Interviewing a royal at Chelsea’s upmarket Bluebird Cafe is an intimidating prospect. But Sophie Winkleman has a knack for putting people at ease: refreshingly charming and down-to-earth, she orders a “boiling cappuccino, please!” (“I was up late fundraising for a paediatric hospital in Zimbabwe … so I need coffee!”) and is worried about being inarticulate (spoiler alert – she isn’t!).

Sophie is, by her own admission, “not posh”. She grew up in “vegetarian, hippy” Primrose Hill, in the days when it was still “a bit shabby and cosy – there was a shop called Sesame which I think only sold lentils.” Her neighbours included “lots of beautiful men” including Martin Amis and Jude Law. Although she hails from a “mega-intellectual” family (her father created The Times Atlas of World History and translates French poetry for fun, while her mother was a successful advertising copywriter and “the cleverest person I know”), her home life was gentle and academically unpressurised.

“Nothing can replace teacher-pupil interaction”

Sadly, school at City Girls’ was less idyllic and a nasty case of bullying left Sophie with a long-lasting fear of groups of women. Her teachers, however, were “inspirational” – particularly in her favourite subjects, English and Latin. Under their guidance, she applied to read English at Trinity Hall – though she retains a love for classics and is fascinated when I tell her The Times publishes Latin crosswords. Sophie still sees her old teachers and feels gratitude for their passion and charisma in the classroom. This makes her sceptical of ‘isolating’ classroom iPads: “it’s novelty for novelty’s sake – EdTech is just Big Tech in a school uniform. Nothing can replace teacher-pupil interaction.” She praises Sweden for being “brave enough to admit failure and chuck tech out of the classroom,” and wonders why Britain lacks the courage to do the same. “We used to be a brave, pioneering country,” she says “but now we’re following quite shabby trends.”

Sophie’s time at Cambridge holds fonder memories: “I loved Trinity Hall and I loved the university’s thriving acting and comedy scene”. Her Footlights revue was nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. “If you act and you’re at Cambridge, it’s like Christmas every day,” she says, remembering her time as Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ Madame de Merteuil at the ADC and touring Greek amphitheatres to perform Lorca’s Blood Wedding and Sophocles’ Elektra.

Her own taste in film spans many of the classics, particularly Merchant Ivory masterpieces like Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day. “I also know every word of The Commitments and have an enduring love for Peter’s Friends … it’s the quintessence of the Footlights!”

“I loved Trinity Hall and I loved the university’s thriving acting and comedy scene”

Despite having a serious track record in theatre and TV, radio is Sophie’s favourite medium and she particularly enjoyed working on Martin Jarvis’ P.G. Wodehouse productions (“Wodehouse is music!”). More recently, she’s been involved in an ITV production of Jane Austen’s Sanditon and an upcoming BBC1 series she describes as “a dark drama about mad mothers and daughters – I’m not having to method act much!” She’d still love to play a comedic Shakespearean role – preferably Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing or Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew – but laughs that she’s “too ancient now!”

In her twenties, Sophie was cast as “posh dimwits” – most famously as Big Suze in Peep Show – but more recent roles, including a tough single mother in This is Going to Hurt, have showcased her versatility as an actress. Her co-star, Ben Whishaw is singled out for being “the kind of actor so brilliant that he just dissolves into someone else’s skin.”

Sophie has long warned about the impact of technology on children and is campaigning to “make smartphones and social media unavailable to under 16s”. She praises MPs such as Rosie Duffield and Miriam Cates for having the courage to push for stricter regulation, but laments successive governments’ inaction (“I’m sure they’re scared of alienating Big Tech”). For Sophie, the Online Safety Bill is not strong enough,” because it only deals with harmful material. She is equally alarmed by short-form apps like TikTok and Snapchat which have destroyed children’s abilities to focus. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say these platforms are causing brain damage,” she concludes, “I’m deeply concerned about the digitalisation of children both in and out of school.”

She praises schools taking a stand – from Cambridge’s screen-free Heritage School (“it’s a magically perfect school”) to the inner-city comprehensive Michaela Community School, with its emphasis on fact-based knowledge, handwriting, spelling and grammar – “traditions [that] have worked for centuries.”

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say these platforms are causing brain damage”

Acting is an industry (in)famous for its addiction to social-media and Sophie’s career has occasionally suffered when producers have tired of her refusal to promote shows on social media. Unusually for an actress, Sophie regards Instagram as “the lowest of the low – it makes teen girls, in particular, feel very underconfident.” Showing off is “so pathetic,” she says. “People plonk themselves on yachts and post pictures for the entire world to see … I mean, really?!” Sophie would hail a return to modesty, adding that “being understated is underrated – the late Queen was a perfect example of discretion.”

Sophie, of course, knew Queen Elizabeth personally – her husband, Lord Frederick Windsor, is the King’s second cousin – and remembers her extremely fondly. King Charles is also a close friend of Sophie’s and she’s awed by his dedication: “His environmental work has been completely pioneering, as has the work of the Prince’s Trust. He writes letters for innumerable causes all through the night, every night”. She also believes that royal visits touch people and communities in ways that politicians and celebs never can. Was adjusting to royal life difficult? “Not remotely. Everyone was delightful – welcoming, fun and kind. They’re lovely people.”

The couple have two daughters at school in London. Freddie, who read Classics at Oxford, enjoys teaching the girls “basic geography” (“countries and rivers and mountain ranges”) and “proper, linear world history” – the sort of general knowledge that she says is “denigrated in the current curriculum.”

Sophie sees children as “sacred beings” and is passionate about small charities like School Home Support (which helps troubled children back into school), CURE.org (which funds operations for disabled children in Africa) and the Children’s Surgery Foundation. She’s also an ambassador for the Big Issue and sells the magazine with homeless people whenever she’s not working. She’s “baffled by” organisations like the NSPCC and Childline, who advocate leaving Big Tech to implement their own safety measures – “as if they’re ever going to do that!”

Also a patron of Age UK, Sophie deplores today’s “broken society” where the elderly are farmed out to care homes or left to wither away in isolation. Instead, she believes closer intergenerational bonds between teens and older people might mitigate loneliness and depression in both groups. “My friend Kate has set up a charity called TimeGivers, where teens go to visit lonely elderly people in their community,” she says, wishing this could become a “societal habit we all nurture.”

“You’ve got no friends because you’re scrolling in your room by yourself!”

Sophie is aware about the dangers of parents sounding too evangelical: “the [anti-smartphone] revolution has to be led by very young people … not a group of mums.” She cites her friend, actress Sophie Thompson, whose son at Central St Martin’s doesn’t have a smartphone. “It sounds like he’s the coolest boy in the entire year because he’s not available, there’s a mystique about him. He’s clearly refused to be captured and destroyed by social media and it’s doing wonders for his social capital – I love that irony.’’

Children don’t want to be addicted to screens, Sophie explains. She cites an interview in The Times where students yearned for the freedom that comes from not being on social media. “It’s peddled as this great connecting force but it’s in the main a huge isolator. You don’t have 900 friends,” she says, “you’ve got no friends because you’re scrolling in your room by yourself!”