Darcey Andrea Bussell CBE (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle 27 April 1969) is a retired English ballerina.Trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School, she started her professional ballet career at Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, but after only one year she moved to The Royal Ballet, where she became a principal dancer at just 20 years old in 1989. Bussell is widely acclaimed as one of the great British ballerinas.