For actress Pat Kirkwood, the invitation for a night out in London was nothing unusual.

She was 27, at the peak of her career and was well used to hitting the West End.

But on a fateful night in October, 1948 a chance meeting with Prince Philip was to have repercussions which have lasted more than 50 years.

Rumours spread through London's high society that she had enjoyed a love affair with the husband of the future Queen, who was said to be pregnant with Prince Charles at the time. More than that, he had allegedly bought her a white Rolls-Royce.

Pat Kirkwood, the highest paid actress and musical star of her generation, strongly denied an affair.

She even wrote in vain to the Prince asking him to issue a public denial. But even 51 years later, Miss Kirkwood - living in retirement in a luxury beck-side residence in Bingley - feels compelled to tell the true story.

She admits she dined, danced and shared a scrambled egg breakfast at dawn with the Prince but said she was accompanied by her boyfriend and the Prince's equerry and there was no suggestion of an affair.

The story began when she was waiting in the dressing room of the London Hippodrome after the second of her twice-nightly performance in Starlight Roof. She was ready for a night out with her boyfriend, Baron - a society photographer.

"I was waiting and waiting for him to show up. I was in my dressing room with my mother and dresser and getting crosser and crosser as I just wanted to go out," she said.

"Then the phone rang and it was Baron. He said he was on his way over and then he whispered that there would be three of us. I knew he was in the same gentleman's club as Prince Philip and they always met on a Thursday, so I just had this feeling that he was bringing the Prince.

"A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and in walked Philip. Baron sent him in first because he knew I was furious with him for being late. My mother and dresser couldn't believe their eyes and they both curtseyed."

They went to a Mayfair restaurant where they drank champagne and Miss Kirkwood danced with the Prince.

She said: "We didn't dance close, it was very ordinary and we were at arm's length. While we were dancing we saw some people come in and their eyes just popped out of their heads when they saw us.

"The Prince said they were courtiers from the palace and I had never seen such faces. They were obviously horrified but the Prince refused to sit down and said we should carry on dancing."

She added: "It was a few months later when the rumours started. My dresser was at the Dominion Cinema in London when she heard two women discussing the fact that the Prince had started an affair with me. She couldn't wait to tell me and I laughed when I first heard it but it wasn't so funny when people started believing it."

She added: "I've constantly denied the rumours of an affair for years and the Prince couldn't do anything about it. The story seemed to follow me around and it has done a lot of damage."

Miss Kirkwood, who was born in Pendleton, Lancashire, first appeared on stage at the age of 15 in Salford billed as The Schoolgirl Songstress and at 16 made her London stage debut.

Three films followed - Me and My Pal, Come On George and Band Waggon - as well as a string of successes in the West End including Lady Behave and Let's Face It.

In 1945, she won a contract with MGM in Hollywood where she starred in the film musical No Leave, No Love. More success followed and in the 1950s she became the first woman in Britain to have her own hour-long TV series.

She retired in 1974 but in 1992 returned to the stage at the London Palladium. She has since appeared in several TV interviews and was featured on This is Your Life in 1994.

Miss Kirkwood has been married four times. She met her current husband, former Bradford & Bingley boss and solicitor Peter Knight, in Portugal and the pair married in Gibraltar in 1981, settling in the Yorkshire Dales and then Bingley.

It was Peter, 83, who typed up the book and encouraged her to publish her memoirs which were originally intended as a present for her god-daughter.

She said: "It was my husband Peter who said he was going to get it published and I'm just surprised with the amount of interest it's causing.

"I feel that I've finally set the record straight about Philip. Some people seem to want to believe the rumours and prefer the fiction to the truth."

Miss Kirkwood also reveals Hollywood star Danny Kaye became "totally obsessed" with her and pursued her for 20 years. She talks candidly about suffering a nervous breakdown after being prescribed pills by a Hollywood doctor, attempting suicide and spending eight mon-ths in a New York sanatorium.

The Time Of My Life will be published by Robert Hale Ltd on May 31, priced £16.99.

Philip and me: the truth

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