Harry's "riot", loving Andrew and other high-profile scandals in the British royal family

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The reputation of Elizabeth II can be called ideal: the British adore her, she herself was not involved in scandals, and, most importantly, she stands guard over the interests and traditions of the monarchy. And the queen demands the same from her relatives. But we must not forget that even those in whose veins blue blood flows, in fact, are ordinary people. And no matter how much the “main grandmother” tries to restrain her family members, they still sometimes get into unpleasant situations and give loud news feeds. Let's remember the most high-profile scandals in the British royal family.

"Riot" of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

From the very beginning, Elizabeth II was not enthusiastic about the choice of her youngest grandson: where has it been seen that a member of the royal family marries a divorced American mulatto actress who is three years older than her lover? However, Harry was adamant, and the wedding still took place. The couple had a son last year. And at the beginning of 2020, the spouses unexpectedly announced that they were giving up royal duties, wanted to become financially independent and would live in two countries - in Great Britain and Canada. all the time lately. Of course, the queen was shocked by this decision, but was forced to accept it. Much more questions were raised about the reasons for this decision. Many tend to blame Meghan Markle for this, who, apparently, is tired of the scrutiny of the press and the requirement to comply with royal protocol, including attending all official events.

Prince Harry's crazy youth

However, Prince Harry had not been distinguished by an exemplary conduct before and often found himself in the epicenter of scandals. At one time, the queen had to make excuses all the time for the antics of the red-haired guy, because he was not averse to having fun, adored noisy parties with alcohol, often got into fights with the paparazzi, got on camera lenses at the moment when he was holding an unknown blonde by his chest and even once came to one of the parties dressed as a Nazi officer. And once the restless prince decided to play strip with friends - the next morning the whole world saw the pictures of the naked prince.

Love triangle Diana - Charles - Camilla

In the late 70s, the Queen's eldest son, Prince Charles, dreamed of marrying longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles. But, according to the royal family, the chosen one was "wrong", and the heir was not given permission to marry. As a result, the failed bride soon got married, and Charles, out of despair, proposed to 20-year-old Diana Spencer.

Could the newly-made princess then fall into a real golden cage? But very soon it became clear that the prince would never be able to fall in love with his young wife: Diana was left alone with her worries, and her husband secretly called the one whom he could not forget at night. And when in 1992 there was a "camillage" (details of the telephone conversation between Charles and Camilla were leaked to the press), Diana decided that she would no longer be silent. In 1995, she gave a scandalous interview with the BBC, after which the divorce took place.

The whole world sincerely felt sorry for Diana, and after her death, the nationwide anger fell not at all on the Windsor family, but on Camilla. For a long time she remained “the most hated woman in England”. And even when the prince proposed to his chosen one, Elizabeth at first refused to attend the wedding, but later insisted that the ceremony be modest.

"Exemplary" Prince William

You might think that Prince William - an exemplary family man and father of three children - has nothing to do on this list. However, he also managed to light up in unpleasant stories. One of them happened in 2017, when the heir to the British crown decided to go on vacation with friends in Switzerland. It seems that the prince had a good time, because in all the world media soon there were photos where William flirts with a young model. They say the couple spent several nights together. But neither the culprit of the scandal, nor his wife, Kate Middleton, commented on this incident in any way.

Loving Prince Andrew

The youngest son of Elizabeth II also more than once gave reasons for his mother's displeasure. Andrew, unlike Charles, still managed to insist on his own and married a girl not by status - a public relations specialist. But after 10 years, the prince decided to divorce, and again the queen mother remained silent.

However, when Andrew began dating the three times divorced actress Demi Moore, who has three grown daughters, Elizabeth could not afford this. Apparently, she was so angry that after a serious conversation with her, the loving prince broke off relations with his passion. However, Andrew was later accused of molesting minors, and one of the "victims" said that the prince kept her in sex slavery for a long time. But the scandal was quickly hushed up.

"Rebel" Princess Margaret

The sister of Elizabeth II received such a nickname for a reason. Unlike the queen, she was not bound by rules and protocol, and therefore could behave as she wanted. Which, however, she did. Margaret loved noisy parties, drank and smoked. But the British loved her, and the family, on the contrary, was ashamed.

The first serious quarrel between the sisters occurred after the youngest announced that she wanted to marry a divorced man who also has children from a previous marriage. Margaret did not receive permission to marry and for several years tried to defend her right to marry for love. However, later the girl gave up.

Later, the princess married a young man suitable for her status, but the marriage did not bring happiness, and the princess again went all out. She divorced her husband and never married again. Margaret spent the last years of her life alone and died of a stroke.

First same-sex royal wedding

It would seem that Elizabeth, who could not allow her relatives to marry and marry "unsuitable" people, and thought she could not admit that one of her relatives would dare to enter into a same-sex marriage. But such a person was found, and he turned out to be the queen's cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who married / married James Coyle. However, the heirs to the throne did not attend the wedding, which took place in 2018, but the portrait of the newlyweds took its place in Buckingham Palace. The lovers met for three years, but hid their relationship. Earlier, Lord Mounbatten had been married for 16 years to Penelope Thompson, who bore him three children. Interestingly, it was his ex-wife who took Ivar down the aisle. Their heirs also attended the wedding.

Edward VIII, who gave up everything for love

It turns out that Queen Elizabeth II might not have taken the English throne, if not for her uncle Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in favor of her father for the sake of love.

The femme fatale turned out to be American Wallis Simpson, who had already been married twice. Moreover, the relationship between the king and his chosen one began during the time when she was still married to her second spouse. However, Edward's society and entourage did not agree that an "incomprehensible" American woman would become the English queen. Then the king took an unprecedented step: for the first time in the history of England in 1936, the monarch voluntarily renounced the throne.

A year later, the lovers got married, but none of the groom's relatives came to the wedding. Wallis and Edward lived together until the former king's death in 1972.

Notes of the Black Spider

As you know, the monarchy in Great Britain has only nominal power: members of the royal family have no right not only to interfere in politics, but even cannot express their opinion on issues of government. Failure to comply with this "social" contract can be very costly for the Windsors, even to the point of being overthrown.

But everyone knows about it, except Prince Charles. In 2005, he sent 27 letters to the British government in which he shared his thoughts on how the country should be governed. The appeals were popularly called "Notes of the Black Spider" because of the incomprehensible handwriting of the heir to the throne, blots, misprints and ink color.

However, what was written in the letters was not immediately publicized. Then the journalists, referring to the law on freedom of information, filed a lawsuit against the government and won it. So the would-be heir was again at the center of the scandal. Buckingham Palace, of course, tried to intercede for Charles, justifying him by the fact that the letters were private and the future monarch could share his views on the direction of his country's policy. However, the scandal turned out to be very loud.