The British royal family has fascinated the world for centuries. As the most prominent representatives of British society, one might expect these elites to conduct their affairs discreetly. Unfortunately, that has not always been the case.
From illicit activities to scandalous relationships, the royal family has its fair share of skeletons in the closet. While some events were not necessarily under their control, they are still held to a much higher standard than the rest of us.
Here are 25 dark secrets the British royal family preferred you didn't know.
1. The Lost Prince
Prince John was the youngest child and fifth son of King George V and Queen Mary. Born in 1905, he was diagnosed with epilepsy a year before his father's ascension to the throne in 1910.
At age 11, Prince John was taken to Sandringham House due to his worsening seizures. He died at the age of 13 in January 1919 after a seizure. The royal family received backlash because his whereabouts, illness, and death were only released after his premature demise.
2. Pure Bloodlines
The English royal family does not have a pure English bloodline. They had ties with Germany for a long time, most notably through Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, who was a German Prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1917, King George V changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor due to anti-German feelings during World War I.
3. Royal Inbreeding
It was expected that royalty married among themselves, and Queen Elizabeth II even married her third cousin, Prince Philip. When King Charles was seeking a wife, he faced a dilemma of inbreeding or diluting the royal bloodline.
His choice of Princess Diana satisfied both groups, as she was of noble descent but not closely related to the royal family. This helped strengthen the gene pool.
4. Prince Andrew's Illicit Entanglement
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, allegedly had a close relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed she was sent by Epstein to have sexual relations with the Duke on three occasions when she was just 16 or 17.
Andrew denied knowing her, but a photo of the pair debunked his claims. The late Queen Elizabeth II released him from his public roles and stripped him of his military titles. Prince Andrew settled with Giuffre's lawyers in early 2022.
5. Prince William Caught
Years after his wedding, Prince William, who was supposed to be on an all-boy ski trip, was photographed dancing in a nightclub. The woman he was photographed with was not his wife, Princess Catherine, but Australian model Sophia Taylor.
Naturally, it was reported that Princess Catherine was furious, and the entire royal family was displeased.
6. The Middleton Sibling Saga
After Prince William proposed to Kate, topless pictures of her were taken while she was sunbathing on vacation in France. They were published on the cover of France's Closer magazine, causing untold embarrassment.
At William and Kate's wedding, Kate's sister Pippa became famous overnight due to media fascination with her appearance. A week later, a picture of Pippa in her early 20s hit the internet, showing her in a bra and white skirt dancing seductively. Another topless photo of Pippa and nude pictures of her brother also made their rounds.
7. Jack the Ripper
Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward, known as Eddie, is one of the most famous suspects in the Jack the Ripper case. In 1970, Dr. Thomas Stowell publicized a theory that Eddie, suffering from syphilis, was driven insane and compelled to commit the murders.
The conspiracy theory is debunked by witnesses to his death, including his immediate family members and his fiancée and her parents.
8. King George V's Betrayal of the Tsar of Russia
King George V ultimately decided not to rescue his cousin Tsar Nicholas II from the Bolsheviks, leading to the Tsar and his family being assassinated. The decision was made over several weeks in 1917.
Fear of losing his own throne at a time of heightened political tension prompted the king to ultimately not rescue his cousin.
9. Prince Philip The Ladies Man
For decades, there have been rumors that the late Duke of Edinburgh wasn't entirely faithful to the queen. One of the women he allegedly was involved with was musical comedy star Pat Kirkwood, and rumors that she was his mistress ruined her career.
Another woman was Helen Cordet, a Greek cabaret star and lifelong friend of Philip. Despite the rumors, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip stayed together until his death in April 2021.
10. Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, was the complete opposite of the queen. At 22, she began a romance with divorcee Captain Peter Townsend.
Margaret was denied the right to marry him due to his divorce status, and she ended the relationship in October 1955. She married Anthony Armstrong-Jones and had two children before divorcing in 1978.
11. Princess Anne's Violent Dog
Princess Anne is the only person in the immediate royal family to ever face criminal charges. In 2001, she had to pay a £500 fine after her dog Dottie bit two children in Windsor Great Park. Another of her dogs, Florence, attacked one of the Queen's corgis, who had to be put down.
12. Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George led a highly promiscuous lifestyle dedicated to a pursuit of sex and drugs. His sexual escapades ranged from the son of the Argentinian ambassador to the black revue artist Florence Mills.
He finally agreed to marry Princess Marina of Greece in a bid to save his reputation. He died in a plane crash in 1942.
13. King Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor
Edward took the throne in 1936 and abdicated that same year to his younger brother due to his relationship with Wallis Simpson, an American socialite with two divorces. A few months after they married, they went on a tour of Nazi Germany, which fed rumors that he was a Nazi sympathizer.
14. Wild Harry
In his youth, Prince Harry was known as the life of the party. In a recent interview, he revealed that he turned to drinking heavily and using hard drugs in the wake of his mother's death.
At 17, his father King Charles took him to Featherstone Lodge after discovering he had been regularly smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. Harry described the experience as an eye-opener.
15. Princess Beatrice
In 2006, Princess Beatrice was briefly in a relationship with Paolo Liuzzo, an American who was previously charged with assault and battery. That relationship did not last, and she eventually married Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi in July 2020.
16. Zara Phillips
Zara Phillips' husband, Mike Tindall, went to New Zealand with the English rugby team. After celebrating a win, they went to a dwarf tossing club. The public did not appreciate this action, and it caused a huge uproar.
17. Queen Elizabeth's First Cousins
Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were first cousins of Queen Elizabeth II. Initial reports that the two girls had died in 1940 and 1961 were found to be untrue. Instead, both were placed in the Royal Earlswood Hospital for mentally disabled people in 1941. It's believed the royal family tried to cover up the girls' existence.
18. King Charles III's Affair with Camilla Parker
Years after his marriage to Princess Diana, she admitted that there were in fact three individuals in the marriage: Charles, herself, and Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles met Camilla in 1970 and had relations with her throughout his marriage to Diana. He married Camilla in 2005.
19. Muhammad Al-Fayed Blames the Royals
After the death of Princess Diana, Muhammad Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi was also killed in the crash, accused the crown of her premature death. He believed the royal family wanted to get rid of her.
20. The Duke of Edinburgh's Comments
Prince Philip was criticized for certain racist comments he made in the 80s. He described Beijing as "ghastly" and asked an indigenous leader in Australia if they still threw spears at each other. His legacy is muddied by a decades-long history of problematic and casually racist comments.
21. King Charles Is Related to Dracula
King Charles III is related to Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. Charles is believed to be Vlad's great-grandson 16 times removed through Queen Mary.
22. Prince Harry the Nazi
In 2005, Prince Harry was spotted wearing a Nazi uniform to attend a costume party. In his autobiography *Spare*, he claimed that Prince William and Princess Catherine actually pushed him to wear the controversial costume. Harry apologized, saying it was one of the biggest mistakes in his life.
23. King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII's reign is remembered for his six wives and his legendary appetite. He sent two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, to their deaths on the executioner's block. His desire for a male heir led him to break from Rome and install himself as the head of the Church of England.
24. Richard III
King Richard III was the last Yorkist king of England, whose death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 marked the start of the Tudor age. After his coronation, his young nephews were locked in the Tower of London and never seen again. It has been suggested that Richard ordered their deaths.
25. Fergie
In 1992, Sarah Ferguson, wife of Prince Andrew, found herself at the center of a major scandal. Five months after announcing their separation, she appeared on the front page of tabloids having her toes sucked by her Texas financier lover, John Bryan, while on holiday in Saint-Tropez. The couple finalized their divorce four years later in May 1996.