Laila Rouass Laila Rouass Laila Abdesselam Rouass (born 22 June 1971) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in "Footballers' Wives" (2004–2006) and Sahira Shah in "Holby City" (2011–12). She has also starred in "Primeval" and "Spooks" and been a contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing", in which she finished fourth. Rouass was born in Stepney, London to a Moroccan father and an Indian mother. Rouass worked as a VJ on Channel V in India in the 1990s. While on Channel V, she appeared in a music video for the band Colour Blind, directed by the
The Royals (TV series) star as the Grand Duchess of Oxford, Helena's mother. In June 2015, Laila Rouass was cast as Rani, the Deputy Prime Minister whom the actress calls "Elizabeth Hurley's arch-enemy". For season 2, Hatty Preston was replaced as Princess Maribel with Jerry-Jane Pears, the difference in their appearance explained by plastic surgery. In June 2016, Max Brown was cast as Prince Robert, the presumed-dead eldest son of Simon and Helena, and Jules Knight was cast as Spencer Koenigsberg, Helena's new Lord Chamberlain. Genevieve Gaunt, who played Liam's potential love interest Willow in season 2, was also promoted from recurring to series