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Royals… They’re just like us. They have favorite foods, make mistakes, hold grudges, and even repeat outfits. But beyond these very obvious facts that make up their day-to-day lives are the less-talked-about tidbits about them that have made their way into the tabloids over the years, more shocking than Prince William growing a beard! Of course, the British royal family has a strong PR team responsible for filtering the knowledge the public is privy to at certain points. Yet, some of these juicy nuggets have slithered into the headlines on rare occasions, often embarrassing the British royals involved.
These royal embarrassments take the form of personal scandals, political turmoil, social challenges, or perceived failures in the line of duty. For the royals, though, what constitutes an embarrassment borders more on their sacred policy of keeping health conditions and family disputes away from the public. Even with PR teams working around the clock to diffuse such situations or do damage control (think Prince Andrew’s Epstein scandal), one thing remains certain: The internet never forgets. That said, here are 7 shockingly embarrassing tidbits about the British royals that shook the family tree in more ways than one, proving they experience real-life situations too, just like the rest of us.
1. Queen Camilla and Princess Anne’s Love Triangle
Long before she ever became the Queen consort, or even a member of the British royal family, Camilla was a young adult obsessing over her relationship with the handsome cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles. According to reports, the dashing cavalry officer dumped his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Camilla, for his affair with Princess Anne. Their romance eventually ended thanks to Andrew’s “wandering eyes” and his Catholicism. Princess Anne then married her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, just four months later, but her rivalry with Camilla prevailed. In fact, ahead of Camilla’s wedding to then-Prince Charles in 2005, Queen Elizabeth was forced to sign a special document declaring that Anne would never have to curtsy to her arch-rival Camilla when she became Queen someday.
In his book, The Duchess: The Untold Story, royal biographer Penny Junor described Andrew as a “cad” who was unfaithful, which infuriated Camilla. She wound up commencing her own relationship with the then-Prince Charles to teach her ex a lesson. While the British royals are expectedly frugal with the details of that particular love “rectangle,” the regal series, The Crown spotlighted what little details the public is familiar with, taking liberties with some of the accounts, including the daring insinuation that Camilla Parker Bowles only lured Prince Charles as revenge on his sister, Princess Anne, who stole her man. That pettiness did yield a love story that still thrives over five decades later.
2. King Charles and Princess Diana’s Cheating Scandal
Yes, even British royals in all their nobility get caught up in the lure of infidelity! Coincidentally, Queen Camilla’s name creeps up again in yet another royal love triangle, this time, involving then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Notably, Charles and Camilla’s earlier relationship ended in their breakup in 1973 because the royal family disapproved of the relationship owing to Camilla’s history with other partners. Camilla went on to rekindle her romance with Andrew, eventually marrying him in July 1973. Meanwhile, Charles tied the knot with the legendary Princess Diana in 1981, welcoming sons Prince William and Prince Harry. But the marriage ended in 1996.
Perhaps the most scandalous moment in royal history, the late Princess Diana granted an interview with BBC’s Panorama documentary in November 1995, discussing life within the royal family and her struggles with postpartum depression, self-harm harm and bulimia. In the unprecedented move by a member of the British royal family, the People’s Princess admitted to her failing marriage, infamously declaring, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
A year prior, King Charles admitted to this affair with Camilla Parker Bowles to his personal biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, following widespread media speculations. This embarrassing revelation, which the royal PR had hoped would control the narrative in a “sympathetic” way, eventually left a fraction of Brits deeming Charles unfit to become King after his mother. Diana also admitted to her extramarital affair with guards officer James Hewitt, and how betrayed she felt by his revelations in the tell-all book, Princess in Love. Nothing beats cheating on the future king.
3. Prince William’s Pornography Addiction
In January 2025, reports of Prince William’s secret obsession flooded the tabloids, taking the world by surprise. At the time, sources revealed that the future King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth had an unhealthy porn habit which threatens the core of his marriage to Kate Middleton. The source claimed the royal had the obsession right from his school days, so much that he rented adult films from video stores continuously, and always failed to return them in time, often paying huge amounts for late returns.
Even as a married man, and father of three, in his forties, William has reportedly kept up those habits, spending hours looking at raunchy films and images, which leaves his wife “mortified and infuriated.” More embarrassing is that royal staffers knew about this porn obsession, further embarrassing his wife, who has resorted to doing damage control by instructing attendants to delete all R-rated films on William’s watchlist. After fearing for years that this embarrassing habit would become public knowledge, those fears eventually caught up with them, humiliating the British royals and the monarchy.
4. Queen Elizabeth Had a “Spoiled” Favorite Son
In a typical family, there’s almost always that one kid considered the mom’s favorite, and it appears the British royal household is no exception. In some instances, this child is overindulged, spoiled, and given preferential treatment, leading to questionable behaviors as they mature into adulthood. The late Queen Elizabeth’s second son, Prince Andrew, fit the bill. While the British royals have never admitted to Andrew’s place in the late Queen’s heart nor acknowledged her favoritism, speculations that he was her favorite son have thrived for years, unchallenged.
This was amplified further with the Queen’s handling of Prince Andrew’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. One of her biggest shows of support for her third child, and second son, was in 2022, when the then-monarch attended a memorial service for Prince Philip, accompanied by Andrew, just weeks after the disgraced Prince settled a sexual assault case with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in the United States. Despite stripping him of his royal titles and privileges over the sexual assault lawsuit earlier that year, having her disgraced son accompany her on such a special occasion was a statement to the world that she wholeheartedly loved and believed him.
Three years earlier, Andrew made another royal flop, granting his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview about his association with Epstein. The interview did not have the redeeming effect he’d hoped, forcing the Duke of York to step back from his duties as a senior royal “for the foreseeable future.” Yet, the monarch continued showering him with her favors, barely letting him off with a tap on the back. Years after the Queen’s death, Prince Andrew’s list of controversies has continued piling up, prompting his brother, King Charles, to hammer down more stringent measures to curb his excesses.
5. King Charles Reportedly Jealous of His Successor Prince William
Even the royals have fits of jealousy, sometimes for the most meager reasons. The most shocking instance of this playing out is the constant competition for media attention and popularity between the most senior royals. In fact, a 2024 report suggests that this thirst for royal popularity in the eyes of the public has left King Charles envious of his first son, Prince William, who is poised to someday become King after him.
According to one insider, tensions exist between father and son over William’s role as king. The source suggested that while the two have a close relationship, they consider themselves work rivals, with Charles becoming increasingly jealous of William’s growing popularity among the people while he’s still the King. Sources likened this jealousy to how the king felt about his late wife, Princess Diana’s popularity as the acclaimed “People’s Princess” before her death. The constant comparisons between father and son have done little to help the situation, especially with the overhanging knowledge that Charles’ reign may come to an end soon amid his ongoing battle with cancer. While it does happen to the best of us, the idea of a leader fearing his son could become greater than him someday isn’t exactly a flattering look, especially for a dynasty as revered as the British royal family.
6. Princess Charlotte’s Bridesmaid Dress Controversy
Speculations of a beef between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle surfaced soon after the latter set foot in the royal household, with media outlets suggesting a rivalry born out of the need to outshine each other. However, certain revelations in the wake of Megxit have shown the case wasn’t as simple. A very emotional situation that played out ahead of Meghan’s royal wedding has been pinpointed as the root of this beef, and the “beginning of the end” of their relationship.
The sister-in-laws reportedly disagreed over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress. Reports at the time suggested Meghan made Kate cry over the dress’ fitting. However, the Duchess of Sussex addressed this during her 2021 bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, revealing it was, in fact, Kate who made her cry. She claimed the British royals were aware of the erroneous media coverage, but opted not to deny it. The incident in question happened just four days before Meghan’s royal wedding to Prince Harry. Kate, who had just given birth to Prince Louis, reportedly complained to Meghan about the flower girl dress delivered to her daughter, claiming it was so ill-fitted that it left the young princess in tears.
Per Harry’s account in Spare, Meghan suggested taking the dress to the royal tailor for the necessary adjustment. However, the future queen demanded that all the dresses be remade to fit her daughter’s preference just days before the wedding. The situation led to heated exchanges between them, with royal staffers revealing in Tom Quinn’s book, Yes Ma’am: The Secrets of Royal Servants, that they both regretted their words after the scuffle. Although Kate later apologized to Meghan, the family dispute portrayed both women as overly emotional, Kate Middleton as vain, and the royal family, biased.
7. They Hold Grudges Too
Despite interference from outsiders, including clergymen from the Church of England, the royal feud between Prince Harry and his family has prevailed for years, with the British royals reluctant to budge. Harry’s step-back from royal duties in 2020 and move to the United States marked the onset of the royal feud. He has revealed his intention to reconcile with his family. However, the Prince claims his family remains reluctant to embrace him, admitting his dad no longer takes his calls or speaks to him. Sources have also claimed Prince William remained adamant to reconcile with his brother despite his wife, Kate’s, attempt to cement the royal rift.
This years-long royal fallout can be traced to Harry and Meghan’s stepback from their duties as senior royals, and their ensuing revelations about the British royal family in controversial interviews, documentaries, and the memoir Spare. However, the Duke of Sussex attributed his dad’s cold-shoulder treatment to his UK security dilemma during his May 2025 interview with the BBC. Insiders have since condemned Harry’s BBC interview, citing how embarrassing it must have been for the British royals, given their age-old tradition of not publicly commenting on issues concerning health and family disputes. Their reluctance to resolve this long-prevailing family dispute seems laughable to a fault when considering the royal family is an institution representing the heart of the British Empire, and an embodiment of kindness, charity, forgiveness, and honor. There’s something embarrassing about preaching world peace when the firm itself has a shaky familial foundation.
Conclusion
Each of these situations, unique in their own right, reflects just how human the British royals are underneath the charismatic, morally uptight, altruistic, and upright exteriors. Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall acknowledged this while speaking at an event in May 2025, revealing that beyond the lure of royalty perceived from the outside, there was a family “going through the same struggles as people do,” one hundred percent of the time. Hence, rather than perceive them as demigods, it’s important to recognize the royals as humans too, with emotions, experiences, and doubts, struggling to navigate life the right way, leaving lots of mistakes in their wake.
