Darcey Bussel was born on April 27, 1969 in London. She is one of the premiere ballerinas in Europe today. Darcey started ballet at the age of 13. She studied at the Royal Ballet School. She graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 1985. Even after graduation, she loved the school so much that she stayed for another two more years. Her career in ballet blossomed during her years in the Royal Ballet School. During this time, she appeared in minor productions such as Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. One of the people who noticed her talent in school was the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan. In 1998, Kenneth MacMillan assigned her the leading roles in The Prince of the Pagodas. In the year of 1998, at the opening night of the show, she got promoted to principal of the school. Darcey is the youngest ballerina to be given this honour. Aside from her role in The Prince of the Pagodas, she also played as Masha in Winter Dreams. She played Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. She played Odette in Swan Lake. In the play the Nutcracker, she played the Sugar Plum Fairy. She also starred in plays like Manon and Giselle where she played the star roles as Manon and Giselle respectively. Darcey received so many awards during her career. Among the prestigious awards that she received are the Evening Standard Ballet Award, the Sir James Garreras Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and the Dancer of the Year Award. After receiving all these awards, she felt that she needed to rest. She announced retirement as principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in 2006 because of stress and physical injuries. Darcey has been married since 1997. She is married to an Australian banker named Angus Forbes. They have two daughters named Phoebe and Zoe.