The Royal Family seems to have it all — even dark secrets! From Prince William's wandering
eye to the savage death of the Queen's prized pet, these are the skeletons in the closet the
family wishes the public didn't know about. Due to the popularity of Queen Elizabeth II, few
questioned what she did with her money. The queen, in turn, was highly secretive when it came to her
finances. However, the royal family is paid for by the public through the Sovereign Grant. It's
often been reported that the institution costs the British taxpayer around £102 million a year.
The anti-monarchy organization Republic, however, has long argued that the true cost
of the firm is far greater than this. When taking into account revenue from security,
merchandise, and businesses, the monarchy actually sets the British taxpayer back
£345 million. But it seems that even this figure doesn't represent the true wealth of the royals.
In 2021, The Guardian revealed that the queen had lobbied parliament to prevent her private wealth
from being made public. The British monarch began lobbying in 1973 when the government introduced
transparency legislation to company shareholdings, as she apparently felt it would be humiliating for
the public to know the extent of her private riches. Utilizing a parliamentary procedure
dubbed Queen's Consent, she was successful in her campaign to implement the change, which would make
heads of state exempt from the legislation. In order to protect the public, the U.K.
government has implemented legislation that requires anyone over the age of 70 to renew
their driving license. Despite both being in their 90s, however, Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip continued to drive. In 2019, a then 97-year-old Philip was involved in a
car crash near Sandringham. After apparently being dazzled by the sun, Philip crashed his
Land Rover into another vehicle, which was occupied by two women and a baby, before his
car went spinning and rolling along the road. Although Philip left the crash unscathed, the
two women had to be hospitalized due to cuts and broken bones. Thankfully, the baby was unharmed.
Philip faced backlash for continuing to drive in his late 90s. Moreover,
he began driving again just two days after the crash. Emma Fairweather,
who broke her wrist in the accident, told This Morning that the prince should
be liable for prosecution, and also slammed him for continuing to drive.
"It's highly insensitive."
He eventually apologized, which Fairweather accepted,
though she disputed his claims that the blazing sun was responsible for the crash,
telling The Mirror that it was, in fact, an overcast day. The Crown Prosecution Service
decided not to prosecute Philip, which led to accusations of preferential treatment.
Although Queen Elizabeth II was revered for being the U.K.'s longest reigning monarch,
it was a twist of fate that led to her holding this esteemed title. Her father,
King George VI, was crowned in 1936 after his brother, King Edward VIII,
abdicated to marry the woman he loved, American two-time divorcée Wallis Simpson.
Following his abdication, Edward had a bitter falling out with the rest of
the royal family and essentially became a pariah. He and Simpson settled in France
before the outbreak of WWII and also traveled to Germany, where they mingled with Hitler.
"Berlin. Huge crowds greeted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor,
and they were especially welcomed by Doctor Lyle, the Reich's organization manager."
Simpson, in particular, was known for her Nazi sympathies, so the couple's
meeting with Hitler understandably enraged the British government.
It's been alleged that Edward shared his lover's Nazi sympathies. For instance,
he strongly believed that the allies had no chance of winning the war,
suggesting that Britain should instead acquiesce to Germany. According to classified documents,
it was Edward's belief that he would thereafter be reinstated as King of
England with the help of Hermann Göring, a powerful figure in the Nazi Party.
Historian Andrew Lownie, who penned the book Traitor King, told Vanity Fair that
Edward was a Nazi collaborator, rather than an unsuspecting victim of the axis. Lownie explained:
"He saw a concentration camp. He inspected the SS. [...] He must have seen even
before the war there were all sorts of terrible things going on. I don't think
he could have had any misconception about what the Nazis were about."
Prince Harry has long been perceived as a royal rebel, a rabble rouser disrupting the House of
Windsor's status quo. As such, he's attracted much media scrutiny, while his brother, William,
has often been perceived as the virtuous prince. In contrast to the arguable vitriol
faced by Harry and Meghan, William and Catherine have long been perceived as the squeaky clean,
upstanding royal couple. Branding expert Eric Schiffer told Business Insider:
"They were manicured to the nth degree. And played their public persona with a Buckingham
Palace excellence, out of the playbook that's been mastered for centuries."
However, William's reputation is not as pristine as his PR team would have us believe. For years,
he has been dogged by rumors of an affair with Rose Hanbury,
Marchioness of Cholmondeley. In 2020, it was reported that Catherine was feuding with Hanbury,
and was seeking to cut her out of her life. A source dished to The Sun:
"It is well known that Kate and Rose have had a terrible falling out."
Allegedly, William and Catherine attempted to prevent the British press from publishing
the story. Moreover, there are allegations that William has a wandering eye. In 2007,
it was reported that Catherine was intensely jealous of William's alleged flirtatious
dalliances with a woman named Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. And in 2017,
William left his wife and kids at home to go on a bros' ski vacation,
where he was snapped cavorting suggestively with women in a nightclub.
Much has been made of Prince Andrew's friendship with pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. In
his now-infamous interview with the BBC, Andrew insisted that he had long broken
off his friendship with Epstein, and also downplayed the extent of their closeness.
"But you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender."
"It was a convenient place to stay."
In a testament to their familiarity, however, Epstein once saved the Duke's
family from financial hardship. In 2011, it was reported that Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson,
Duchess of York, accepted the financial aid of Epstein when she found herself riddled
with debt. Andrew allegedly pleaded with Epstein to help get his wife out of debt. Subsequently,
the shady financier gave Fergie £15,000 to settle a debt with her ex-personal assistant,
Johnny O'Sullivan. According to The Telegraph, Ferguson allegedly told a friend:
"The Duke and Jeffrey, they want to do this so badly."
Following the revelations, Fergie told the Evening Standard that she deeply regretted
ever getting involved with Epstein. She admitted:
"I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein
became involved in any way with me. I abhor pedophilia and any sexual
abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf."
However, she also noted the positive outcome of her deal with the pedophile financier. Thanks
to Epstein's loan, she confessed that she was free from debt for the first time in her life.
In 1979, Prince Philip's cousin and King Charles III's mentor, Lord Louis Mountbatten,
was killed in an IRA bombing. Although tributes poured in for Mountbatten and he was awarded a
grand funeral procession, an alleged darker side to the seemingly benevolent war hero was later
exposed. In 2019, unearthed FBI documents revealed that Mountbatten was allegedly a pedophile.
As reported by The Times, the FBI dossier described the royal and his wife, Edwina,
as "persons of extremely low morals," noting the former's supposed "perversion for young
boys." Indeed, Mountbatten himself once admitted that he and his wife, quote,
"spent all our married lives getting into other people's beds," according
to author Philip Ziegler’s 1985 book Mountbatten: The Official Biography.
Andrew Lownie, who wrote a book exposing Mountbatten's apparent pedophilia,
condemned the government for seemingly refusing to discuss the aristocrat's alleged sex trafficking
of young boys from Kincora House, a children's home in Ireland. In 2022, Arthur Smyth, a former
resident of Kincora House, claimed that he was sexually abused by Mountbatten when he was just
11 or 12. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Smyth said that he was frequently trafficked to London,
where Mountbatten sexually assaulted him, though he only identified the aristocrat as
his abuser after seeing news coverage of his death. Smyth told the outlet:
"You don't forget who abused you. Trust me. You block it out but you don't forget."
Smyth is currently pursuing legal action against the authorities for
ignoring widespread abuse at Kincora House.
Scandal beset the royal family in 2017 when it was revealed that they were utilizing various
dodgy loopholes to avoid paying taxes. It was reported that the queen's private wealth was
being invested in offshore tax havens through the Duchy of Lancaster. Among the companies the duchy
invested in was the rent-to-own firm BrightHouse, which has faced accusations of exploiting the poor
by offering high-credit loans for essential everyday items such as washing machines.
Moreover, King Charles, who owns the Duchy of Cornwall,
has not paid any corporation tax on the £762 million estate. Subsequently, politicians
called for Charles to pay his fair share of tax in 2013. While speaking to the BBC, Charles'
rep noted that the King does pay a voluntary income tax of 50%, explaining to the outlet:
"The Duchy is not a company and is not therefore liable to pay corporation tax."
When Queen Elizabeth died in 2022, the royal family came under fire once again for not being
liable for inheritance tax. In the U.K., all beneficiaries must pay taxes of 40% on estates
worth over £325,000. However, despite the queen being worth over $400 million, Charles was not
liable for any inheritance tax due to government policy that exempts royals from having to pay.
Despite being the loyal husband who always stood by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip allegedly had a
wild side to him. There have long been allegations that he engaged in extramarital affairs,
comparable to similar accusations against his son, Charles, and grandson, William.
One of Philip's earliest known alleged affairs was with the British actor Pat Kirkwood. Philip
reportedly became romantically involved with Kirkwood in 1948, when Elizabeth was
heavily pregnant with Charles. The prince wrote several romantic letters to his alleged lover.
Despite helping the nation through the blitz, Kirkwood was never honored by the queen — she
attributed this to rumors of the affair and subsequently blamed Philip for ruining her life.
According to the book Prince Philip Revealed, the Duke of Edinburgh had
doubts about marrying Elizabeth. At the time, he was allegedly having an affair with author
Daphne du Maurier. When Philip told his rumored lover that he wanted to stay with
her rather than wed Elizabeth, du Maurier convinced him to return to his fiancée.
Another of Philip's alleged mistresses was nightclub hostess Hélène Cordet Foufounis.
In her book Elizabeth, royal biographer Sarah Bradford claims that the queen deliberately
ignored her husband's affair with Foufounis and numerous other women, believing that
preserving the sanctity of the firm was more important than her husband's wandering eye.
From Henry VIII hunting wild boar to the queen's dad killing 60 tigers and rhinos in Nepal,
hunting has long been a royal tradition. One of the most avid hunters in the modern royal
family is Prince William. Indeed, Princess Diana once famously nicknamed her sons "Killer Wales."
Like his father, William has been active in conservationist causes. In 2014,
for instance, he campaigned against illegal wildlife hunting. But just
one day before launching the campaign, he had been on a trip to hunt wild boar,
leading to widespread condemnation. The BBC's royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell,
argued that the timing of the hunt was bizarre, but noted that it was entirely
legal. Two years later, William caused further outrage when, in an interview with ITV News,
he argued that so-called ethical trophy hunting could be utilized for conservationist efforts.
"There is a place for commercial hunting in Africa, as there is around the world."
William went on to add:
"The argument for regulated properly controlled commercial hunting is that the money that goes
from shooting a very old infirm animal goes back into the protection of the other species."
The charity Lion Aid condemned William,
highlighting that there's no such thing as ethical trophy hunting when there exist less
than 15,000 lions in Africa. Writing for the Daily Mail, Piers Morgan also slammed William,
branding the would-be conservationist a hypocrite for his avowed penchant for hunting.
It's no secret that King Charles and Princess Diana had an acrimonious marriage blighted by
infidelity. But in addition to his years-long extramarital affair with
Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles was allegedly an emotionally abusive husband to Diana.
When Diana got engaged, she was just 19, while Charles was 32. The future princess was at an
impressionable age. Subsequently, as she revealed in a recording,
she suffered from an eating disorder, which was exacerbated by her allegedly body-shaming husband.
In the lead-up to her wedding, an increasingly anxious Diana lost an alarming amount of weight.
Moreover, her illness was reportedly worsened by Charles' affair with Camilla. For instance,
the night before her wedding, Diana found a bracelet that her fiancé had bought his mistress,
leading to her making herself sick. Turning her pain into a positive,
Diana would later go on to advocate for mental health awareness, encouraging
numerous women to seek help for the ailments from which she suffered. As her biographer,
Andrew Morton, explained in his book Diana: Her True Story — in Her Own Words,
"Whatever happens to her personally, it must be heartening for her to know
that thousands of women have gone for help as a result of the publicity."
Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was an esteemed humanitarian.
During WWII, she saved a Jewish family from the Holocaust and has since been honored as
Righteous Among the Nations in Israel. While Philip's mother may have abhorred the Nazis,
his sisters did not follow in her footsteps.
Unfortunately, all but one of Philip's sisters ended up marrying Nazis. The Duke of
Edinburgh's eldest sister, Margarita, married Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg,
and the couple joined the Nazi Party in 1937. That year, Philip's middle sister, Cécilie,
and her husband, Georg Donatus, followed suit in pledging their allegiance to the Nazis. Meanwhile,
Philip's youngest sister, Sophie, married Prince Christoph of Hesse.
The pair were friendly with Hermann Göring and even went on to meet Hilter,
whom Sophie admired despite distancing herself from Naziism later in life.
Although his sisters harbored Nazi sympathies, Philip did not share their views. In fact,
he actually fought against his SS officer brother-in-law, Christoph,
in WWII. Moreover, in 1994, he became the first British royal to visit Israel.
Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie of Wessex, are arguably the most media shy of the Windsor
royals. Perhaps this is because the couple learned their lesson after a PR disaster in
2001. In an infamous tabloid sting, Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter for the
now-defunct News of the World tabloid, met with Sophie for an apparent business meeting. Mahmood
pretended to be a sheik recruiting Sophie for a business deal. Sophie acquiesced despite
Queen Elizabeth's staunch and avowed opposition to royals exploiting their titles for financial gain.
The countess ended up causing immense embarrassment to the royal family when
she began insulting its various members. For instance, she joked that people deemed Charles
an eccentric "quack," though she went on to praise him for his innovative ideas. Thereafter,
she lamented that Charles would be unable to marry Camilla for as long as the Queen Mother
were alive. She also insulted the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his wife, exclaiming,
"He's ignorant of the countryside. His wife
is even worse, she hates the countryside. She hates it!"
Moreover, she threw shade at the nation's beloved queen, calling her the "old dear," according to
the BBC. Although the palace denied that Sophie had insulted the royals and Blair family,
she did offer an apology, which gave credence to the News of the World's claims. Following
the scandal, Sophie and Edward decided to give up their business interests.
Queen Elizabeth was famed for her love of corgis. From her childhood to her
final years in the public eye, her beloved pups were always by her side.
"Well, the queen will be remembered for many things
including her overwhelming love for corgis."
Tragically, it took her daughter's savage pooch to destroy the equanimity of her
furry family. Princess Anne typically keeps a low profile, but she generated headlines
in 2003 when it was revealed that her bull terrier, Florence, killed her mother's corgi,
Pharos. Both Florence and Anne's other terrier, Dotty, were known for their violent tendencies.
Tragically, Pharos was savaged and had to be put to sleep. This left Elizabeth, who was looking
forward to spending Christmas with Pharos, in severe distress. An insider told The Sun:
"His death has left her deeply saddened. Everyone knows what
the Queen's corgis mean to her. They are loyal, faithful and cherished.
The incident has certainly put a damper on the Christmas holiday."
The insider added that the queen already had to contend with a difficult year,
with Pharos' death being the most tragic punctuation of the year. Queen Elizabeth
had longed for her daughter to follow in her footsteps and adopt a corgi,
but ever the rebel, Anne opted for terriers, once declaring, according to The Evening Standard,
"This will give the Palace corgis a run for their money."
Florence was spared being put to death and was instead ordered to see a pup psychologist.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).