Cheating scandals, assault allegations, and bribes caught on camera. Prince Harry isn't
the only member of the royal family to reveal a little too much on television.
King Charles III, then just known as Prince Charles,
announced his engagement to Diana Spencer in 1981. The couple shared
the news while speaking to the press and later answered questions about their relationship.
Charles foreshadowed the couple's tumultuous marriage after he and
Diana were asked a simple question about if they considered themselves to be "in love."
While Diana simply responded, "Of course," Charles' response was much more ambiguous.
"Whatever in love means." "Yes."
Diana later reflected on the moment, and unsurprisingly,
she wasn't all that fond of Charles' statement. In the docuseries "Diana:
In Her Own Words," which featured real recordings of the late princess, she revealed,
Some might say that Charles and Diana's marriage troubles were obvious by the time they embarked
on their trip to South Korea in 1992. Many suspected that the marriage was on the rocks,
and tabloids were cluttered with rumors of an affair between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Charles addressed the speculation head-on during the 1994 ITV documentary, "Charles:
The Private Man, the Public Role." When asked if he had been loyal to his wife,
Charles responded that he was – to a point.
"Until it became irretrievably broken down."
As his relationship with Camilla was more or less an open secret,
it's perhaps not surprising that Charles was so quick to confess his infidelity. Still, hearing
a senior member of the royal family admit to having an affair was jarring, if not unprecedented
Diana later confirmed that she had also been unfaithful during her marriage to Charles. The
late princess shared the shocking detail in her 1995 BBC interview with journalist
Martin Bashir. Discussing her affair with British Army officer James Hewitt, Diana stated simply,
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made many jaw-dropping revelations in their 2021
interview with Oprah Winfrey. One of the most shocking elements of the interview
regarded the racism Meghan and their son, Archie, allegedly faced within the royal
family. Namely, the couple stunned audiences when they revealed that a
member of the royal family had allegedly discussed Archie's skin tone with them.
"And also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."
The couple didn't share which family member allegedly discussed Archie's skin color. However,
the book "Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate,
Harry and Meghan" by Christopher Andersen alleged that King Charles
had made similar comments in the past. King Charles has denied these claims.
In 2010, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, made headlines after she was the
target of a sting operation conducted by the tabloid newspaper News of the World.
The scandal unfolded after Ferguson offered a so-called businessman access to her ex-husband,
Prince Andrew, in exchange for over $600,000. The "businessman" was actually an undercover reporter,
and according to News of the World, the Duchess of York gladly accepted money in exchange for
access to Andrew. In a recording shared by News of the World, Ferguson could be heard saying,
Ferguson reflected on the scandal in an interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Discussing her hesitation to watch the video recording of the sting, Ferguson explained,
"I haven't faced the devil in the face because I was in the gutter at that moment."
During her interview with Oprah,
Ferguson claimed that she may have been drinking prior to the incident.
Princess Diana dropped several bombshells in her 1995 interview on BBC's "Panorama" about
her marriage to Charles and her life as a royal. Journalist Martin Bashir has since
been scrutinized for manipulating Diana into agreeing to the revealing interview.
But regardless of the circumstances, the late princess left no topic untouched in
the jaw-dropping TV special. She famously spoke about Charles's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
When asked if the affair had influenced the end of her marriage, Diana responded,
"Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
Diana's sons have mixed feelings about their mother's interview. In
an episode of the Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan," Harry said,
"I think we all now know that she was deceived into giving the interview,
but at the same time she spoke the truth of her experience."
Meanwhile, Prince William said in a statement via Kensington Palace,
"The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse."
During her "Panorama" interview, Princess Diana also discussed the physical reaction she had to
her husband's affair, during which she reportedly developed bulimia. The princess revealed,
"You inflict it upon yourself because your self esteem is at a low ebb,
and you don't think you're worthy or valuable."
When asked what had caused her eating disorder, Diana responded,
While promoting his memoir "Spare," Prince Harry sat down for an interview
on "60 Minutes." The prince likely shocked audiences after he went into
detail about his reaction to the death of his mother, Princess Diana. He also noted
that bystanders at the funeral appeared more emotional than he was. In reflection,
he shared that he was in a state of deep denial that his mother was really gone.
"I just refused to accept that she was gone. Part of, you know,
she would never do this to us. But also, part of, maybe this is all part of a plan."
Harry revealed that he clung to the idea that his mother was still alive, and that she was
simply hiding away from the pressures of her life as a public figure. According to Harry,
his brother Prince William shared "similar thoughts" about the situation. The Duke of
Sussex also revealed that, when he was 20, he requested to see the police report for
the car accident that caused his mother's death. When asked why he made this decision,
Harry responded that he was seeking proof that she was in the car at all.
Elaborating further, Harry emotionally revealed that he wanted to know more about the
circumstances of his mother's accident, including who had chased her car through the tunnel.
"And proof that the very paparazzi that chased her into the tunnel were the ones
that were taking photographs of her lying half dead on the backseat of the car."
During her interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan memorably addressed claims that she
had once brought the future Princess of Wales to tears while planning her
wedding to Harry. In the interview, Meghan claimed that it was actually
Catherine who brought her to tears, and that she'd even apologized for it..
"But she owned it, and she apologized and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing."
Meghan also revealed that she was shocked to see tabloid reports alleging that she was the
one who had made Kate cry. Acknowledging that the disagreement was related to the
dresses the flower girls wore at the royal wedding, Meghan noted,
"I don't think it's fair to her to get into the details of that,
because she apologized. And I've forgiven her."
Prince Harry later confirmed the fallout in his memoir,
revealing that the Duchess of Cambridge privately said,
"It made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings."
Prince Andrew's 2019 "Newsnight" interview, which aired on the BBC, was so damaging to his
reputation that it led to him stepping down from his public responsibilities. During the interview,
Andrew shared details of his controversial friendship with convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019.
"It would be a considerable stretch to say that he was a very, very close friend."
Elaborating on his relationship with Epstein, the prince explained,
"He had the most extraordinary ability to bring extraordinary people together."
During the interview, the prince denied meeting Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's alleged sex
trafficking victims. Giuffre later filed a lawsuit against Andrew, alleging that she was sexually
abused by the prince when she was just 17. When questioned about the allegations, Andrew claimed,
"I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady."
Despite the prince's claim of innocence, he was photographed with his alleged victim in 2001.
In her CBS interview with Oprah, Meghan Markle outlined how difficult things really got during
her time as a working member of the royal family. The Duchess of Sussex
even revealed that she dealt with suicidal thoughts during her time as a senior royal,
which she had confessed to her husband Prince Harry.
"I just didn't want to be alive anymore."
Harry and Meghan spoke about the difficult time in their Netflix docuseries, "Harry and Meghan."
"I was devastated. I knew she was struggling. We were both struggling."
The couple also opened up about a miscarriage Meghan had in July 2020. Referring to a lawsuit
involving the couple and MailOnline's parent company, Associated Newspapers, Harry alleged,
"I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the Mail did."
During his "60 Minutes" interview, Prince Harry explained that he's
willing to make amends despite everything that's transpired between him and the rest
of the royal family. When asked about a potential reconciliation, he responded,
"The ball is very much in their court."
Harry even suggested that he was willing to make amends, and apologize
to his family if necessary. However, he also shared some conditions of his own.
"But every time we ask that question, no one's telling us
the specifics or anything. There needs to be a constructive conversation."
At the time of his "60 Minutes" interview in January 2023, Harry still wasn't speaking to his
brother or his father. While Harry might hope that the royals will be one big happy family again,
they might not feel the same way. According to an anonymous source, Harry's tell-all memoir,
"Spare," shocked the royal family to a grave extent. As the source told Harper's Bazaar,