The Royal Family's most controversial friendships are under the spotlight. From
sex offenders to dictators, these associations have caused more than just public outrage.
In 2019, rumors swirled that Prince William was having an affair with Rose Hanbury,
the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. The fact that Hanbury is a family
friend made these rumors all the more scandalous and damaging.
In Touch magazine first ran with the story, alleging that there was enough substance to the
rumor that Princess Catherine confronted him about it. William reportedly brushed it off,
saying that it was nonsense, but since an official statement was never released,
the rumors still haven’t been put to rest.
The gossip account deuxmoi posted a message it received from an anonymous
source who claimed that William's affair is common
knowledge in London's higher circles and that Catherine is well aware of it.
Of course, anonymous sources can't always be trusted. And in an article
Richard Kay wrote for the Daily Mail, he insists that it was all fake news,
stating the reports about Catherine, William, and Hanbury having a falling out were nonsense.
He added that all parties involved contemplated taking legal action
against tabloids publishing stories about the rumored affair but decided against it because,
even though the articles were pretty damaging,
none of them cited substantial evidence to support their claims. The damage is done,
however, and the royals will likely not be seen getting too cozy with Hanbury in the near future.
If you're even slightly interested in the royal family, you would know that Prince Andrew used to
be friends with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This wasn’t a good look for Andrew,
and it certainly did not reflect well on the royal family. Andrew was even implicated in
some of the allegations that were made against Epstein, even though he denied all of them.
In 2022, after failing to make the sex abuse lawsuit against him go away,
the palace announced that the prince had been stripped of his royal and military titles.
What followed was a disastrous interview with BBC, where Andrew discussed his lengthy friendship with
Epstein, which began in 1999 and saw the two men attending several high-profile events together.
It wasn't all business, however, and in the early 2000s, Epstein and Andrew were spotted
holidaying on a yacht, surrounded by several young, topless women,
as detailed by The Guardian. During the infamous BBC interview, the presenter, Emily Maitlis,
asked Andrew if he was regretful of his friendship with Epstein, to which Andrew replied,
"Now? Still not."
He also said that Epstein "conducted himself in a manner unbecoming".
"Unbecoming? He was a sex offender." "Yeah, but I'm sorry,
I'm being polite. In the sense that he was a sex offender."
His lack of obvious concern for Epstein's victims was incredibly
damaging. The interview evoked a slew of bad publicity that was so
overwhelming that Andrew stepped back from his public duties four days after it aired.
Like Prince Andrew, King Charles III was also friends with a sex offender. Jimmy Savile,
described as "one of Britain's most prolific sex
offenders," was close friends with Charles, as reported by GB News.
While we're pretty sure that Jimmy Savile is a name Charles would now rather forget, the Netflix
documentary "Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story" again brought up the subject of their friendship.
Speaking to Times Radio, Rowan Deacon, who directed the documentary, explained that
they used the project to better understand the relationship that Charles had with Savile. The
two friends wrote each other letters throughout their 20-year friendship, the contents of which
usually consisted of discussions on how Charles should handle tricky family or public situations.
According to The Guardian, Charles put so much faith in Savile that he eventually became
somewhat of an unofficial adviser to the Prince. Deacon says the reason Savile was never convicted
was because Charles trusted and respected him. Deacon also insists that the documentary isn’t
"suggesting" that Charles knew of Savile's heinous crimes while they were friends.
When it came to light in 2019 that Prince Andrew invited convicted sex offenders Harvey Weinstein,
Ghislaine Maxwell, and Jeffrey Epstein to his daughter Princess Beatrice's 18th
birthday party in 2006, he came under fire once again for his poor choice of friends.
Ghislaine Maxwell was involved with Jeffrey Epstein; and both were found guilty of sex
trafficking. Harvey Weinstein is serving time in prison for similar crimes as he was
found guilty on multiple accounts of rape and sexual assault in the film industry.
Needless to say, the photograph of the three sex offenders at Beatrice's party
making a comeback wasn't a good look for Andrew. Even though it was taken years ago,
it was proof that he was good friends with these people.
Way back in 1937, while King Edward VIII, who was by then demoted to the Duke of Windsor,
and his wife Wallis Simpson were paying a visit to Germany, Edward wrote a letter to Hitler to
thank him for his hospitality and the "beautiful hours" he and Wallis spent with him at his Berghof
vacation home. This letter was unearthed from the royal archives by historian Alexander Larman,
who told the Mirror that its contents prove that Edward was a fascist, stating,
"If he hadn't been the king, I am sure he would have gone to prison. He was a Nazi sympathizer
to the extent that it complicated his loyalties. His actions, at worst, were purely treasonous."
What's even worse is that Edward reportedly fraternized with various
senior Nazis and even visited one of their concentration camps,
according to the Daily Mail. He also reportedly once said that Hitler was "not a bad chap."
Even though Edward seemed to be a fan of Hitler, the rest of the royal
family wasn't. Larman says that they didn't agree with Edward's visit to the country,
especially not within the first year of Edward's brother King George VI's reign.