Things might be icy between Princes William and Harry, but it's nothing
compared to Prince Andrew’s plot to keep Charles off the throne… with Diana's help.
While Prince William and Prince Harry certainly didn't see eye to eye throughout
their time within the royal family, it was Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan,
Duchess of Sussex, who simply didn't get along from day one. On the surface,
the women have little in common. Kate is one of the most beloved members of the royal
family — a poised, dedicated mom of three who has worked in service to the crown for years.
Meghan, on the other hand, is an American divorcée, a career woman,
an actor, and a vocal advocate who made waves in elementary school when commenting
on gender equality. When Harry and Meghan decided to strike out on their own in the
early moments of their marriage, the cracks between Meghan and Kate became more severe.
Kate and Meghan really got into it over the royal
wedding, with reports at the time claiming that Meghan made Kate cry.
"Are you kidding me? You think I'm gonna make it that easy on you?"
There were rumors of "explosive" fights and confrontations, and Kate even reportedly told
Meghan exactly what she thought of her over the 2018 Christmas holiday.
Meghan famously told Oprah Winfrey that it was Kate who made her cry over the wedding details,
making it clear that these two will simply never get along.
"What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that
not only I didn't do, but that happened to me."
They did unite in grief when Queen Elizabeth II passed,
but we don't think fans will see a reunion anytime soon.
Diana Spencer and King Charles III's marriage, affairs, conflicts, and admissions of infidelity
ravage the headlines even today, and behind closed doors, these two simply did not get along.
Diana was still a teen when then-Prince Charles popped the question, likely due to the pressures
he was feeling to finally tie the knot. The book "Charles at Seventy: Thoughts,
Hopes and Dreams" by royal correspondent Robert Jobson claims the king never wanted to marry Diana
in the first place. In the years that followed the wedding, Charles reportedly expressed to friends:
Jobson even estimated that Diana would "stare at him blankly" in
the lead-up to the wedding when he would explain his royal duties.
When King Charles was an eligible bachelor, it was the unspoken rule that he was to marry a woman
who would not only provide an heir to the throne, but would also be seen as pure and scandal-free.
"You've got to choose somebody very carefully, I think, who could fulfill this particular role."
Camilla Parker Bowles was no such person, and despite Charles' feelings for her,
Queen Elizabeth — and the firm as a whole — made it clear that she was not the woman for the job.
Despite the obvious conflict, Charles and Camilla continued their affair throughout
their individual marriages, and after years of loving each other from afar,
they both got divorced and stepped out into public together. Charles
wanted to marry Camilla, but the queen was simply having none of it.
After Charles confronted his mother about his relationship with Camilla in 1997, Tom Bower,
author of "Rebel Prince: The Power and Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles," wrote that the
queen called Camilla "that wicked woman" and told her son that she wanted "nothing to do
with her." What caused such an extreme response from the queen? Apparently,
she had enjoyed a few martinis and let it rip. According to Bower:
The queen and Camilla finally ended up seeing eye to eye, but not for several more years.
Sarah Ferguson married Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's third child, the now disgraced Prince
Andrew, and was reportedly a favorite in-law of Philip's. Fergie and Philip were said to have
connected over their shared sense of humor, and the young duchess' relationship with the queen
surely strengthened their bond. But when rumors of infidelity and the toe-sucking scandal — involving
a sunbathing Fergie and businessman John Bryan — made headlines, Philip was sickened.
Fergie was at Balmoral with the royals when the scandalous pictures made the front page,
and Philip was said to have thrown the paper in Fergie's face. This
would create a separation between the once close in-laws that even time wouldn't solve.
As noted by Hello! Magazine, the late Duke of Edinburgh was so angered by Fergie's infidelity
and the scandal that ravaged the royal family that he refused to be in the same room with her,
even decades later. On the rare occasion that they did attend a high-profile event,
the discomfort was apparent. Fergie noticeably skipped Philip's funeral
in April 2021 — she did, however, attend the queen's funeral in September 2022
and released a statement expressing her affection for the late monarch.
Before Queen Elizabeth took the throne, her father, King George VI, was the man
in charge. And while he was an admired man who navigated his role to the best of his ability,
King George was never supposed to be a ruling monarch in the first place. His older brother,
King Edward VIII, was first in line to the crown, and he took the throne
in 1936. But his reign would only last a number of months, as he abdicated within
the same calendar year. This caused a rift between the brothers that would change the
course of the monarchy for the foreseeable future, not to mention the family dynamic.
Edward famously gave up the throne so he could marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée who was
not allowed to become a member of the royal family given her prior marriage. As such, Edward threw
caution — and the monarchy — to the wind, forcing his younger brother into an untenable situation.
According to Alexander Larman, author of "The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication":
Of all the members of the royal family, Princess Anne is seen as one of the most
dedicated and hardworking, even to this day. Queen Elizabeth's second eldest child and only daughter,
Anne is quite a distance from the throne in the line of succession, but her sense of
duty and commitment to the royal way of life has been apparent for decades. This was the
crux of her feud with the late Diana Spencer, according to royal biographer Ingrid Seward.
"There's been tales, for instance,
of you and the Princess of Wales not exactly hitting it off. I mean…"
"Yes."
Diana was just 20 years old when she married then-Prince Charles,
the direct heir to the throne. As far as Anne was concerned,
the young Princess of Wales was too soft and subtle to play the royal part. Seward wrote:
According to royal reporter Richard Kay:
"I've come to the conclusion that really it would have been far easier to have two wives."
When Diana Spencer married then-Prince Charles of Wales, the most eligible bachelor was captivated
by Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana was acutely aware of the relationship,
and, as Diana’s former protection officer Ken Wharfe recalled to ITV, she confronted Camilla
about it during a party. Unable to find her husband or Camilla, Diana finally located them
sitting on a sofa. The pair looked up at the then-Princess of Wales, who reportedly said:
Wharfe recalled that Charles and Camilla couldn't quite believe the
princess had plucked up the courage to address the affair, explaining:
Prince Andrew has found himself surrounded by scandal, thanks to his involvement with
Jeffrey Epstein and the since-settled sexual assault case launched against him by accuser
Virginia Giuffre. Charles has reportedly been "furious" over the ongoing controversy,
and his brother's notorious "BBC Newsnight" interview did little to help the situation.
"Do I regret the fact that, that, that he has
quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? Yes."
A friend of the royals told Vanity Fair in
2019 that the brothers couldn't have been more at odds, saying of Charles:
But Andrew didn't come to the battle unarmed. He was said to have plotted
with the late Princess Diana to stop his older brother from becoming king.
A senior royal source revealed to royal biographer Angela Levin:
Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice — who are Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew's children — are
reportedly warring with the Prince and Princess of Wales and the king, as the future of the monarchy
is changing. Charles has famously wanted to narrow the scope of working royals for years,
and has even reportedly considered removing Eugenie and Beatrice's titles. As such,
things are very cold between them, and it doesn't look like there will be a
thaw anytime soon. Royal expert Neil Sean told the Express in the summer of 2022:
Time will tell if Eugenie and Beatrice get to hold onto their royal titles, or if the
new king will strip them of their monikers and continue to condense the royal family.