Did the Queen have a royal affair of her own?
What about Prince Philip?
Was he innocent?
Charles is a given and Diana too, but did the Netflix show, The Crown, catch all the
sordid affairs of the British royal family over the years since the late Queen Elizabeth
II took the throne in 1953?
Let's find out (and if I have missed any, let me know in the comments)
We'll start with Prince Charles, now King Charles the third, who had many love affairs
before his infamous one with Camilla Parker Bowles even started.
According to royal experts, the Prince had more than 20 relationships over the 13 years
between 1967 and 1980 ( the year he met Diana) who would later become his wife.
His first known girlfriend was Lucia Santa Cruz, daughter of the former Chilean ambassador
to London.
In many ways, Lucia had many things in common with Diana: both were blondes, daughters of
aristocrats and attended a Swiss finishing school.
Ironically it was Lucia who introduced the prince in 1970 to the future love of his life,
Camilla Parker Bowles when she was still single.
It’s believed they began dating shortly after that meeting.
It seemed to be only a short fling at that time, as they parted ways a few months later
when the prince joined the Royal Navy in 1971.
Of course we all know from the Crown, and in general, that they carried on an off-again,
on-again love affair that overlapped with their marriages to Princess Diana and Andrew
Parker Bowles.
Then there was Lady Jane Wellesley, daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington whom Charles
dated in 1973 and 74.
And Diana's sister, Lady Sarah Spencer, with whom he had a brief fling in 1977, but they
split after she told the press about their relationship, apparently telling a reporter
that she wasn't interested in marrying, the heir to the throne.
He also dated a society It girl from the Guinness brewing family named Sabrina, who he once
remarked was the liveliest of his girlfriends.
Charles was said to have dropped her suddenly after nine months, because the Queen was unhappy
with her so-called racy, past.
Then he got a little more serious and proposed to his second cousin and the granddaughter
of Lord Mountbatten, Lady Amanda Knatchbull, The Queen is said to have been keen on the
match, but Amanda turned him down, not wanting to be exposed to the glare of the royal spotlight.
Following that rejection, he tried again and proposed to Anna Oates, a woman known for
her temper; but his quick proposal was also met with rejection.
Seems that Anna didn't like being "ignored" when Charles didn't give her enough attention
while attending the Queen Mother's 80th birthday party.
Anna apparently balked at his rudeness, saying, "I have never been so badly treated in my
life.
You've left me alone all evening and now you will have to continue without me."
(Sounds like she was a prelude to Princess Diana, who has yet to come into the picture.)
A love affair of Charles that is not often mentioned and sooner forgotten by the royal
family was a perky Aussie socialite named, Lady Dale Tryon.
For a period in the 1970s Lady Tryon, and Camilla Parker Bowles were deadly rivals for
the Prince's affections.
While Camilla was the consummate insider who knew how to play the royal game, Dale was
just a talented amateur who committed the cardinal sin of talking about her relationship
with the Prince to the press.
As a consequence, she soon found herself excluded from the royal circle and Camilla took first
place as the royal mistress with whom Charles continued his affair even after his marriage
to Princess Diana.
But if you think that Diana was an innocent in the game of love and marriage affairs,
think again because Princess Diana had her share of dalliances.
Not just Prince Charles was accused of adultery in the marriage after a leaked phone call
between he and Camilla.
Turns out that there was another leaked phone call.
This time between Diana and a close friend by the name of James Gilbey which was published
by The Sun newspaper.
In 1992, The Sun publicly revealed the tapes' existence in an article titled "Squidgygate".
During the calls, Gilbey affectionately called Diana by the names "Squidgy" and "Squidge".
In the conversation, the Princess of Wales expressed concern that she might be pregnant
making the publication of the tapes a highpoint of the media attention which surrounded the
marriage, separation and eventual divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
And James Gilbey wasn't the only man linked to Princess Diana.
Rumors circulated and were never confirmed that she was involved with Barry Mannakee
around 1985.
Mannakee worked as a police officer with the Royal Protection Squad before being assigned
to Princess Diana as a bodyguard.
Palace rumours circulated of an affair between the two of them that ultimately led to his
dismissal from the role a year later.
An affair that was confirmed by Princess Diana herself, was with James Hewitt who she met
at a cocktail party in 1986.
The affair happened at the same time that Prince Charles was widely reported to have
been seeing his former girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles and lasted for five years.
It was said to have left the Princess heartbroken when she later revealed: ‘I was in love
with him.
But I was very let down’.
Hewitt published a tell all book in 1994 called Love and War which must have really hurt.
People have long speculated that Hewitt could be Prince Harry's biological father, but Hewitt
has denied this to be the case.
It was during her separation that Diana had a brief affair with British Pakistani heart
and lung surgeon, Hasnat Khan.
At first Diana managed to keep their affair secret by making late night visits to his
hospital and wearing a disguise on public dates, just like you see in season 5 of The
Crown.
Diana even visited Hasnat's family and in Pakistan and while Diana and Hasnat were clearly
in love, he was undecided about the prospect of marriage so things proceeded on-and-off
until they eventually ended their relationship in July 1997.
Season 5 of the crown also covers her relationship with billionaire playboy Dodi Al Fayed which
started while she was still seeing Hasnat.
fayed was also in a relationship with someone else when they first met; but all of that
ended with the new romance and the subsequent death of Diana and Dodi in a car crash just
a couple of months after they started their affair.
So far I've covered the many affairs of Diana and Charles but they weren't the only royals
to have either had affairs or had rumors about being in affairs during the reign of Elizabeth
II.
First we have Prince Philip who whose rumored affairs were never confirmed, only hinted
at.
Early on in Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth, he was allegedly involved with multiple women.
The Netflix show The Crown delves a bit deeper into these accusations in the earlier episodes,
but the reality of the matter is that nothing was ever confirmed.
In his later years, Prince Philip was rumored to be having an affair with Penelope Knatchbull.
Does that name ring a bell?
She was the wife of Norton Knatchbull, the grandson of Philip's uncle Lord Mountbatten
making her part of the extended royal family; and somewhere in there I am sure related to
Amanda Knatchbull who Charles once dated (as I mentioned earlier).
Bottom line is that Philip denied any alleged infidelity and gave a rather biting answer
when confronted by the Queen: "Good God, woman!
Have you ever stopped to think that for years I've not moved anywhere without a policeman
accompanying me?
How the hell could I have got away with anything like that?"
Which to me is not really a denial at all but you be the judge and let me know what
you think in the comments.
Along with Prince Phillip, there was Princess Margaret whose love life was overall, very
sad.
First, when she was just a teenager, she met Peter Townsend at the age of 14 when he was
interviewed for the position equerry, for the royal household of her father, George
VI.
Their romance began eight years later, when 22-year-old Margaret fell in love with Peter
soon after the death of her father in 1952.
But Peter was a divorced man and Margaret was forbidden to marry him by the church and
the Queen; and we all know how sadly that affected her all of her life.
Margaret indiscriminately had several love affairs including one with a man 17 years
her junior while she was married to Antony Armstrong-Jones (which we saw in Season 3
of The Crown).
And later, after her divorce from Jones, she was allegedly tied to many famous men including
Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.
Nothing was ever confirmed, but a royal family friend once said, "There was a flirtation
going on there, definitely."
Prince Charles isn't the Queen's only child who had an affair and like Charles, the queen's
daughter Princess Anne ended up marrying the person that she cheated with.
Princess Anne cheated during her marriage to Mark Phillips with her mother's equerry,
a man who was employed as an officer of the British royal household by the name of Timothy
Laurence.
After private letters between the two came out, Anne and Mark divorced so Anne and Timothy
could marry, which they did a year later in 1992.
Lastly, and I know you don't want to hear this but even Queen Elizabeth has even been
accused of stepping out.
If you remember, in the first two seasons of The Crown, Queen Elizabeth had a close
friend in her horse racing manager, Lord Porchester nicknamed "Porchie."
In the show, he is depicted as the British monarch's close confidant and perhaps even
a love interest; and that is because there were rumors in real life that circulated just
because she was an avid horse fan.
After The Crown portrayed the relationship of the Queen and Porchie, royal historian
Kate Williams defended her
"I think that the Queen had a very close friendship with Lord Porchester but it was nothing more
than a friendship.
Perhaps in those days, it would be seen stranger for a man and a woman to be good friends than
perhaps it is now," she said.
"But there was nothing more than just being good friends and sharing an interest in horse
training."
Are there any affairs of the royal family that I have missed?
If so, let me know in the comments below and thanks for watching.