Rumors About The British Royal Family That Turned Out To Be True

The British royal family is among the most popular royal families in the world. This means curious eyes are on their every move. This gets in their way just as much as it benefits them. On a positive note, quite a few royals are looked up to and often even influence styles and trends. Conversely, their fame is likely to pressure them to act perfect at all times. Imagine every move you make not only being tracked but also constantly being judged or read into — sounds exhausting. Not just that, rumors are a part of their lives; while some rumors are baseless, others have turned out to be true.

It's not difficult to see why some members of the royal family aren't thrilled with the press. Prince Harry, for instance, is said to have a hateful relationship with the media and has voiced very strong feelings about his views. While speaking at a WIRED virtual conference in 2021 (via Business Insider), he criticized the UK press, saying, "They don't report the news, they create it." He also claimed, "I lost my mother through this self-manufactured rabidness." That said, not all rumors are created out of thin air. Some surface through sources giving scoops, which end up being true. For example, the rumors of King Edward VIII's affair with Wallis Simpson circulated the globe before they were confirmed and he abdicated the throne. Even King Charles III's marital unhappiness with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was speculated before their ultimate divorce. On that note, here are some more rumors that turned out to be true.

Princess Diana and King Charles famously had a tragic marriage, to put it mildly. Thus, her older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale (née Spencer), likely dodged a bullet when she inevitably ended her romance with the future king — but it's wild that they dated in the first place. Though Di's choice to date her sister's ex sounds like a faux pas, Sarah was actually okay with it. She even revealed that she played matchmaker for Diana and Charles. "I introduced them," she said (via The Guardian). "I'm Cupid." 

Charles and Sarah were a thing back in 1977. Not a serious thing, if Sarah is to be believed, but a couple nevertheless. The public was made privy to some details about their relationship from Diana's perspective, as relayed to biographer Andrew Morton. Diana recalled (via Newsweek), "My sister was all over him like a bad rash and I thought: 'God, he must really hate that.'" 

When the press questioned Sarah about her and Charles' relationship, she might have been far more scandalous in her response than what the royal family or the future King would have liked. She told two journalists (via Now To Love), "I wouldn't marry a man I didn't love, whether it was a dustman or the King of England." She added of Charles, "If he asked me I would turn him down." Ouch. That might have really stung because Charles allegedly told Sarah, "You have just done something incredibly stupid."

Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, was known for being a rebel. She even divorced Anthony Armstrong-Jones, which was seriously discouraged in the royal family back in the day. Interestingly, even before Margaret announced her separation from Armstrong-Jones, there were rumors of cheating and unhappiness within her marriage. It got to the point where Armstrong-Jones responded to separation rumors. He told The Times of London (via Vogue), "It is news to me, and I would be the first to know if it were true." He also addressed speculations of him going to New York to keep his distance from Margaret, saying, "There is no question of me trying to hide in New York. I just must be able to work as an ordinary journalist."

Margaret and Armstrong-Jones were said to be a love match. They even shared a common interest: the arts. However, there seemed to be cracks from the beginning. He was an outsider, for starters, and allegedly wasn't thrilled about marrying into royalty. Journalist John Moynihan shared (via The Standard) how he and Armstrong-Jones had the same girlfriend at one point and he "wept on her bare breasts when he revealed that he was dreading getting engaged to 'royalty.'" This might not be the best way to start a marriage.

While married, Margaret and Armstrong-Jones had multiple affairs. That's not all, Armstrong-Jones even fathered a daughter, Polly Fry, outside his marriage. Things reached a boiling point when Margaret's affair with Roddy Llewellyn made it into a tabloid. Pictures of them together in bathing suits on a private island were publicized. At first, Margaret and Armstrong-Jones separated, and it was followed by a divorce.

King Charles and Princess Diana's marriage began on an odd note. After they got engaged, the then-couple gave an interview together wherein the interviewer questioned them about being in love. Sounds like a pretty simple question, especially if one is recently engaged. However, Charles responded with, "Whatever 'in love' means." That should've been the first clue about where their relationship was headed. Their marriage ended up being plagued by affairs, which were even publicized. Nevertheless, the couple stayed together for 15 years.

At that point, Princess Diana was arguably one of the most popular media figures of her time. So, when her marriage was collapsing, it naturally attracted a lot of attention. However, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson's breakup worked in her favor, as it took some attention away from her. She made sure to express her gratitude for this by writing Reynolds a note. In his 2015 memoir, "But Enough About Me," he shared (via People) that once he and Anderson "announced the separation, the press went into high gear." He also said, "Princess Diana sent me a thank you note for keeping her off the cover of People Magazine."

Reynolds' claim of Diana sending him a note wasn't taken seriously until Anderson confirmed that the rumor was, in fact, true. While on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," Anderson was asked about the same, to which she said, "Yes, that's true." To this, host Andy Cohen said, "No way! ... That's incredible."

Duchess Sophie was tricked by a fake sheikh. While this sounds like an opening to a bad joke, no doubt, she had to give up her job in a PR firm because of this. Journalist Mazher Mahmood pretended to be a rich Arab to expose famous people. And, expose he did. Sophie was one of his targets. She gave controversial opinions about a few political figures, to put it lightly. But again, she didn't know Mahmood was recording everything.

When reports of the incident were making the rounds, Buckingham Palace denied the rumors. The palace statement read (via BBC), "All members of the Royal Family risk tittle-tattle, misinformations and – from time to time – wholesale inaccuracy." However, British newspaper editor Peter Wright responded to this by saying that a recording of the conversation exists. He added, "If Buckingham Palace are so certain of their version of events, we suggest they publish the recording in full."

Buckingham Palace allegedly tried to stop the story from coming out. After all, as per The Guardian, she accused Tony Blair of acting like a president and said his wife was "horrid, horrid horrid." She even made a comment on William Hague's appearance, by calling it "deformed." Nevertheless, the rumor was confirmed by Sophie's apology letters to the politicians involved, which were leaked. In the Sophie tapes, Journalist Rebekah Brooks explained what happened. She said (via ITV), "People got a letter with those apologies for a story they hadn't seen and these letters leaked out."

Over the years, there have been several rumors that Prince Harry couldn't escape from. And the list keeps growing, especially since Harry stepped back from the royal family, allowing him to freely share his side of events. One of the rumors was that he had experimented with alcohol and drugs. It was said to be regular, even, per The Guardian. This allegedly resulted in King Charles chastising him by getting him to visit Featherstone Lodge, a treatment center. This was reportedly (via Town & Country) done to "expose him to the dangers of substance abuse." Speaking about the same, former Royal Editor Clive Goodman claimed (via BBC), "His father thought he would benefit from a short, sharp, shock at a rehabilitation centre." A spokesperson also revealed how the family had taken the matter seriously and dealt with it. 

Harry has since confirmed that he used drugs and alcohol in the past. Prince William and Prince Harry were never the same after Diana's death, and Harry admitted to coping with the grief of it all by turning to these substances. In his docuseries "The Me You Can't See," he shared (via People), "I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling." He also confessed how he quickly realized that while he was not drinking on weekdays, he was overcompensating for that on a weekend. He also admitted that he didn't particularly enjoy drinking, but he did it because he "was trying to mask something."

The royal family got caught up in a strange controversy. In 1987, The Sun alleged (via All That's Interesting) that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's nieces (Queen Elizabeth II's cousins), the deaths of Nerissa Bowes-Lyon and Katherine Bowes-Lyon in 1940 and 1961, respectively, were falsely documented in the aristocratic genealogical publication, Burke's Peerage (Nerissa actually died in 1986, and Katherine was still alive at the time of the publication's exposé). People were kept in the dark about Katherine and Nerissa's existence. Meanwhile, they were institutionalized at the Royal Earlswood Hospital because they had developmental disabilities. The media learned that this was common back in the day. "People went into long-stay mentally handicapped hospitals, and to all intents and purposes, they were dead," one interviewee told Thame News at the time.

The rumor of the Bowes-Lyon sisters' false deaths was indirectly confirmed when Buckingham Palace responded to the talks by releasing a statement. The statement said (via The Independent): "We have no comment about it at all. It is a matter for the Bowes-Lyon family." Katherine and Nerissa's niece, Lady Elizabeth Anson, also addressed the matter, claiming, "There was no attempt at a cover-up." She also explained (via Vanity Fair) that her grandmother, Katherine and Nerissa's mother Fenella Bowes-Lyon, "was a very vague person [who] often did not fill out forms completely that Burke's Peerage sent her." A Debrett's editor rebutted, "An oversight like that doesn't happen." 

Princess Margaret was known for being vivacious. Her father, King George VI, explained his relationship with his two daughters by saying (via People), "Lilibet [Queen Elizabeth II] is my pride; Margaret is my joy." This, in a way, encapsulates the essence of their personalities. Case in point, there are some wild stories from Margaret's party days. On the other side of the coin, life wasn't always fair and kind to Margaret. While she did have privileges, she was the Queen's sister after all. This led to much hardship, including having to give up marrying Group Captain Peter Townsend because he was divorced. Then, of course, her marriage to Anthony Armstrong-Jones fell apart.

There were reports, per The Guardian, that Margaret was severely depressed. However, a royal insider allegedly countered this by saying that the condition was "physical rather than mental." On the other hand, royal biographer Sarah Bradford shared (via Irish Times) that during Margaret's unhealthy marriage to Armstrong-Jones, Margaret's friends bugged her room and shared the tape with a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist apparently said, "This lady needs help soon." Reportedly, Margaret even received treatment from Psychiatrist Mark Collins.

Royal biographer Andrew Morton claimed that the royal family took Margaret's struggle with depression lightly. He even went so far as to say that mental health issues were taboo to the royals. In his book "Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters," he wrote (via Woman & Home), "Let's face it, Margaret had depression and in the Royal Family you are not allowed to be depressed." Colin Tennant, a friend of Margaret's, added, "In her circle, you didn't mention the word [depression]." 

Lady Louise Windsor was born with a visible eye condition called esotropia. This is said to be connected with her being born prematurely, as per her mother's explanation. As she grew older and began attending public events, royal observers noticed a gradual change in her appearance. They claimed to have initially noticed it when Louise joined her parents at a racing event.

The observation was even more convincing when Hello! Magazine claimed to receive confirmation of Louise undergoing a "successful eye surgery." The claim was further solidified when Louise's mother, Duchess Sophie, confirmed that Louise's condition was corrected to the Sunday Express, telling the publication (via Now To Love), " ... She's fine now. Her eyesight is perfect." Speaking about how Louise's condition developed, she shared, "Premature babies often have the squints because the eyes are the last thing in the baby package to really be finalised." She added, "Her squint was quite profound when she was tiny and it takes time to correct it. You've got to make sure one eye doesn't become more dominant than the other."

Lady Louise Windsor may have made the list twice, but this one is particularly heartwarming. A few customers allegedly recognized her when she was working a part-time job at a garden center. They were naturally taken aback, given that they came across a royal kid working a regular job. One customer told The Sun, "I couldn't believe it was Lady Louise — I had to look twice." Who can blame the customer for wondering if she was a lookalike? Another customer told the outlet, "The staff seemed to adore her," while another claimed, "She is a really modest and sweet young woman, who is polite and attentive." The visitor added, "She seemed to be loving the job. You'd never imagine the Queen's granddaughter would take on a role working behind a till."

What made patrons do a double-take was eventually confirmed by royal insiders. British author and royal commentator Ingrid Seward complimented Lady Louise, whom she said (via Woman & Home) "rolled her sleeves up and got her hands dirty with a summer job before going to university — just like any other normal teenager." 

Princess Anne is amongst the most reliable British royals, especially considering that she is often said to be "the hardest working royal," per People. However, she has had her share of missteps that became public, too. One of which is Princess Anne's affair drama, which was also touched on in Netflix's "The Crown."

The press speculated that Princess Anne — who was still married to Captain Mark Phillips — had been romantically involved with her former police protection officer, Sergeant Peter Cross. According to Express, The Sun backed their initial reporting of the relationship at the time by saying Anne was "over-familiar" with him. Displaying her sense of humor, Anne apparently called Cross "Mrs. Wallis," likely having Edward VIII's wife, Wallis Simpson in mind, according to Radio Times. In the 2002 documentary, "The Real Princess Anne," royal journalist James Whitaker recalled (via Express), "When this [affair news] came to the bosses ... they freaked out and Peter Cross was moved out very fast indeed." The two allegedly broke it off after talks of their affair spread.

Back when it all unfolded, Anne and Cross refused to comment. However, after two years, Cross came clean about his affair with Princess Anne. This is according to Harry Arnold, who had tipped The Sun about their affair in the first place. So, why confirm the story after two years? Arnold said (via Express) Cross told him, "When you wrote that story I was still married and I couldn't admit it, but yet it was true and I can now tell you that it was true because I am now divorced."