Why did Princess Diana have to curtsey to her kids?
How much did the Duchess of York get after her divorce?
And why wouldn't the Queen attend her own son's wedding?!
Here's what really happens when royals get divorced!
One of the nicest perks about marrying into the royal family is receiving your very own
royal title.
For instance, when the former Diana Spencer married Prince Charles, she became known as
"Her Royal Highness, Princess of Wales."
And when Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew, she became known as "Her Royal Highness, Duchess
of York."
The new titles announced that the brides were now an official part of the royal family with
all the status and privileges that come with royalty.
But, if your royal marriage fizzles, so can your right to hold on to your royal title.
Staying on the queen's good side, however, can offer some protection.
When Charles and Diana called it quits, the queen was reportedly happy to let Diana keep
her title, but Charles was not.
As a result, a compromise was struck, and Charles' ex would continue to be known as
"Diana, Princess of Wales," but she was no longer entitled to the honorific "Her Royal
Highness."
When Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson officially split, a similar compromise was struck, but
there was a catch.
For both Diana and Sarah, their titles would be rescinded if they ever remarried.
Not all royal divorces are created equal.
You could walk away with a generous settlement, as Princess Diana did following her divorce
from Prince Charles.
Or you might literally lose your head, which tragically happened to both Anne Boleyn and
Catherine Howard, the second and fifth wives of King Henry VIII.
If you split from the royal family today, you'll likely walk away with your life, but
how much you walk away with depends on several factors.
Specifically, how the queen feels about you is incredibly important, as the monarch has
the power to ban royal titles and rescind any privilege.
After Diana and Charles divorced, the princess received a generous financial settlement.
The queen also allowed Diana to keep her apartment in Kensington Palace for the sake of Princes
William and Harry.
Diana was also apparently allowed to use other royal resources with the queen's explicit
permission, reportedly because the queen recognized Diana's public popularity and its benefits
to the royal family.
While the queen can't expressly forbid royal couples from divorcing anymore, monarchs historically
had much more power.
For instance, in the 1890s, when divorce was still considered scandalous, Queen Victoria
forbade her daughter, Princess Victoria, from ending an arranged marriage.
It was only after the queen's death in 1901 that the unhappy couple was finally able to
divorce, despite there being some very public rumors about the groom's sexuality, per HistoryExtra.
Judging by the dizzying number of divorces in the royal family in recent years, including
three of the queen's four children, it's clear that the monarch is no longer in a position
to force couples to stay together.
However, the queen has been known to get involved in difficult circumstances, such as when Charles
and Diana were trying to hold their unhappy marriage together for the sake of appearances.
After an escalating series of very public scandals, including some unforgettable television
interviews with the royals, the queen asked Charles and Diana to end everyone's misery
and just get divorced.
Public relations experts say that a wise strategy to use when public figures get divorced, especially
when a person is at fault, is to be transparent and just fess up.
By doing so, the experts say, it's possible to fend off rumors and speculation and earn
some sympathy points for being accountable and honest.
And no institution understands the benefits of fending off rumors and speculation better
than Britain's royal family, whose members are not only born with silver spoons in their
mouths but cameras and recorders trained on their every move.
So, when it comes to the awkward and sad matter of disclosing the end of a marriage, the royal
family recognizes the need to come clean.
As a result, divorce announcements for high-ranking royals always come from high places.
Case in point, Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1992 separation was officially announced
by then-Prime Minister John Major.
"Their royal highnesses have no plans to divorce, and their constitutional positions are unaffected."
Meanwhile, the breakup of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips was announced by Buckingham
Palace.
The problem with marrying into power is that it's never really yours, and your spouse is
just letting you share it.
Two prominent former royals, Princess Diana and Sarah, Duchess of York, learned this the
hard way.
When they divorced their royal husbands, they not only lost their marriages, but they forwent
the right to be addressed as "Her Royal Highness."
This had a very real impact on how both women would live their lives and relate to their
former in-laws.
By royal tradition, an "HRH" honorific bestows very real privileges, one of which is the
obligation of everyone outside the royal family to bow or curtsy to you.
For Diana, losing her title meant that she was technically required to curtsy to all
of her former in-laws, including her children.
But at least one of her children realized the unfairness of the situation.
According to Andrew Morton in his book, "Diana: In Pursuit of Love," a 14-year-old Prince
William allegedly told his mother,
"Don't worry, Mummy.
I will give [the title] back to you one day when I am king."
Marrying a divorced person means accepting that person's history and baggage.
And if you marry a divorced royal, you not only marry into wealth and privilege, but
you also get the dubious privilege of living in the shadow of your spouse's ex.
Additionally, your eventual rank and treatment often depends on how well-liked the ex was.
Take Camilla Parker Bowles, now known as the Duchess of Cornwall, for example.
Following in the footsteps of the globally-loved Princess Diana, Camilla had to navigate a
public-relations minefield when her romance with Charles became public.
"Well there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
Because the Church of England frowns upon remarriage after divorce, Camilla and Charles
were officially married in a civil ceremony in 2005 instead.
As the head of the Church of England, the queen decided not to attend her son's wedding,
only attending a private "blessing" after the ceremony had already taken place.
It would seem that the queen wanted to manage public opinion above all else when it came
to her son's admittedly messy love life.
Then there was the question of Camilla's new title as Prince Charles' wife.
According to the Express, a 2015 poll showed that 55% of the British public did not feel
she should become queen when Charles ascends to the throne.
Divorce may be fairly commonplace in the royal family now, but it's still not taken lightly,
especially among higher-ranking royals.
Public image still matters, as does setting an example for one's subjects.
Thus, when royal marriages start to go south, immediately bailing is rarely an option.
Instead, couples are reportedly urged to power through, work things out, or at the very least,
keep a stiff upper lip and make the best of a bad situation.
In an interview with the BBC, Princess Diana recalled the emotional pressure of keeping
up the public appearance of a unified front as her relationship with Prince Charles fell
apart.
"My husband and I had to keep everything together because we didn't want to disappoint the public,
and yet obviously there was a lot of anxiety going on within our four walls."
Despite the couple's obvious unhappiness, a sense of duty seemingly compelled them to
stay together.
In fact, they didn't separate until 1992, over a decade after their 1981 wedding.
Plus, Charles and Diana's divorce wasn't finalized until 1996, when the queen recognized their
fractious relationship was doing the royal family's reputation more harm than good.
"And she realized blood was thicker than water, the royal family would stick together."
Similarly, when Sarah, Duchess of York, divorced Prince Andrew in 1996, the dissolution of
their marriage followed a similar template.
They, too, remained separated for four years before officially divorcing, per Town & Country.
The only hard-and-fast rule to royal alimony after divorce is that there are no rules.
Even King Henry VIII offered an amicable and generous settlement to his fourth wife, Anne
of Cleves, and she lived out the rest of her life comfortably as the "King's sister," according
to History.com.
It would appear that making yourself indispensable to the royal family's reputation is a smart
move during any separation or divorce.
Because of her popularity, and her status as the mother of a future king, Princess Diana
was given a generous cash settlement of $22.5 million upon her divorce from Prince Charles.
And according to The New York Times, she was also awarded $600,000 a year to maintain her
private office, as well as access to the royal family's private planes for official travel
and some of their properties for entertaining.
In contrast, Sarah, Duchess of York, did not fare so well in her divorce from Prince Andrew.
She'd allegedly made the strategic error of alienating the royal family prior to her split,
so her settlement amounted to a mere £600,000, or $836,952, according to the Mirror.
"You fell in love and you married the man and then you've got to come to terms with
the fairytale.
Now, it's not a fairytale, it's real life in there."
Divorce has long been a touchy subject for the royal family, and until recently, being
romantically associated with a divorcee was cause for scandal.
This is because, as the head of the Church of England, the queen is obliged to honor
the church's edicts.
Until 2002, the Church of England forbade remarriage after divorce, so it simply wouldn't
do for a monarch to be seen condoning divorce, especially within the royal family.
This restriction has led to much heartache in the royal family.
For instance, King Edward VIII chose to abdicate the throne to marry divorced American Wallis
Simpson.
And early in Queen Elizabeth II's reign, she forbade her younger sister, Princess Margaret,
from marrying divorced royal staffer Peter Townsend.
The royal family's prohibitions on divorce have loosened, with Meghan Markle's first
marriage being a non-issue in her marriage to Prince Harry.
However, divorced royals reportedly still feel obliged to keep a low profile when remarrying.
For example, Prince Charles married his long-time mistress and fellow divorcee Camilla Parker
Bowles in a private civil ceremony instead of in church, even though the Church of England
allowed second marriages by then.
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