The biggest royal scandals you won’t believe

A year after the relationship between Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Camilla Parker Bowles was revealed in Andrew Morton’s 1992 book Diana: Her True Stor. The shocking transcript of a recorded phone conversation between the pair was published in the tabloids. In the 1989 call, the future King Charles III and Camilla discussed him being a tampon so he could be close to her.

The Tampongate incident was hugely embarrassing to the royal family, with questions raised about Charles’ suitability to reign. Camilla was vilified.

The phone call that shocked Diana

A year before Tampongate, Charles’ first wife, Princess Diana, faced a mortifying scandal. Details of a private phone call between her and her lover, James Gilbey, were published for the public to see. The incident was dubbed “Squidgygate,” thanks to the affectionate nickname James Gilbey used for Diana during the conversation. The phone call had actually been recorded in 1989, long before Charles and Diana separated.

She had also been having an extra-marital affair with cavalry officer James Hewitt, which began around 1986. She confirmed the relationship in her Panorama TV piece in 1995, saying, “Yes, I was in love with him.”

Charles, Camilla, and the crowded marriage

In that interview, she also spoke about Charles’ affair with Camilla, uttering the famous words, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

It was later revealed that Diana had been deliberately tricked. BBC journalist Martin Bashir gained her trust by presenting forged bank statements. These falsely suggested that people in her inner circle were being paid to spy on her.

A forbidden romance

The Queen’s younger sister caused a huge controversy when she fell for her father’s equerry, war hero Captain Peter Townsend. Their relationship is thought to have begun after George VI died in 1952, when Margaret was 21. Peter, who was divorced, was 37 at the time. However, she had been infatuated with him since her teenage years.

Margaret accepted his proposal in 1953. However, because she was under 25, she needed permission from her sister, Elizabeth, to marry.

As the Head of the Church of England, which opposed divorced people remarrying, the Queen was put in a difficult position. She was also pressured by Parliament not to allow the marriage.

Choosing duty

Margaret was persuaded to wait and by the time she turned 25, she realised how much she would have to give up to marry Peter. She released a statement saying she was putting duty first and would not go ahead with the marriage.

Five years later, she wed Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon. Their marriage ended in divorce after she had an affair with gardener Roddy Llewellyn.

Edward VIII and the Wallis Simpson crisis

One of the biggest crises to threaten the monarchy occurred in 1936. Just 11 months after becoming king, Edward VIII announced that he was giving up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. He wanted to wed a divorcée whose former husband was still living. Doing so would have violated both civil and religious laws of the time. As a result, he had to make a choice between love and duty.

The abdication shook the monarchy to its core, raising questions about the personal freedoms of those born royal. The scandal was seen as undermining public trust in the ancient institution. The scandal sparked fears about the monarchy’s future. It also forced the King’s younger brother, Bertie, to take on the role of the next king, George VI. He was reluctant to assume the throne and did not want the responsibility.

The Duke of Windsor’s controversial legacy

Later, people would realise that losing Edward VIII as king was a stroke of luck for the UK and the Commonwealth. The former monarch, now the Duke of Windsor, had sympathies for the Nazis.

On a tour of Germany the year after he abdicated, Edward met Adolf Hitler and gave Nazi salutes.

A shocking photo scandal

The royal family suffered another blow to its dignity when Sarah Ferguson, then Duchess of York, was photographed sunbathing topless by a pool. At the same time, her financial advisor, John Bryan, was seen kissing and sucking her toes.

Controversy over timing and family

Fergie had been separated from her husband, Andrew, for five months. The photos were widely decried as tacky and disgraceful. The scandal was made worse because her two-year-old daughter, Princess Eugenie, could be seen in the background as the pair kissed.

Unfortunately for Fergie, the photos were published in a newspaper while she was staying at Balmoral with the royal family. The Queen was said to be “absolutely furious.”

Hidden lives of the Queen’s cousins

Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were the daughters of the Queen Mother’s brother John, making them Elizabeth II’s first cousins. Burke’s Peerage, the book listing Britain’s noble families, claimed that they had died in 1940 and 1961. However, a newspaper investigation in 1987 revealed that they had actually been residents of a hospital for mentally disabled people since 1941. Nerissa had only died the previous year. Katherine was still alive.

The Queen mother’s late recognition

The Queen Mum did not find out what had happened to them until 1982, and after that sent presents for their birthdays and Christmas. The Queen was said to be “hugely distressed” by a documentary about the sisters. The film claimed that they, both non-verbal, had been abandoned by their family.

George III’s fifth son, Prince Ernest Augustus, was suspected of playing a part in the suspicious death of his valet Joseph Sellis in 1810. The official line was that Joseph had committed suicide by cutting his throat. However, several details didn’t add up. For instance, the wound was so deep that it would have been very difficult for someone to inflict it on themselves.

It was rumoured that earlier that evening, Joseph had attacked the King’s son with a sword after discovering him in bed with another valet. The sword injuries were real, and Ernest took a month to recover. However, it has never been proven that the prince had anything to do with his valet’s death.

The youngest of George V and Queen Mary’s six children, Prince John was kept out of the public eye after it was discovered at the age of four that he had epilepsy. Deemed to be “not presentable” and thought to have had autism, he was sent to live at Sandringham House with his governess. He was never included in family events, such as his father’s coronation in 1911, due to concerns that he might “misbehave.”

John died from a seizure aged 13 and his older brother, later Edward VIII, who hardly knew him, wrote that his death was “little more than a regrettable nuisance”. Edward later apologised to his mother Queen Mary for his callous comment.

Royalty and service

Lord Louis Mountbatten was not only the uncle of Prince Philip and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, but the last Viceroy of India, the Chief of the Defence Staff and a mentor to the King. He was greatly mourned after he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979.

Allegations emerge

After his death, allegations emerged that he was among several men who abused boys from Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast. Those who claim he was a sex offender include author and historian Andrew Lownie. His biography of Louis Mountbatten includes interviews with two men who made disturbing allegations. They claim that, as children, they were taken from the home by the royal and driven to his nearby holiday house, where he sexually abused them.

Legal action and alleged cover-up

Another accuser who is taking legal action against state institutions in Northern Ireland says Lord Louis molested him twice when he was 11. Other former residents allege the child sex ring run from Kincora was covered up by authorites, including MI5.

Prince Albert Victor was the eldest son of Queen Victoria’s heir Edward, Prince of Wales, so expected to eventually be monarch one day. He was caught up in several scandals, including rumours he was gay and present at a male brothel when it was raided by police in 1889.

He was also said to have had numerous affairs with unsuitable women, including a chorus girl who died by suicide. He died at the age of 28 from the flu. Decades after his death, several authors suggested he could have been a plausible suspect for the Jack the Ripper murders. However, he was in Scotland when some of the crimes were committed.

A palace love triangle?

The very close friendship between Queen Anne and her childhood friend Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough had tongues wagging in the early 1700s. When Anne’s attentions then turned to chambermaid Abigail Masham, Sarah threatened to publish intimate letters the Queen had sent her.

After an explosive confrontation, the letters remained secret. However, Sarah got her revenge after Anne’s death by writing a very unflattering memoir about the monarch. It’s never been proven that either relationship was sexual, but it was seen as a scandalous love triangle at the time.