The Most Controversial Royal Comments That Caused A Stir

The British royal family is known for having one foot in the present and another in the past. Many royals — including Prince William — are even known for being raised as if they were living hundreds of years ago. In the documentary, "William & Kate: Too Good To Be True?" (via YouTube), royal expert Tom Quinn explained just how antiquated the Prince of Wales' childhood really was: "William's childhood would have been very much as an 18th-century aristocrat's childhood would have been: governesses, nannies, the absolute best of everything. But, also, added to that, he would have been cosseted." Of course, this historic yet doting sort of upbringing wasn't limited to William; King Charles III was said to be raised under similar circumstances, with one of his nannies even losing her job because she refused to cave to his demands for dessert.

Unfortunately, however, with this sort of old-timey privilege comes a definitive lack of modernity when it comes to issues of class, race, and post-colonialism. Older royals, in particular, have been known to make comments reflecting their belief in their blue-blooded superiority. Princess Margaret, for example, was once caught hinting that Elizabeth Taylor — then one of the most successful women in the world — looked "vulgar" in her diamonds, as she didn't have an aristocratic background. Prince Philip's constant gaffes, meanwhile, were arguably even more off-putting. From uncouth words about royal servants to inappropriate paternity jokes, these are some of the royals' most controversial comments ever. 

Sadly, the palace bombing was not the only time that Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother displayed problematic behavior. Over the years, the elder Elizabeth was said to have expressed deeply racist and anti-semitic ideas. The Guardian reports that she once told Woodrow Wyatt that she had "some reservations about Jews." Sir Roy Strong, who served as the director of the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, once relayed some of the elder Elizabeth's controversial royal comments to the Times. Apparently, during a luncheon with the art director, she used a pejorative term for Black people. Strong said, "[T]he Queen Mother leant over me and said, 'Beware the blackamoors.'" He kept this information private for many years, as it was "too awful."

Unfortunately, these comments largely reflected the elder Elizabeth's political views, especially when it came to the issue of independence in the region once known as Rhodesia. During the British colonial era, there was a cruel caste system in place that essentially forced Black locals to work dangerous mining jobs, to the benefit of white settlers. The queen mother supported this brutal and undemocratic system. As reported by The Guardian, one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting alleged that she once said of African colonialism: "Poor darlings; the Africans just don't know how to govern themselves — it's just not their form. What a pity we're not still looking after them." This commentary was racist then and remains so now.

Princess Margaret's faux pas toward Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, was far from being a one-off. The royal was also said to have offended the famous British supermodel, Lesley Lawson, who had been dubbed "Twiggy" due to her slim figure and ability to look androgynous while modeling. The two women met for the first time about six decades ago, just months after Twiggy had been named "The Face of 1966" by the Daily Express. In a 2020 interview with the same outlet, Twiggy recalled that she had been seated next to Margaret at a dinner for Vogue. However, due to royal protocol, the model could not address the princess before being addressed first.

Awkwardly, this resulted in Margaret effectively ignoring Twiggy for almost the entire dinner. After two hours of stewing in this uncomfortable situation, Twiggy said that Margaret finally addressed her: "What's your name?" Apparently, the supermodel replied, "My name's Lesley Hornby, ma'am, but everyone calls me Twiggy." It was then that Margaret made one of her famously controversial royal comments. Twiggy recalled, "She just looked at me and said [in] that [posh] accent again, 'Oh, how unfortunate'. Then she didn't talk to me again. I was mortified."

Prince Philip's comment about Indian engineering was far from being the only time he offended those around him. According to a 1999 report in The Guardian, Philip made an offensive royal comment during a Caribbean music concert in Wales. At the event, the prince was reportedly approached by Eva Fielding-Jackson, a member of the British Deaf Association who was accompanying a group of deaf teenagers to the event. Speaking to the outlet, Fielding-Jackson recalled, "When the duke came along, I stopped him and said 'My group would like to meet you we are the British Deaf Association from Cardiff.'" 

At this point, Fielding-Jackson recounted, Philip gave his offensive reply. "He said 'Deaf? If you are near there' – meaning near the music – 'no wonder you are deaf' and he walked away. He was not joking." This response was not well-received by the deaf teenagers, who were hurt by Philip's uncouth remarks. Seventeen-year-old Neil Roch told The Guardian, "He should have shaken our hands and shown us some respect." Meanwhile, Fielding-Jackson expressed her distaste for Philip's ignorance about the disability, exclaiming, "As if it's our fault we are deaf because we were near the music!"

Although royals are not meant to support political campaigns, they must support the monarch. Unfortunately, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, failed to do so in 2001 when a journalist appeared at her public relations firm, R-JH, posing as a potential client. As reported by The Guardian, what Sophie believed to be a client meeting was actually a tabloid sting, with the journalist recording many of the then-countess' controversial royal remarks. 

Of the many comments caught on tape, one of the most astonishing was the way that Sophie referred to her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II. Per The Guardian, Sophie called Elizabeth "the old dear." She also apparently claimed that King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, would wed as soon as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, passed — referring to the elder Elizabeth as "the old lady." 

Ultimately, these comments were so badly received that Sophie had to abandon her PR firm out of public concern that her professional life represented a conflict of interest with her position as a royal. She permanently left the workforce and has dedicated herself to the work of the crown ever since. 

In 2012, Princess Anne played a major role in bringing the Olympic Games to London. An athlete herself, the princess had competed in the 1976 Olympics, where she rode in the three-day equestrian event. Thus, it was hardly astonishing that, nearly forty years later, she dedicated herself to organizing the games on her own home turf. What did catch some people off-guard, however, was that, at a committee meeting, the princess made one of her father's gaffes. 

According to the ITV documentary "Anne: The Princess Royal at 70," Anne accidentally made a controversial royal comment in front of a whole room of Olympic committee members. Speaking to the documentary makers, the Olympian Sebastian Coe recalled, "I do remember, after a rather long-winded interjection by one of the committee members, she had actually forgotten to turn her microphone off. She managed to mutter the immortal words: 'I think this person is probably the most stupid person in world sport.'" Although this remark was highly inappropriate, Anne did her best to recover from it. Coe remembered, "This echoed around the room and she never flinched. It was as though it never happened, and we just moved on. It's probably one of my favorite moments."

Although King Charles III holds a powerful position, he is not above making the occasional inappropriate comment. According to Prince Harry's memoir "Spare," the king used to joke that he wasn't even Harry's father. The Duke of Sussex wrote, "Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire. He'd always end with a burst of philosophizing ... Who knows if I'm really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I'm even your real father?"

Awkwardly, this comment really hit home for Harry, who was aware of the rumors that he was really Princess Diana's love child. Harry wrote, "He'd laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumor circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy's former lovers: Major James Hewitt." Charles' comments were ultimately hurtful to Harry who claimed that his father's motive for telling that story was "sadism."