A Chaotic Breakdown of Royal Family Affairs

Welcome to MsMojo, where we’ll be doing a detailed breakdown of every single cheating scandal in the House of Windsor, at least since Elizabeth the Second’s coronation.

Revelations about Prince Andrew over the years have fueled rumors about his infidelities. Turns out, he’s not the only one who’s been unfaithful in the family. Christian monarchs historically have what’s called the divine right of kings, which means only God can judge a monarch. The UK has largely abandoned the idea since the 17th century, but the Royals can still get away with a lot more than regular folk. This includes cheating, which is fairly common, likely because they tend to marry for reasons aside from love. Additionally, the Royals used to encourage taking mistresses until around the 19th century, so it’s not quite as taboo for them as it is for us.

Princess Anne is Elizabeth II’s only daughter, who was first married to horseman Mark Phillips in 1973. In 1985, Phillips ended up cheating on Anne with a New Zealand art teacher named Heather Tonkin. The pair even had a child together, named Felicity, who has supposedly never met her half-siblings. The unfaithfulness was reciprocated by Anne, who was rumored to have had an affair with her bodyguard, Sergeant Peter Cross. He became her bodyguard in 1979, but had to leave the role after a year due to rumors. Another alleged affair of hers was with Commander Timothy Laurence, who became her second husband in 1992. Both of these are discussed in “The Crown,” and she’s still married to Laurence today.

King Charles III married his first wife, Princess Diana, in 1981, 11 years after he first met Camilla Shand. Apparently, it was love at first sight. That didn’t stop them both from marrying other people, with Camilla tying the knot with a Cavalry officer in 1973. Neither of them was happy in their marriages, motivating them to cheat further in the ‘80s. In 1989, Diana confronted Camilla, who responded by saying Diana’s “got everything [she] ever wanted,” and asked “what more does [she] want.” Diana replied, “I want my husband.” Unfortunately, things only deteriorated from there. The two divorced in 1996, and Diana died only a year later. The public was initially opposed to Charles & Camilla’s relationship, but they married in 2005 once tensions cooled.

Diana was, and still is, one of the most cherished royals from recent history. Well, like all humans, she wasn’t perfect and was as faithful to Charles as he was to her. Her first rumored affair was with her bodyguard Barry Mannakee in 1985, who had to be dismissed a year later. Second was with James Hewitt, a cavalry officer she admitted to being romantically involved with in the late 80s. Her most infamous affair was with James Gilbey, which led to the Squidgygate scandal. A phone call between the pair was leaked, with Gilbey calling her “squidge” or “squidgy” 14 times. After Gilbey, there are at least 7 other men she was rumored to be romantically entwined with.

The Duke of Edinburgh was Elizabeth II’s husband from 1947 until he died in 2021. While their marriage was often idolised by the public, there were a handful of cheating rumors during their 7-decade-long marriage. In the 40s, Philip was rumored to be secretly seeing actress Pat Kirkwood. Other figures he was rumored, were Katie Boyle, Hélène Cordet, Merle Oberon, Daphne du Maurier, Princess Alexandra, the Duchess of Abercorn, and Penelope “Penny” Knatchbull. The final affair was covered in “The Crown.” According to royal biographer Sarah Bradford, the Queen was aware of his affairs, but didn’t mind. None were ever confirmed, with all parties denying these affairs, so take them with a grain of salt.

Prince William, the current heir to the British throne, is another widely loved royal. He’s been married to Kate Middleton since 2011, and the pair have since become an iconic couple. There have been no confirmed affairs in their relationship, but there have been whispers that William was sleeping with Rose Hanbury, a peeress and former model. Speculation about this first arose in 2019 and returned in 2022. That’s because DeuxMoi was sent a message saying one of the royal wives doesn’t mind her husband cheating, as long as it doesn’t “become emotional.” Of course, that’s not a reputable source, so it might be entirely untrue.

Before getting into the more recent Prince Andrew revelations, we should take a step back to discuss his marriage to Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson. They married in 1986, and only spent 40 days of the year together in the following five years. In 1992, a huge scandal erupted after Fergie was photographed in a compromising position with her financial advisor, John Bryan. This was only a few months after they’d announced their separation, but they didn’t officially divorce until 1996. If you thought that was bad, just wait until you hear the complicated mess of allegations about Andrew.

The Prince Andrew & Epstein scandal is the second-largest Royal Scandal of the century so far, after Megxit. In 2011, the press discovered Andrew was friends with convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein, who was believed to be a despicable person. There have been multiple accusations against Epstein of trafficking women. They also claimed Andrew was involved, pointing to photos of the victims with Andrew from years ago, alongside the flight logs. To clear his name, Andrew appeared on “Newsnight” to defend himself. The interview was a monumental disaster. Andrew denied all the allegations, alongside expressing no regret for his friendship with a convicted human trafficker. He said he had no memory of taking the photo, and said he broke his friendship with Epstein in 2010.

A 2025 biography called “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York” paints a different picture. It says he met Epstein before 1999, and goes into detail about his intimate relationships. If it’s taken to be true, then he likely cheated on Fergie too many times to count. For example, it states that he once requested 40 women to his hotel in Bangkok. Don’t take these claims as fact; a lot of the sources are dubious. For instance, one claim’s source is a journalist who found out from someone in “Andrew’s circle.” For all we know, that could just be someone who was in the same room as him. Still, there are so many discrepancies in Andrew’s story, it’s highly suspicious. The scandal resulted in his resignation from public roles in 2020. One of his victims also took him to court for his alleged crimes, but it was settled out of court in 2022.

So, it seems the royals get up to a lot more behind the scenes than most expect. It feels like there are more royals involved in cheating scandals than ones who aren’t. Some accusations are more credible than others, and a few probably are solely rumours. It makes complete sense, though, since they rarely marry for love, and they’re constantly under the public eye. Therefore, small interactions can be exaggerated and spiral into gossip. They are royals who descend from William the Conqueror, but they’re ultimately still human and are prone to making mistakes.

Before watching, did you know about all of these, or did you learn something new about the Royal Family? Let us know in the comments section!