The 21 biggest scandals of the British royal family

Royals

Royal life isn't always easy.
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  • Rex Edward VIII rejected the crown and so he could marry a divorced American woman.
  • In 1995, Diana sat down for a tell-all solo interview and talked about Prince Charles' affair.
  • Prince Andrew was stripped of his purple patronages and military titles.

King Edward Viii rejected the crown in 1936 so he could marry a divorced American woman.

Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII.
Len Putnam/AP

Directly after his father died in 1936, Edward VIII took the throne. Less than a year afterward, he renounced it.

That's because he had fallen hard for Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who'd already been divorced once and was working through her second. His proposal of marriage caused social and political uproar, since the Church of England technically forbade Edward from marrying someone who'd been divorced. Eventually, Edward was forced to forsake.

"I have plant it impossible to acquit the heavy burden of responsibleness and to belch my duties as King [...] without the aid and support of the adult female I dearest," he said in a radio address to the nation in Dec 1936.

Edward and Simpson married in 1937 and stayed together until Edward's decease in 1972. (And she wasn't the only commoner who married into royalty.)

Princess Margaret fell in honey with a hubby.

Captain Peter Townsend stands behind Princess Margaret.
AP

Captain Peter Townsend was a Royal Air Force officer who served as an equerry – essentially an bellboy to the majestic family. He spent a groovy deal of time with Margaret, and before long, the two fell in love. The simply problem was that he was married.

Things got even more than scandalous in 1953 when Townsend divorced his married woman and proposed to Margaret. Merely the rules of the Church of England forbade such a marriage. (After all, Margaret'due south uncle Edward VIII had to relinquish the throne in order to marry a divorcee.)

The relationship came to a heartbreaking close in 1955 when they chosen off the engagement. There was merely no way for Captain Townsend and Princess Margaret to have a happy ending.

Her eventual marriage to a different homo ended in a high-profile divorce.

Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960.
AP

Not long after calling things off with Townsend, Margaret married lensman Anthony Armstrong Jones. (Information technology was the starting time majestic wedding ceremony to ever be televised!)

A few years later, their union became a source of "growing public ridicule," according to the New York Times. They fought in public, Margaret took long vacations without her married man, and rumors swirled effectually her shut friendship with a man 17 years her junior.

In 1976, the couple announced their separation, and two years later, they were officially divorced. Margaret became the outset royal to divorce since Henry Viii, who reigned way back in the 1500s.

Princess Diana and an declared lover were secretly recorded on the phone.

Princess Diana and James Gilbey.
Kimimasa Mayama/Reuters; David Jones/AP

In 1992 — while Prince Charles and Princess Diana were all the same married — media outlets published the transcript of a conversation between Diana and an alleged lover named James Gilbey. In the conversation, Gilbey told Diana that he loved her and chosen her by the pet proper name "Squidgy" 53 times. That's how the scandal earned the memorable moniker "Squidgygate."

Later, in an interview, Diana confirmed that the conversation was real, but denied that it was adulterous in nature.

Then Diana gave a bombshell Television receiver interview — and the matrimony finally collapsed for good.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1992.
AP

In 1995, Diana sat downward for a tell-all solo interview with journalist Martin Bashir to talk almost the immense pressures of public life and her struggles with cocky-impairment, postpartum depression , and bulimia. She also revealed that she knew nearly Charles' affair with Camilla. ("At that place were three of usa in this marriage, so information technology was a bit crowded," she famously quipped.) And Diana even admitted that she'd been unfaithful to Charles, maxim that she had been "in love" with James Hewitt, her riding instructor.

More recently, the BBC interview itself has since come up under scrutiny. An article in the Sunday Times in 2020 alleged that Bashir manipulated Diana into doing the interview by showing her brother, Charles Spencer, fake bank statements that purported to show the media had been paying regal associates for information about her. A 2021 inquiry concluded that Bashir acted in a "deceitful" mode, and the BBC and Bashir apologized.

A few weeks after the interview, the Queen herself urged her son and girl-in-law to divorce, and the following year, they fabricated information technology official. Charles and Camilla, on the other hand, wed in 2005 and are still together.

Princess Anne divorced her hubby and married a member of the imperial staff.

Mark Phillips and Princess Anne in 1976.
AP

Princess Anne, the simply daughter of current Queen Elizabeth II, married Olympic equestrian Mark Phillips in 1973. Only the couple spent large swaths of time apart and didn't announced to exist happy — People mag described the matrimony equally a "joyless sham."

So, in jump 1989, a British newspaper obtained stolen copies of letters written to Anne by ane of her equerries — a British naval officer named Timothy Laurence. Though the content of the letters wasn't fabricated public, tabloids described them as "extremely intimate" and "besides hot to handle."

In 1992, Anne announced that she was divorcing Phillips — and that she planned to ally Laurence. The two have been together ever since.

Paparazzi caught Sarah Ferguson in a compromising "toe-licking" incident.

Sarah Ferguson in 1988.
John Redman/AP

Sarah Ferguson (popularly known as "Fergie") married Queen Elizabeth's son Prince Andrew in 1986.

Vi years afterward, scandal erupted: Paparazzi photographers captured Fergie vacationing with an American financial advisor named John Bryan. In one photo — an paradigm quickly plastered on the front page of The Sunday — Bryan appeared to be licking Fergie'south human foot.

Things didn't get very well after that. Fergie and Andrew separated in 1992 (the same year as Charles and Diana!) and divorced in 1996.

Later on, Fergie was accused of taking a $633,000 bribe.

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew on their wedding mean solar day in 1986.
AP

Fergie'south marital drama didn't end after the divorce. In 2010, a News of the Globe journalist posed as a businessman and said he got Fergie to take a £500,00 (about $633,000) ransom in exchange for admission to her ex-husband.

A video recording of their meeting was released to the media, and Fergie later apologized, proverb she'd made a "serious lapse in judgment."

Prince Harry spent a day (yes, a single mean solar day) in rehab.

The dispensary Prince Harry attended in 2002.
Sion Touhig/Getty Images

Afterward admitting to his male parent that he'd tried marijuana, a 17-year-old Prince Harry spent a 24-hour interval at the Featherstone Society rehabilitation center in London.

A statement from the majestic family unit said Harry had agreed to visit the clinic "to learn nigh the possible consequences of starting to have cannabis."

He was as well photographed wearing a Nazi costume.

The costume made headlines around the world.
Adam Butler/AP

In January 2005, British newspaper The Sun published a forepart-page photo of Harry wearing a Nazi armband, evidently at a costume party.

The prince, who was twenty at the time, quickly released a statement of apology that read: "Prince Harry has apologised for whatsoever offence or embarrassment he has caused. He realises it was a poor option of costume."

In 2012, Prince Harry got naked at a private party in Las Vegas, and someone leaked the photos to The Sun.

Prince Harry in 2012.
Sang Tan/AP

The British tabloid published the naked photos of the prince in 2012, which were taken by another party-goer during a game of strip billiards in his hotel suite.

According to an anonymous source who was in omnipresence, the prince's security team appeared to exist aware that people were taking photos.

"No ane asked for our phones or annihilation almost u.s. when we arrived at the party," the source told The Lord's day. "Information technology was obvious people were taking pictures."

That aforementioned yr, Closer Magazine published a photograph of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless on its cover.

They sued the visitor and won.
WPA Puddle/Getty Images

At the time the pictures were taken, the Knuckles and Duchess of Cambridge were staying in a private holiday dwelling house owned by the Queen's nephew, Viscount Linley.

Subsequently the couple won a lawsuit against the visitor, Closer was ordered to pay $118,000 in damages to Volition and Kate in 2017.

Meghan Markle walked herself down the aisle after her father was caught staging paparazzi photos in the lead up to her wedding to Prince Harry.

Meghan Markle walks herself downwards the aisle.
WPA Pool/Getty Images

Thomas Markle's no-evidence at the purple wedding was thought to be due to his poor health, as he suffered a centre attack merely days before Harry and Markle tied the knot in Windsor back in May 2018.

However, in the twelvemonth that followed, Thomas and the duchess appeared to have a strained relationship, with Thomas even speaking out confronting his girl in several interviews with British tabloids.

In 2011, Prince Andrew resigned from his job considering of seedy friendships.

Prince Andrew in 2012.
Sang Tan/AP

Prince Andrew served as the Britain's trade envoy from 2001 through 2011, when he stepped downwards due to mounting criticism over some of his personal relationships. Namely, he was close friends with American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This would not be the finish of the matter, however.

He stepped back from his majestic duties birthday in 2019 later on new allegations surfaced regarding his relationship with Epstein, culminating in a disastrous BBC interview.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, then known every bit Virginia Roberts.
Florida Southern District Court

Virginia Roberts, pictured with Andrew in a higher place, defendant Epstein of forcing her to have sex with the prince when she was just 17 years old, back in 2001.

The allegations from a 2015 defamation case resurfaced in the media equally the case became unsealed. Prince Andrew has denied the claims, and a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace "emphatically denied" the allegations in an August 2019 statement provided to Insider.

Four days after a catastrophic interview with "BBC Newsnight" where he spoke virtually his friendship with Epstein, Prince Andrew appear he would pace down from his royal duties.

Epstein was plant expressionless in his prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Markle launched a lawsuit confronting British newspaper the Mail on Sun after it published a individual letter of the alphabet she wrote to her father.

Thomas (left) and Meghan Markle.
GMB ; Ben Birchall/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Markle sued the publication over the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright, and alienation of the Data Protection Act 2008 after it published excerpts from the letter earlier this twelvemonth. She won the lawsuit in Feb.

"I share this victory with each of you — because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve ameliorate," Markle said in a argument.

A gauge afterwards rejected the publisher's awarding for permission to appeal but said information technology can accept the awarding to the Court of Appeals. The publisher, Associated Newspapers, said it would.

After months of rumors, Harry and Markle announced they were taking a "step back" from royal life in 2020.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from their roles as senior royals.
Star Max/AP

The announcement said they "intend to step back every bit 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while standing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen." They also wrote that they would split their time betwixt N America and the Uk.

The royal communications office followed upwards with a statement of their own.

"Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage," the Queen's statement read. "We understand their desire to take a different approach, simply these are complicated issues that volition take time to work through."

The couple carried out their terminal official royal date at the almanac Democracy Day service in London in March 2020. They afterward bought a domicile in California.

In March 2021, Markle and Harry gave a tell-all interview to Oprah Winfrey about their rift with the royal family, revealing i bombshell after another.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Getty Images

The two-60 minutes primetime special was full of stunning revelations.

Markle told Winfrey that Kate Middleton made her cry the week of her wedding over a flower girl dress and not the other manner around, as had been reported in tabloids. She also said members of the royal family had "concerns and conversations" virtually how dark Archie'southward skin would be before he was born, and The Business firm told them that Archie wouldn't receive a title or security, breaking from protocol. She also opened up nearly having suicidal thoughts amid abiding tabloid criticism and racism, and said a senior member of the royal institution wouldn't let her seek help.

Harry revealed that his family cutting him off financially in the first quarter of 2020, and that Prince Charles stopped taking his phone calls before they announced they were stepping back from the regal family. He also said that it hurts that the regal family never acknowledged tabloids' racist treatment of Meghan Markle, and that none of the royal family members have reached out to apologize for the reasons he felt he had to exit.

Following the interview, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of the Queen.

"The whole family is saddened to learn the total extent of how challenging the concluding few years have been for Harry and Meghan," the argument read.

"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family unit privately.

"Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always exist much loved family members."

Before the interview aired, Buckingham Palace appear they were investigating claims that Markle bullied members of the regal staff — only no such investigations had been publicly made into Prince Andrew's involvement with Epstein.

Meghan Markle (left) and Prince Andrew.
Max Mumby/Getty Images ; Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The Times of London reported that Markle bullied 2 senior staff members during her time with the royal family.

Buckingham Palace released a statement days before Markle and Harry's tell-all interview maxim that they were "very concerned" about the allegations, and that their HR team was investigating the claims.

A spokesperson for the Knuckles and Duchess of Sussex denied the claims to The Times, proverb that the allegations were intended to undermine Prince Harry and Markle's interview with Oprah, calling it a "calculated smear campaign."

While the palace launched an investigation into allegations that Markle bullied majestic staff, no such investigations were publicly made past the palace when Prince Andrew faced scrutiny over his involvement with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Royal biographers defendant the palace of having double standards.

Prince Andrew was stripped of his imperial patronages and military titles and will defend himself from sexual-assault allegations as a private citizen instead of a royal.

Prince Andrew.
Christopher Furlong - WPA Puddle/Getty Images

In August 2021, Virginia Giuffre Roberts filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew accusing him of sexual assault.

She alleges that Jeffrey Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew in his New York mansion, in London, and on Epstein'southward private island in the Us Virgin Islands in 2001 when she was 17.

The twenty-four hours later U.s.a. District Estimate Lewis A. Kaplan said the duke'south movement to dismiss Giuffre's lawsuit was "denied in all respects," Buckingham Palace released a statement announcing that Andrew would no longer hold his royal patronages and military titles.

"With The Queen's approval and understanding, The Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen," a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said in a statement sent to Insider. "The Duke of York will keep not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a individual denizen."

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