The British royal family present themselves as proper and fancy but they have been part of several major controversies involving their personal and public life. Those controversies have made headlines and are a part of collective memory. The royals look dignified and regal but there are complex and often tumultuous dynamics at play within the royal family.
Here Is A List of Scandals That Have Rocked The Royal Family:
It’s A Bit Crowded: Princess Diana
“There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” Princess Diana said in an interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995, referring to the troubles that led to the separation of then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
Royal experts believe that she was referring to Camilla Parker Bowles who Prince Charles later married in 2005. It was also after this interview that Queen Elizabeth wrote to her son and daughter-in-law urging them to finalise their divorce.
Royal Family’s Reaction to Princess Diana’s Death
When Princess Diana died in 1997 after being chased by paparazzi photographers on motorcycles along with her companion Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul in a tunnel in Paris, France, Queen Elizabeth was expected to head back to London and mourn publicly the death of her daughter-in-law but she chose to remain in Scotland with Prince Harry and Prince William.
Queen Elizabeth ended the controversy by two gestures. Her spontaneous bowing of the head as Diana’s casket passed by during her funeral and her speech that praised Diana where she said that “there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death”.
Abdication Of King Edward III and Megxit
In 1936, King Edward VIII’s decision to abdicate the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite and divorcee, sparked a major constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom. The British government, the Church of England, and members of the royal family opposed the marriage due to Simpson’s status as a divorcee, which was considered unacceptable for a British monarch’s consort at the time.
84 years later, the decision by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to step back from royal duties and give up their titles drew parallels between Prince Harry and his great-grand-uncle and their life partners.
The Virgin Queen
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was a close friend and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He was also rumoured to be her lover, although there is no concrete evidence to support this claim. It is also rumoured that the ‘Virgin Queen’ was behind the sudden death of Dudley’s wife, Amy, in 1560. Amy was found at the bottom of a staircase with a broken neck, sparking rumors of accident, suicide, or even murder. There were no witnesses to Amy’s fall, as all household staff were at a local fair and this absence of witnesses fueled speculation about foul play.
Defiant Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, led a life marked by defiance which possibly allowed the next generation to take steps that were not the norm.
In the 1950s, Princess Margaret wanted to marry Peter Townsend, a war hero. But because he was divorced, they couldn’t marry and Queen Elizabeth II’s objection coupled with the Church of England’s prohibition on remarriage for divorcees prevented their union. Margaret later married a photographer, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, with whom she had children but their marriage also had problems but Margaret had an affair with a younger man, the family gardener, ultimately led to the couple’s divorce.
Harry’s Spare
‘Spare’, Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir, had a similar effect in terms of delivering a shock to the royal family. In the memoir, the Duke of Sussex reflected on his mother, his service in Afghanistan but made accusations against his father that he was considered a ‘spare’ as Prince William was next in line to the throne. He called his elder brother his “beloved brother and arch nemesis” and also spoke of fights between the two.
Meghan Faced Racism?
During her interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, revealed concerns within the royal family regarding her then-unborn baby’s skin tone. Prince Harry said that he criticised the family’s failure to address colonial undertones in media coverage and how they did not see the potential for a racism-related scandal within Buckingham Palace. Meghan also told Oprah in the interview that an unnamed family member expressed worries about how dark their unborn son Archie’s skin would be during her pregnancy.
Photoshop
Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, sparked controversy earlier this month when she edited a Mother’s Day photo clicked by Prince William, which was later posted on social media outlets. Top news agencies withdrew the photograph citing concerns about alteration. She later apologised for the concern caused by her actions.
(with inputs from Vogue, History.com, CNN and Sky News)
