Love and the Royal Family: A History

People around the world are obsessed with the British Royal family, and for good reason. There are many who still fondly remember the wedding of the late Princess Diana and Charles like it happened yesterday. In a celebrity-driven culture, being a member of the royal family, (and a famous one at that) gives you instant Rockstar status. 

Royals are some of the most scrutinised yet loved people, and royal marriages will always leave people awestruck. Mainly, because it’s the stuff fairy tales are made of. Here we are going to take a quick look at the various hits and misses of Royals in love.

Prince William and Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton and Prince William set hearts aflutter when they got married. The two tied the knot on 29th April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London. Since Prince William is second in the line of succession to the throne, the royal wedding was widely telecast across the globe. People sat glued to their screens watching every move that the Prince and Princess made. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been in the limelight ever since. While their fairytale marriage was seen by millions, few really know the backstory of how it all started.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that women can do sneaky things for the men of their dreams. The author Katie Nichol claimed in her book, ‘But Kate: The Future Queen’ that Kate had originally planned to study at Edinburgh University. That is until she found out that Prince William was going to enrol in St. Andrews the next year.
Apparently, Kate rejected the offer from Edinburgh University and waited a whole year to apply to St. Andrews at the time as Prince William. Kate won the young prince’s heart when she first walked a runway show at St. Andrews and Prince William fell for her beauty – hook, line and sinker. The couple just gave birth to their third child recently.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh took place in November 1947. At the time, Prince Philip was serving in the British Royal Navy. And Princess Elizabeth was just 21 years of age. After the war, Philip was given permission to take Princess Elizabeth’s hand in marriage by her father King George VI. After the marriage, Philip gave up his Danish and Greek royal titles and became a naturalized British subject, and would later become a British prince in 1957.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana

Undoubtedly, one of the most widely watched marriages in modern history was of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles. The wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and the Prince of Wales was held on 29th July 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Widely billed as a fairytale wedding, an estimated 750 million watched the ceremony as it was televised live.
The Prince had made quite a reputation for absconding with damsels in the kingdom. Once he turned 30, he found himself under a different sort of pressure. This time the queen thought it a good time for the prince to finally get married and settle down, and hence the search for a wife who was appropriate and had malleable qualities began.
The Prince of Wales had known Diana for many years well before the proposal. Apparently, Diana was taken by the Prince’s Polo skills during a country weekend. There’s a nice little story of how Diana accidentally spilt her favourite perfume, Quelques Fleurs, on her wedding dress just minutes before the service and had covered the stain with her hand throughout the marriage ceremony.

Prince William and Isabella Calthorpe

Before Prince William ever thought he’d be walking down the aisle with Kate, there was another woman who played a big part in his life. While William and Kate were dating, they went through a brief breakup. During this time when they were apart, the prince was seen with model and actress, Isabella Calthorpe, multiple times. She was a real beauty and had her heels firmly in the fashion industry.
So, we’re not blaming William for falling for her looks. William’s friends also supported the blooming relationship between the two, but the hearts and flowers ended rather abruptly when Isabella made it known to William that a romance between the two was not on the menu.
Not long after the two’s breakup, William crawled back to Kate, who is no slouch in the looks department. All’s well that ends well!

Prince Charles and…His Mistress

While married to Princess Diana, The Princess of Wales, Charles found himself smack in the middle of a scandal. The revelation came about after a series of transcripts from some very private phone calls between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles were leaked.
These tapes surfaced in 1992 and sparked a controversy which was at the time rather lazily named, “Camillagate.” Unlike the name, the stories of this unusual relationship went viral, leaving many a man, scratching their heads and exclaiming, “So, he (Prince Charles) left Diana…for that!”
To which all we can say is, love is truly blind and sometimes, a year older.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Sorry, it could be bad luck to end this article talking about an affair. So, here’s another fairytale wedding in the works.
The story of Prince Harry, the youngest son of the Late Princess Diana, and Meghan Markle’s relationship emerged a little over a year ago and has brought the Royals in the spotlight again. Harry hasn’t always had the cleanest of reputations in the Royal family. But being associated with Meghan has certainly made a darling of the people again. The royal wedding is slated for 19 May 2018, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.