Royals Who Were Anything But Traditional

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Here in the U.S., there is an intense fascination with the British royal family — but there's plenty of criticism as well. One of the most persistent criticisms of the royal family in recent years is their reticence to change, and their staunch adherence to tradition. The New York Times notes that even in the days after Princess Diana's death in 1997, "...the palace — preoccupied by protocol, precedent and duty — maintained a frozen silence...For a handful of deluded days after her death, they clung obstinately to their principles of remoteness and privacy behind the gates of their Scottish castle, while popular anger grew."

Despite this long-standing reluctance to embrace change and modernity, there have been royal rebels in every recent generation. In earlier years, those acts of rebellion came with an immense negative impact that rippled through the royal family for decades. And, as it turns out, many members of the royal family have had some less-than-traditional inclinations buried beneath the layers of royal protocol and duty.

Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth's younger sister, also ran into trouble surrounding the royal marriage rules. Margaret fell in love with Peter Townsend, a war hero who worked in the palace. Townsend was, however, a commoner — and a divorcé.  "Their mutual fondness became public at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, when photographs showed...[Townsend] and the Princess beaming at each other and laughing," wrote The New York Times. The romance "captured the public's imagination," but because Margaret was third in line for the throne, she was forbidden from marrying a divorcé.

"Queen Elizabeth was required to give permission for the marriage under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772," according to the BBC magazine, "and under pressure from the government and the Church of England...she refused. Instead Margaret and Townsend were told to wait two years until she was 25 and able, under the Act, to choose for herself." 

When the two years were up, the two still wished to marry, but Elizabeth again denied them permission. While history is divided over what happened next — according to popular legend, Elizabeth was resolute, but the BBC reported that documents in the British National Archives indicate that Elizabeth was working with Parliament to amend the Act — Margaret and Townsend announced, in 1955, that they had ended their relationship. Margaret and Townsend both eventually married other people, but Margaret, according to The New York Times, "is believed to have always considered...Townsend to be the great love of her life." 

Charles reportedly loves being outdoors in the countryside, which is just the slightest bit incongruent with the luxury of life as a monarch. "Paradoxes dot the life of a man who moves in rarified circles but is most at ease in the countryside, where he spends hours weeding and tending to hedges. If he hadn't been born into the royal family, 'he would have been a farmer,'" the author of a recent Prince Charles biography, Sally Bedell Smith, told the Wall Street Journal. 

Charles has also broken tradition by being outspoken on matters of public policy, especially those surrounding environmental conservation, sustainability, and climate change. "It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything — until, that is, it comes to climate science," he said during the inaugural awards ceremony for the Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize.

Recently the Queen has passed more duties and activities to Charles, and while he is "unlikely to step aside in favor of Prince William, his reign would depart in some respects from his mother's," notes the Wall Street Journal. "'He speaks differently, he's more comfortable speaking off the cuff and he's more inclined to show his emotions obviously publicly than the Queen is,' [Smith] says. He also is willing to reveal an informal streak and 'wear silly hats that the Queen would never have worn, or virtual-reality glasses.'"

Described by the UK's Country Life magazine as "kindly, empathetic and irreverent," Zara (Phillips) Tindall — daughter of Anne, Princess Royal — is also an accomplished equestrienne. Following in her mother's footsteps, she competed for Team GB in the 2012 London Olympics and won a silver medal with the eventing team, according to CNN. Her July 2011 wedding to former England rugby captain Mike Tindall was the "other royal wedding" that year, and CBS News notes that it was "a low-key affair, with only a hint of the glamour and excitement of Prince William's show-stopping nuptials in April." 

In another break with tradition, she kept her maiden name — which, according to the BBC, set a royal precedent. "Even when they marry commoners, Royal brides have always adopted the family name of their partners," the BBC noted, saying that her decision appeared to be "based on the fact she wants to preserve her sporting persona and business interests. The former equestrian world champion is known throughout the sport as Zara Phillips and she has signed a number of deals which help fund her sporting [career]." She continued to use her maiden name until 2016, according to The Times, when she took her husband's surname and became Zara Tindall.

William and Kate have also followed in Diana's footsteps by speaking openly about mental health issues. With Harry, the three royals founded Heads Together, a charity "partnership with inspiring charities with decades of experience in tackling stigma, raising awareness, and providing vital help for people with mental health challenges" that "aims to change the national conversation on mental health and wellbeing."

As part of that effort, they've vowed to change the royals' notorious "stiff upper lip" approach to life. In an interview with CALMzine, the magazine of Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a British mental health organization, William said, "For too long there has been a taboo about talking about some important issues. If you were anxious; it's because you were weak. If you couldn't cope with whatever life threw at you, it's because you were failing. Successful, strong people don't suffer like that, do they? But of course — we all do. It's just that few of us speak about it... There may be a time and a place for the 'Stiff upper lip', but not at the expense of your health."

Adding to that, William and Kate have reportedly worked hard to ensure that they are active, present parents in their children's lives, and that they don't emulate the cold, distant parenting practices of the pre-Diana monarchy. "Catherine and I are clear that we want both George and Charlotte to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings," William told CALMzine.

Each person listed here, from Edward to William, has rebelled or pushed against tradition in their own way. Some of these effects have been negative — Edward's abdication was nothing short of traumatizing for both the monarchy and for England — and others, like William, Harry, and Kate's efforts to bring awareness to mental health, have been resoundingly positive. Nonetheless, the rebellious royals' efforts to bring about a seismic change in royal protocol appear to be working.