Royal weddings: The biggest controversies to mark royal weddings over the years including Camilla’s appearance at the marriage of Charles and Diana and Thomas Markle at Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding

The countdown is on until the late Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Peter Phillips marries for the second time.

Phillips, 48, will wed Harriet Sperling on June 6 in a private ceremony at All Saints Church in the Cotswolds town of Cirencester, which is close to Gatcombe Park, where he grew up and still lives on an estate owned by his mother.

Whether the ceremony goes off without a hitch or attracts attention for the wrong reasons, like his previous wedding, remains to be seen. It wouldn’t be the first royal wedding to do so – here are 10 memorable controversies.

Prince Harry and Meghan

When Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to marry Prince Harry on May 19, 2018, the very act was steeped in controversy.

Meghan was a US-born actress who had already been married and divorced once before.

Adding to the controversy was the fact it was King Charles who escorted her to the waiting groom and not her father, as is the custom.

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While Kensington Palace announced two weeks before the big day that Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, would walk his daughter down the aisle, a scandal over photos published in British newspaper The Mail on Sunday derailed those plans.

The paparazzi-style photos, taken in his adopted home of Mexico, showed Markle getting fitted for a suit, exercising, reading a book about Britain and looking up stories about his daughter in an internet cafe.

It soon emerged the photos had been staged by Markle. He later admitted he did so to portray himself in a better light after previous paparazzi photographs showed him looking dishevelled.

But the damage was done, and after Markle revealed he had suffered a series of heart attacks, resulting in surgery, it was announced he would not attend the wedding after all.

It was left to then-Prince Charles to accompany Meghan down the aisle.

However, it was not the only controversy to mark the day.

It later emerged Meghan had argued with Catherine over Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress, and the Queen reportedly also clashed with her grandson and his bride-to-be over wedding details, including her choice of tiara and the fact Meghan opted to wear white, despite having been married before.

Then there was the wedding itself, with members of the royal family looking dismayed during a 14-minute sermon by a visiting US bishop.

No wonder Prince Philip allegedly turned to Queen Elizabeth as they exited St George’s Chapel and exclaimed, “Thank f— that’s over”.

Prince Charles and Camilla

The wedding of a divorced heir to the throne to a woman who had also been married and divorced was always going to attract controversy.

The road to the altar for Charles and Camilla was a long one, and some wondered if a wedding would ever take place.

To start with, there were the circumstances surrounding their relationship. The couple first met in 1970 and dated for two years before Charles was deployed as part of his naval career.

With Charles away, Camilla married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and welcomed two children, Tom and Laura, before their relationship was rekindled.

It reportedly continued up until Charles’ marriage to Diana Spencer in 1982.

Princess Diana famously implicated Camilla in the demise of their marriage, which officially ended in 1996 – just one year before Diana died in a car crash in Paris.

While this left Charles not only divorced but essentially widowed, the road to matrimony was still rocky, with the late Queen and the Church of England opposed to their union before finally relenting.

They wed on April 9, 2005, but instead of the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding, they were forced to marry in a civil ceremony at the Guildhall, Windsor.

His mother, Queen Elizabeth, and father, Prince Philip, skipped the ceremony but did attend a service of prayer and dedication at Windsor Castle, later that day, which famously saw the newly-married couple recite a prayer in which they professed their “manifold sins and wickedness” – hardly the stuff of fairytales.

Prince Charles and Diana

When Prince Charles wed Lady Diana Spencer on July 29, 1981, outwardly there was no sign it was anything other than a fairytale wedding between the heir to the throne and the virginal English rose.

Fast forward a decade and it was clear the marriage was anything but, thanks to tales of infidelity on both sides.

But in the lead-up to the day and even on the day itself, the cracks were already there.

Diana had learned in the days before the wedding that Charles had been carrying on his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, even intercepting a gift he had bought for her – a custom-made bracelet engraved with the letters ‘G’ and ‘F’, code for “Gladys” and “Fred”, the names they used for each other.

Andrew Morton wrote in Diana: Her True Story that Diana confronted Charles about the bracelet days before the wedding, but he maintained it was a parting gift. Diana told Morton she considered calling off the wedding, but felt it was “too late”.

Instead, as she walked down the aisle on what should have been the happiest day of her life, there in the crowd was Camilla.

Diana later described in recordings she gave to Morton that she scanned the pews looking for her: “Walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale grey, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all”.

She said the moment she spotted Camilla was “seared” in the memory and she had felt like she was a “lamb to the slaughter” as she walked down the aisle.

Eagle-eyed fans also spotted Camilla in St Paul’s Cathedral. While Diana described her outfit as pale grey, it appears white in some photos.

Of course, the marriage was a disaster. In her 1995 interview with the BBC’s Panorama, she said of the union, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” 

Princess Anne and Timothy Laurence

When Princess Anne sought permission from her mother to marry for a second time, she was initially met with opposition.

With the Church of England strictly forbidding remarriage of divorced individuals while a former spouse was alive, and her mother the official head of the church, it appeared there was no way Queen Elizabeth could allow her only daughter to carry out her plans.

After all, Anne had only just finalised her divorce from first husband Mark Phillips in 1992 – the same year she asked permission to wed Timothy Laurence, the Queen’s former equerry.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Having refused to allow her sister, Princess Margaret, to marry her true love, Peter Townsend, decades earlier, it was decided Anne and Timothy could marry, just not in the Church of England her mother led.

Instead, on December 12, 1992, Princess Anne and Laurence travelled to Scotland where they were married in a small, private ceremony in Crathie Kirk – where the royal family attend Mass whenever they are staying in Balmoral.

Being part of the Church of Scotland, rules surrounding remarriage were not as strict, which also paved the way for the Queen and Prince Philip to attend.

Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly

When Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips married Autumn Kelly at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 17, 2008, there was no controversy in the lead-up to the big day.

In fact, the day itself went off without a hitch.

But three days later, the shoe dropped when Hello! magazine published a 100-page wedding spread featuring 59 photos, including 10 photos of the late Queen, some of them candid.

There was one problem: no one had bothered to ask permission before inking the deal, which was reportedly worth $935,000.

The Telegraph reported the late Queen was not consulted about the magazine deal.

A British MP, Ian Gibson, even said of her inclusion in the spread, “She is the Queen, not a footballer’s wife”.

Royal expert Simon Vigar said in 2024 documentary Meghan: Where Did It All Go Wrong?, the “controversial and unusual” move to sell photos of a royal wedding to the press “went down like a lead balloon with many members of the royal family”.

The palace and the Queen herself were reportedly furious after being “blindsided”. As a result, she banned other members of the royal family from agreeing to such a deal in future.

Prince Albert of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock

The 2011 wedding of Prince Albert II to South African-born swimmer Charlene Wittstock was the subject of controversy after the bride-to-be reportedly tried to flee the principality in the days before the wedding, then openly wept throughout the ceremony.

In the days before the wedding, which took place over two days, French media reported Charlene tried to leave Monaco after allegedly discovering Albert had fathered yet another child during their relationship.

Multiple news outlets reported Charlene made her way to Nice Airport, from where she planned to fly to South Africa, but was intercepted by palace officials. It is alleged her passport was confiscated, leaving her no way to leave the country.

When the big days finally came – the couple wed in a civil ceremony in the Throne Room of the Prince’s Palace on July 1 ahead of a religious ceremony the next day – the new Crown Princess of Monaco looked visibly emotional, even wiping away tears.

Charlene later admitted in an interview with The Times they were not tears of joy.

“Everything was just so overwhelming and there were all the mixed emotions because of the rumours, and obviously the tension built up and I burst into tears,” she said.

The rumours only intensified when it was revealed they spent their honeymoon in separate hotels, with the Prince admitting as such to The Times, while citing “practical reasons”.

The couple went on to welcome twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, on December 10, 2014.

In the decade since, rumours have continued to swirl about the state of the marriage, with the Princess spending vast amounts of time away from Monaco, reportedly as a result of ill health, and even missing their 10th wedding anniversary in 2021.

She sought treatment in a Swiss facility for exhaustion for four months, before finally returning to Monaco in 2022.

Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist

When Prince Carl Philip of Sweden wed former model and reality TV star Sofia Hellqvist, on June 13, 2015, there was opposition to the union.

The couple met by chance through mutual friends in a restaurant in 2009, and faced stiff opposition to the relationship after it became public in 2010.

Hellqvist, who at 20 appeared in photos in the Swedish men’s magazine Slitz wearing only a bikini bottom and draped with a boa constrictor, was named Miss Slitz 2004. She later appeared on Swedish reality TV show Paradise Hotel – similar to Love Island.

It was her past, and penchant for tattoos, that caused a backlash from the Swedish public.

In a 2018 interview with TV4, Sofia discussed the “enormous hate storm” she encountered “from people who had opinions about me as a person, about my relationship”.

“I was surprised, and it definitely affected me. I didn’t understand that people had such [a] need to express how badly they felt about me. It was very tough.”

In time, the public reaction to Princess Sofia, as she was known after their marriage, began to soften.

The couple, who are now parents to four children, founded the Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia’s Foundation to combat bullying.

In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, she completed a three-day emergency online training course and began volunteering at a Stockholm hospital to support “doctors and nurses through kitchen shifts, disinfecting instruments and cleaning”.

In December 2025, it was revealed Sofia had met Jeffrey Epstein while living in New York in 2005. Emails released in January as part of the so-called Epstein Files found she was invited to his island, but the Swedish royal court said she declined the invitation.

Princess Martha Louise and Durek Verrett

When Norway’s Princess Martha Louise married Durek Verrett during a lavish three-day ceremony in 2024, the union attracted much controversy.

Martha Louise, who is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne after her younger brother, Crown Prince Haakon, and his two children, had been married once before to Ari Behn, with whom she shared three daughters. The couple divorced in 2017 – two years before he died by suicide.

Princess Martha Louise moved on with Verrett, a self-described shaman who sold medallions to ward off COVID during the pandemic.

The Princess got into hot water when she embarked on a speaking tour with Verrett, entitled ‘The Princess and the Shaman’.

She later agreed to stop using the title of ‘princess’ in her work, but was later accused of breaching this agreement. 

The couple announced their engagement in June 2022 and she stepped down from official royal duties that November – ahead of their wedding on August 31, 2024.

Their decision to sell photos of the day to Hello! angered the Norwegian media and public. Their standing got worse after they took part in a Netflix documentary, Royal Rebels.

According to a survey by Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, in September 2025, 71 per cent of Norwegians want the Princess stripped of her title and place in the line of succession.

Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway faced his own controversy when he decided to marry Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, a commoner and single mother with a wild past.

They started dating in 1999 after being introduced by mutual friends and became engaged just six months later.

By then, the Norwegian press had discovered Mette-Marit’s past, which included wild partying, drug use and a then-toddler son, Marius Borg Høiby, from a previous relationship with a man convicted of drug offences.

In 2001, the couple fronted a press conference to deal with the bad press.

“My youth rebellion was much stronger than many others,” Mette-Marit said according to the BBC.

“That resulted in me living quite a wild life. It was a costly experience for me, that I took a long time to get over. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I condemn drugs. I cannot make these choices again, even though I would wish I could.”

Days later, the couple married on August 25, 2001. They went on to have two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

Public opinion of Mette-Marit, who became Crown Princess on her marriage, did improve but in recent times has taken a tumble, with a poll conducted this year finding 44 per cent of respondents did not support her becoming Queen.

This is in part as a result of her eldest son’s arrest.

Marius has since been accused of drug and sex offences including the rape of former girlfriends.

He is currently being held in prison in Oslo as he waits to learn his fate.

Mette-Marit, who suffers from the serious lung condition pulmonary fibrosis, was also found to have had close links with Jeffrey Epstein.

Prince Michael of Kent and Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz

The 1978 marriage of Prince Michael of Kent to Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz sparked controversy and even a change to the British line of succession.

The son of Prince George, the Duke of Kent, grew up around royalty as the grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, and first cousin of the future Queen Elizabeth II.

As a member of the British royal family, and 16th in line to the throne, his choice of wife was therefore important. However, he decided to give up his claim to the throne when he married Marie-Christine, who was a Roman Catholic divorcée.

Marie-Christine married English banker Thomas Troubridge in 1971 but they separated two years later. They were divorced in 1977 and their marriage was annulled in 1978.

One month later, she and Prince Michael married in a civil ceremony at a city hall in Austria.

While she was given the style and title of Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent, her husband gave up his right to the throne.

However, this was later reinstated following the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which ended the practice of male primogeniture and lifted the ban on anyone in the line of succession from marrying a Catholic.

Five years after their wedding, their marriage received a Catholic blessing.

Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson

Perhaps the most controversial of all the modern-day royal weddings is that of the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson.

The eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary was destined to be king and acceded to the throne following the death of his father on January 20, 1936.

But the reign of King Edward VIII was short, just 327 days, after he abdicated the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who was still married to her second husband at the time he became King.

Edward signed the instruments of abdication on December 10, 1936, paving the way for his younger brother, Albert, to become King George VI.

Thereafter styled the Duke of Windsor, he married Simpson in France on June 3, 1937. They were together until his death in 1972, having lived most of the time in Paris, where she died in 1986.

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