10 Times Royals Got Caught Crying In Public

Gone are the times when royals felt compelled to put up impenetrable facades of bravado, even in the moments when they didn't feel so tough. Modern-era aristocrats have not just appreciated but embraced public displays of emotion, ushering in a welcome era of honesty. It may seem like one needs to really rack their brain to conjure up an image of someone like the eternally neutral-faced Queen Elizabeth II getting misty-eyed. But believe it or not, there exist many pictures of the late royal tearing up. Unsurprisingly, the queen was not emotionless, just well-seasoned. As royal commentator Victoria Arbiter said, "The best way to avoid criticism is to give away nothing, but it takes a will of steel and many years of practice" (via USA Today).

While there are no diktats that prevent royals from letting their human sides show, it is generally understood that they keep any display of supposed vulnerability to a minimum. Such stoicism has not always proved possible in situations of extreme grief or happiness when their emotions were riding uncontrollably high. These sensitive moments have only contributed to relatability in which the royals are not often described. As royal historian Ed Owens noted, albeit in the context of Princess Catherine's photoshopping debacle, for trust to be established between them and the public, the royals must ensure "that any information they put out there is as true to reality as possible" (via Time). Here are times royals were caught crying in public. 

Princess Diana was not called the people's princess for nothing. She was famed and beloved for her characteristic ability to empathize and engage deeply with humanitarian issues. But her visit to Southport back in 1992, though spurred by a charitable cause, captured public attention for radically different reasons. The Princess of Wales was in the Merseyside town for the opening of Queenscourt Hospice when she underwent a major emotional breakdown in public. Local paper the Southport Visiter detailed Diana's interactions with people outside the hospice before "her eyes filled with tears and she cut short her walkabout, jumping into her waiting car" (via Stand Up For Southport).

One would think that the somber setting of the palliative center might have moved the princess to tears but the press at the time conjectured otherwise. The charity opening had marked Diana's first official engagement after rumors of her impending separation from King Charles III began circulating. Parts of the vividly descriptive biography "Diana: Her True Story" – which contained disturbing details of Diana's alleged suicide attempts — had begun appearing in the media pre-release, which led to wide speculation about her private life around the time she went to Southport. As per The Washington Post, photographers scrambled to get the "Diana crying shot" which was reckoned to be evidence of the princess' fragile emotional state. The tell-all book, written by Andrew Morton with inputs from Diana herself, hit the market soon after the Southport incident. 

Contrary to claims made in the third season of "The Crown" about Queen Elizabeth II's inability to cry over the 1966 Aberfan disaster, the late monarch was photographed getting teary-eyed on more than one occasion during her reign. One such moving picture dates back to 2002 when she attended the Remembrance Day service at Westminster Abbey in honor of military martyrs. The press there captured the perennially stoic-faced queen in a somber state, dressed in all-black with tears streaming down her face. It was notably the first time she was attending the annual holiday without her mother Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who died earlier that same year in March.

The widely popular image has been falsely credited to other solemn events over the years, including Prince Philip's death in 2021 — an incident that inspired more public emotions from Elizabeth. "There have been more times she's been in tears than people recognize or choose to remember," said the queen's biographer Sally Bedell Smith (via USA Today). Nevertheless, the late queen's seeming lack of emotional expression remained a key feature of her life as a public figure, something royal experts attribute to her upbringing and sense of propriety as the head of state. "She is a woman of deep feeling but she works very hard to present an impassive face," Bedell Smith added.

King Frederik X let his emotions flow freely during his swearing-in ceremony as the monarch of Denmark in 2024. As thousands flooded the streets outside Christiansborg Palace to witness the historic moment, the royal premier appeared visibly overwhelmed and, between smiles and waves, could be seen wiping away tears. These sentiments were all but expected, given that Frederik took over from his mother Queen Margrethe II, who, in a surprising turn of events, stepped down from the throne after reigning for 52 years. It marked the first such abdication in nearly 900 years, supposedly brought on by a back surgery Margrethe underwent in 2023. 

"My hope is to become a unifying king of tomorrow. It is a task I have approached all my life," Frederik said in his first official address as king (via The Guardian). Given how rare it was to see a male sovereign put his emotions on candid display, Frederik's reaction to the ascension was widely covered in the press and contrasted with the stoicism of King Charles III's coronation. The Guardian reported that the formal handover was also a highly emotional affair behind closed doors, with Margrethe tearing up while signing her abdication. She served as Denmark's longest-reigning monarch but also its most popular, leading to speculation over the reason behind her premature resignation. There were suggestions that it was a redemptive act for Frederik, who was accused of cheating on his wife.

Prince Archie's birth in 2019 was significant for more reasons than one. For starters, Buckingham Palace had been thoroughly rattled in the run-up to it, overcast by allegations of racism and mental health neglect brought up during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's infamous tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. It also signaled the bittersweet arrival of a royal scion whose prominence within the monarchy would likely be incalculable, given his parents' decision to step away from the crown. But its maximum importance was naturally felt by Meghan and Harry, who were overwhelmed by the birth of their first child after everything that had transpired.

The world caught a glimpse of the emotions involved during a vulnerable moment where Harry broke down while talking about his son at the WellChild Awards in 2019. "Last year when my wife and I attended we knew we were expecting our first child and no one else did at the time, but we did. And I remember ... " He only got so far before his emotions got the better of him and he had to pause to regain his composure. He went on to recount the emotions he and Meghan went through as expectant parents and how the experience of parenthood moved him. Harry and Meghan, who also welcomed Princess Lilibet in 2021, are bringing up their children in the laidback locales of California, away from the eyes of the British press and the ever-volatile palace dynamics. 

It's an emotional moment for any parent to see their child come of age. No matter how blue-blooded they may be, royals are also still human. Queen Mathilde didn't hold back her tears at the official ceremony celebrating her daughter Crown Princess Elisabeth's 18th birthday, which didn't just mark her transition to adulthood but also a key milestone in her inheritance of the Belgian throne, which she could now occupy without a regent. The nationally broadcast event in 2019 was grand, to put it mildly, with the who's who of Belgian royalty, politics, and entertainment in attendance as her father King Philippe presented her with the ceremonial Order of Leopold.   

Amid the sea of dignitaries inside the Royal Palace, Mathilde's appearance was markedly distinct, as cameras captured her getting misty-eyed — presumably more as a mother than a queen watching a future sovereign take the stage. "The country can count on me," Elisabeth said in her first formal address as an adult heir, per the Irish Independent. She also commemorated her parents, who sat in the audience holding hands. "Thanks mama for your presence and your listening ear. Thanks dad for your trust. I know I can always count on you," she said. Elisabeth's ascension to the throne will be a landmark moment for Belgium, which will get its first-ever female monarch. With regard to history-making, Elisabeth takes after Mathilde, who is herself the country's first native-born queen.