Royal Feuds That Made Us All Uncomfortable

According to Prince Harry, based on interviews following the release of his memoir, "Spare," the greatest enemy to the royal family is the British media. He spoke with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes" and held the British press responsible, in part, for the death of his mother, for exacerbating claims of racism towards the royal family, and for Harry's ongoing feud with his family. Nearing the end of the interview, as a grand finale of sorts, Harry said, "So, ultimately without the British press as part of this, we would probably still be a fairly dysfunctional family like a lot are. But at the heart of it, there is a family without question."

Well, there may be a family at the heart of it, but they're pretty upset now. Allegedly, King Charles III is hoping for reconciliation, especially ahead of his coronation, but Prince William isn't ready for that yet. However, the British press aren't the only antagonist of the royal family, nor is Harry's press tour the first time that tension and feuds within the family have been showcased. Au contraire. There's a long line of good old-fashioned family feuds that are nothing special when one considers any family's tension, but conversely seem extra spicy when we remember that it's the royal family in question. Harry may have aired some dirty laundry, but he is by no means the first royal to get tangled in an argument with a relative. In fact, the list feels endless. 

Among the most salacious of royal contemporary feuds is the ongoing one between Princes William and Harry. Allegedly, things took a turn in November 2018, when Harry and Meghan Markle decided to move away from Kensington Palace and take up residency at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. "The initial plan was for Harry and Meghan to move out of their cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace and into one of the main apartments," an insider explained to The Sun. "But there has been a bit of tension between the brothers."

Things escalated from there. In August 2019,  it was reported that William was concerned after Harry and Meghan's engagement, believing that everything was happening too quickly. Emily Andrews, a correspondent for The Sun, claimed that Harry became very upset with William. "I was told by a number of sources that he went ballistic," Andrews claimed, per Express. "He said, 'you're trying to wreck this relationship before it's even started.'"

Media at this time was speculating that the feud had to do with the two women, and that Meghan and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were the ones fighting. Instead, it was the brothers. "It's actually that William and Harry have had a rift," filmmaker Nick Bullen told Fox News in 2019. Then, of course, Harry's book "Spare" doesn't hold back in discussing the big brawl, where William grabbed Harry and knocked him over onto the dog bowl. Things are not looking good between the brothers.

Meghan Markle was tangled up in yet another feud, this one with her half-sister, Samantha Markle. The sisters have allegedly not seen each other in years, so it wasn't like they were very close to begin with, but Samantha felt very wronged by Meghan's behavior once she became the Duchess of Sussex. In a scathing op-ed for The Sun in January 2020, after Prince Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals, Samantha claimed that Meghan had done damage to the royal family. "Meghan knew the social requirements of joining the Royal Family," Samantha wrote. "She should have asked herself if she was willing and able to behave in accordance with the expectations."

Samantha also claimed that Meghan's behavior hurt their father, Thomas Markle. "She watched the media taunt and torture my dad, never springing to his defense like a true humanitarian would," she added.

But Samantha was also hurt by Harry. In 2017, Harry gave an interview with BBC radio 4 after Meghan spent Christmas with the royal family. "She's done an amazing job, you know it's the family I suppose she's never had," he said (via the Daily Mail). Samantha felt very hurt by that, pointing out that Meghan had a family before she met Harry. "Then we questioned why... why would she be embarrassed about her family, why would you need to set the stage differently," Samantha said. "It was starting to feel like she wasn't reaching out to the family."

Things haven't always been easy between Camilla, Queen Consort, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. Camilla had such a rocky time when she entered the royal family, and frankly, it's pretty obvious why. She was the third wheel in the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and after Diana's death, the public wasn't ready to see Charles with someone new — especially not someone he had been with during his marriage.

Things were completely different for Catherine and Prince William. They were college sweethearts and presented a fresh version of royal romance, without any loose ends from the past or complications. Despite the obvious differences, Camilla was allegedly jealous of Catherine's acceptance by not only the royal family but by the general public. "The truth is, the very sight of Kate made Camilla burn with jealousy from the beginning," a source told OK! Magazine. Camilla was also disdainful, allegedly, of Catherine's middle class heritage and lack of royal pedigree.

There's even a story that when the two women went out for lunch in London in 2011. Camilla tricked Catherine into ordering the foie gras, a controversial meal made of goose or duck liver while the animal is often force-fed. Catherine was heavily scrutinized by the press for her lunch choice. However, as time has gone on, it seems that Camilla and Catherine have grown closer. According to some publications, King Charles III and Camilla have grown especially close with Catherine following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's departure.

The late Queen Elizabeth II and Camilla, Queen Consort, didn't get along for a long time. Since Camilla was the other woman in Charles and Princess Diana's marriage, the queen felt like Camilla put the stability of the relationship in jeopardy. Royal biographer Christopher Andersen told Newsweek in November 2022, "The queen always detested Camilla. The Queen Mother particularly detested Camilla because she was throwing a wrench in the works. Because of Camilla, the monarchy was kind of brought to the brink of destruction."

Camilla was often iced out of events, even after Diana's death. In 1998, the queen refused to attend Charles' 50th birthday party, because Camilla would be there. Something similar happened a few years later. In 2000, there was a big party at Windsor Castle for the Queen Mother's 100th birthday and Camilla was not invited.

Things started to soften for the late queen, and in 2005, Charles and Camilla got married. "It took eight years for Charles to finally convince everybody to accept Camilla as his wife, to convince the queen to allow him to marry Camilla," Andersen told Newsweek. "He had to jump through all those hoops." At long last, at the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II said that she approved of Camilla becoming queen. "It is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service," she said, getting the stamp of approval at last (via CBS News). 

It'll come as no surprise that there was tension between Princess Diana and the then-Camilla Parker Bowles. Even after Prince Charles and Camilla married different people, they remained intertwined. Charles was the godfather to Tom Parker Bowles, son of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles in a clear display of their intent to stay tied together for life on any level possible.

Before Diana and Charles' wedding, Diana and Camilla went out for lunch and the two saw each other frequently, likely because Camilla and Charles liked to socialize in the same circles. This all became much clearer to Diana in hindsight. "I couldn't understand why she kept saying to me, 'Don't push him into doing this, don't do that,'" Diana told Andrew Morton, per E! News. "[Camilla] knew so much about what [Charles] was doing privately ... if we were going to stay at Broadlands, I couldn't understand it. Eventually I worked it all out and found the proof of the pudding and people were willing to talk to me."

Diana became increasingly jealous of Camilla and Charles' bond and was made very uncomfortable by it. Diana confronted Camilla about it at a party where Charles and Camilla had wandered off together. Diana's bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, spoke about the moment on Lorraine in August 2022. "Diana just went up to both of them and said to Camilla, 'Look, please don't treat me like an idiot, I know what's going on,'" Wharfe recalled. That's one feud that makes perfect sense.

For the late Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Princess Margaret, this royal feud began in childhood. (See that, Princes Harry and William? Your sibling rivalry isn't so original after all!) Victoria Arbiter, a royal commentator featured in the documentary "Princess Margaret: Rebel Without A Crown" spoke about their relationship. Elizabeth and Margaret were best friends, without a doubt, but they could also get feisty with each other. "Marion Crawford, their governess, had said they didn't hesitate to argue and fight," Arbiter explained. "Elizabeth apparently had a good left hook whereas Margaret wasn't shy to bite her sister in return."

Their bond was unshakable, but it wasn't without moments of tension, likely prompted also by the fact that they were opposites. Elizabeth was stoic and dutiful, while Margaret was rebellious and headstrong. Andrew Morton, in his book "Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters," wrote: "The two sisters were contradictory and conflicted, butting heads over matters both small and monumental, but they also loved one another." Morton wrote that the two women were in a constant tug-of-war between affection and jealousy.

There's one point worth clarifying, though. "The Crown" made it seem like Elizabeth flatly refused Margaret's wish to marry the divorced Peter Townsend, but in real life, the monarch actually came up with a plan that would allow Margaret to marry him. However, Margaret didn't want to give up certain royal privileges and so it was her choice in the end.

Another intense royal feud was between Prince Philip and his daughter-in-law, Sarah Ferguson. Things started out differently. Philip and Queen Elizabeth II were extremely fond of Fergie; the latter knew how to fly a plane (a huge plus for Philip), plus Fergie had a rambunctious, innocent way of comporting herself that was endearing, both to the royal family and the public. Things changed as Fergie and Prince Andrew's marriage went south. In 1992, she was photographed with boyfriend John Bryan in St. Tropez while he was sucking her toes. The scandal — or chuckles — that this directed towards the royal family created a major shift in how Philip perceived his daughter-in-law.

Fergie spoke to biographer Gyles Brandreth who wrote "The Final Portrait" on the life of Philip. Fergie expressed hurt over the fact that Philip wouldn't even stay in the same room as her. "It was ridiculous," she said. "As soon as I came in through one door, he'd be falling over the corgis to get out of the other. It was very funny. Except, of course, it wasn't." The queen didn't cut Fergie out, but Philip remained consistently avoidant of her. When Brandreth asked him why he didn't mend things with Fergie, Philip replied, "I don't see her because I don't see much point." For Princess Eugenie's 2018 wedding, Fergie and Philip were snapped together in the wedding portraits, per Page Six, marking the first time in 26 years that they were photographed together.