockney housekeeper Mrs. Swabb in Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus, Miss Julie in the eponymous play, and Laura in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.[10]

She made her first screen appearance in 2009 with a small role in the TV series Trinity. Her theatrical debut came in 2014 at Hay Festival in the play There's a Monster in the Lake. The play was also staged at the Vault Festival in January 2015.[11] In May and June 2015 Bonas appeared as Laura in the one-woman play, An Evening with Lucian Freud, by Laura-Jane Foley, at the Leicester Square Theatre, directed by Ella Marchment. Jane Shilling in The Daily Telegraph praised the "charm and energy of Bonas's performance".[12] In June 2014 Bonas appeared in the film Tulip Fever (2015) as Mrs. Steen.[13] In December 2016 and January 2017 Bonas played the female lead role of Daisy Buchanan in the musical play Gatsby, at the Leicester Square Theatre, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In 2020 she played Sheila Caffell in White House Farm, a British television series about the 1985 White House Farm murders.[14]

Bonas was photographed by Mario Testino for Vanity Fair after being included in the magazine's annual "International Best-Dressed List" in 2014.[15] In January 2015, after modelling for British brand Burberry, Bonas was announced to front the 2015 campaign of fashion company Mulberry. Her work for the brand includes a two-minute-long advertisement released in March that co-stars actor Freddie Fox.[16]

Personal life

Bonas has been called an "it girl".[17][18] She was introduced to Prince Harry by Princess Eugenie in May 2012.[19] On 30 April 2014, the couple was reported to have separated amicably.[20] In May 2018, she was a guest at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.[21]

On 25 July 2020, Bonas married property investor Harry Wentworth-Stanley in a small, private ceremony in West Sussex.[22] The Wentworth-Stanleys are a Hertfordshire landed gentry family;[23] his mother, Clare (née Steel), former social editor for Tatler magazine, is now wife of George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven.[24]

In July 2022 she confirmed her first pregnancy in The Spectator magazine.[25] In November 2022, she was spotted pushing her newborn son, Wilbur James Wentworth-Stanley, in a pram.[26] In a December 2022 interview, she revealed that she had undergone in vitro fertilisation after struggling to conceive.[27]

Selected credits

Theatre

Year Play Role Venue Notes
2014; 2015 There's a Monster in the Lake Wolf Hay Festival; Vault Festival [28]; [29]
2015 The Importance of Being Earnest Cecily Cardew The London Oratory School [30]
2015 An Evening with Lucian Freud Laura Leicester Square Theatre, London [31]
2016–2017 The Great Gatsby Daisy Buchanan Leicester Square Theatre, London [32]
2017 Mrs. Orwell Sonia Orwell Old Red Lion Theatre, London [33]

Film and television

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Trinity Cheerleader [34]
2016 Doctor Thorne Patience Oriel [35]
2017 The Bye Bye Man Sasha [36]
2017 Tulip Fever Mrs. Steen [37]
2020 White House Farm Sheila Caffell [38]

References

  1. ^ Taus, Tina (24 March 2014). "Princess bootcamp? Cressida Bonas, and why the odds are ever in her favour". Global News. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  2. ^ Kent, Sara-Aisha; Hughes, Ian (27 July 2020). "Prince Harry's former partner Cressida Bonas marries fiancé in private ceremony". HampshireLive. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  3. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 115
  4. ^ "12 things you need to know about Cressida Bonas, Prince Harry's new girlfriend". News Australia. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  5. ^ "Tributes paid to Winifred, the musical maestro". Burton Mail. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  6. ^ Post-Innovation Performance, Luke Georgiou et al, Palgrave Macmillan, 1986, pp. 294-295
  7. ^ Wealth from Knowledge: Studies of Innovation in Industry, J. Langrish et al, Palgrave Macmillan, 1972, pp. 131-132
  8. ^ Rainey, Sarah (11 October 2013). "Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon: Beautiful debutante". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  9. ^ Sampson, Annabel (23 March 2020). "Six things Tatler learnt about Cressida Bonas and her new podcast from her interview in the Times Magazine". Tatler. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Everything you ever needed to know about Cressida Bonas". Tatler. 9 September 2013. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  11. ^ Cavendish, Dominic (28 January 2015). "Cressida Bonas: There's a Monster in the Lake Review". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  12. ^ Shilling, Jane (19 May 2015). "An Evening with Lucian Freud, Leicester Square Theatre, review: 'the charm and energy of Bonas's performance are persuasive'". Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Cressida Bonas to make theatrical film debut". The Telegraph. 5 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  14. ^ Bonas, Cressida (18 January 2020). "Cressida Bonas: Everyone seems to have very strong opinions about my wedding" Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. The Spectator.
  15. ^ Singh, Anita (7 August 2014). "Cressida Bonas poses for Vanity Fair photoshoot". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 February 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  16. ^ Tom Sykes (18 March 2015). "Post-Prince Harry, Cressida Bonas' Career Takes Off". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Cressida Bonas Is A 'Strong Independent Woman' And Mulberry's Spring IT Girl". Marie Claire. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  18. ^ "It girls like Cara Delevingne and Cressida Bonas have got what it takes". The Daily Telegraph. 1 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  19. ^ Eden, Richard; Pearlman, Jonathan (5 October 2013). "Prince Harry set to marry Cressida Bonas, say friends". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  20. ^ "Prince Harry and Cressida Bonas in 'amicable split'". BBC News. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  21. ^ "Royal Wedding 2018: Pictures of the guests, from Oprah to Elton John". BBC News. 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  22. ^ "Cressida Bonas quietly married Harry Wentworth-Stanley over the weekend". Harper's BAZAAR. 28 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  23. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, p. 650, 'Wentworth-Stanley of High Wych Grange' pedigree
  24. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 2003, vol. 2, p. 2691
  25. ^ Bonas, Cressida (5 October 2022). "Where would we be without our dogs?". The Spectator. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  26. ^ Bridger-Linning, Stephanie (29 November 2022). "Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend, Cressida Bonas, gives birth to her first child with husband Harry Wentworth-Stanley". Tatler. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  27. ^ Walsh, Ayeesha (18 December 2022). "Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas on IVF struggle after giving birth". mirror. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Cressida Bonas: There's a Monster in the Lake". Tatler. 5 June 2014. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  29. ^ "'I grew up in a household filled with music – not pop but old-school stuff, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong': Cressida Bonas on why performing is her passion". London Evening Standard. 23 January 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  30. ^ "Cressida Bonas: Fashion Muse, Partygoer & Hollywood 'It Girl'". People. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  31. ^ Brooks, Lucy (6 June 2015). "An Evening with Lucian Freud, Leicester Square". CultureWhisper. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  32. ^ Pritchard, Tiffany (17 December 2016). "Cressida Bonas Dazzles in Gatsby". Londonist. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  33. ^ Lawson, Mark (6 August 2017). "Mrs Orwell review – Cressida Bonas is persuasive as Orwell's muse and mistress". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  34. ^ Nessif, Bruna (16 October 2013). "Cressida Bonas' Cheerleading Past: Prince Harry's Girlfriend's Racy Part in U.K. TV Drama Trinity". E!. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  35. ^ "Doctor Thorne: Prince Harry's ex Cressida Bonas' TV debut and everything to know about ITV's new Downton". International Business Times. 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  36. ^ "'Bye Bye Man' Release Date Shifted Again By STX Entertainment". Deadline Hollywood. 21 April 2016. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  37. ^ Ford, Rebecca (5 June 2014). "Judi Dench, Matthew Morrison Join 'Tulip Fever'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  38. ^ White, Peter (9 October 2019). "Stephen Graham & Freddie Fox To Star In ITV Drama 'White House Farm' From 'Catherine The Great' Producer New Pictures". Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.

External links

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