A timeline of British royal sagas and scandals in recent decades 

Former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the United Kingdom’s King Charles II, was released by police on Thursday after being arrested and held for several hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office over his links to convicted late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 the day of his arrest, is the first British royal in more than 350 years to be arrested and held in police custody – the last one was King Charles I, who was arrested by parliamentary forces in 1647 and put on trial for high treason.

His princely title was revoked last year over his links to Epstein and allegations that the two men sexually abused Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager in the 1990s. The convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Epstein died by suicide in a United States prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In 2021, Giuffre sued Mountbatten-Windsor for sexual assault. She claimed she had been forced to have sex with him on multiple occasions when she was 17, a minor under US law. Giuffre died by suicide in April last year after reaching a settlement in this case.

When he was still a prince, Mountbatten-Windsor served as the UK’s trade envoy from 2001 to 2011, only stepping down when controversy over his links to Epstein intensified. Throughout his time in the role, he faced persistent criticism over his “party prince” image, his conduct on overseas trips, and the cost of his lavish taxpayer‑funded trips and hospitality.

But Mountbatten-Windsor is far from the first British royal to be engulfed in scandal. In 1936, the monarchy was rocked when King Edward VIII abdicated to marry divorced American Wallis Simpson.

Queen Elizabeth II largely kept the institution steady in the early decades of her reign, but as her children reached adulthood, a new wave of marital crises and personal controversies engulfed the family.

Here is a closer look at some of the major scandals to have roiled the royals and their reputation in recent decades.

1992: Queen Elizabeth’s ‘annus horribilis’

During a speech to mark the 40th anniversary of her accession in November 1992, Queen Elizabeth II described the year as her “annus horribilis”, which is Latin for “horrible year”, following a series of scandals.

Three of her children’s marriages had failed: Then‑Prince of Wales – now King – Charles and Princess Diana separated, as did Mountbatten-Windsor and his wife, Sarah Ferguson. Princess Anne and Mark Phillips got divorced.

In August 1992, while separated but still married to Mountbatten-Windsor, Ferguson was photographed on holiday in the south of France with her American financial adviser John Bryan. Bryan was seen kissing her toes, much to the uproar of the general public.

The same year, a phone call between Diana and her friend, James Gilbey, was leaked and became tabloid fodder. It was believed that the call had been illegally recorded and sold to the media. The intimate and emotional nature of the call led to speculation that Gilbey and Diana were more than friends. On the call, Gilbey called Diana “Squidgy”, and hence the incident became known as “Squidgygate”.

1993: Camillagate

An end to the Queen’s “annus horribilis” was not to be.

Soon after Squidgygate came “Camillagate”. In 1993, the recording of a salacious phone call between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was leaked. The call was from 1989 when Charles and Diana were still married and revealed that Charles and Camilla were in an intimate relationship.

Public anger over the affair endured for years, but Charles and Camilla eventually married in 2005 and remain married today, with Camilla now serving as Queen.

1995: Diana’s Panorama interview

Diana was interviewed by journalist Martin Bashir on the BBC programme Panorama that was broadcast on November 20, 1995.

During the interview, Diana commented on several controversies, including the relationship between Charles and Camilla. About the affair, she said: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” which garnered huge public sympathy. She also spoke openly about her mental health struggles – in particular with the condition bulimia nervosa.

Diana’s candid interview opened the lid on life in the royal family, and she was widely viewed as the “people’s princess” after it was aired.

Following the interview, Queen Elizabeth II recommended that the couple divorce quickly – the marriage was legally dissolved the following year.

The circumstances surrounding the interview came under scrutiny more than 20 years later when Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, alleged that Bashir had used false documents and other dishonest tactics to enlist him to persuade Diana to do the interview.

The BBC appointed a retired senior judge in 2020 to lead an investigation into the matter. A report from the inquiry said Bashir used “deceitful behaviour” and breached BBC rules by mocking up fake bank statements and showing them to Spencer to gain access to the princess.

In 2021, Princes William and Harry – Diana’s now-grown children – issued a strong criticism of the BBC and British media for what they called unethical practices after the investigation concluded.

1997: Death of Diana

Two years after the Panorama interview, the princess died aged 36 in a Paris traffic accident as she and a companion were being pursued by paparazzi photographers.

On August 30, 1997, a group of paparazzi had camped outside the Ritz hotel in Paris in hopes of obtaining shots of Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. The photographers pursued their car to the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, where their driver lost control and crashed. Both Diana and Fayed were killed.

The public outpouring of grief over Diana’s death contrasted sharply with what was seen as stony silence from the royal family in the immediate aftermath. The family, including the queen, was strongly criticised for not quickly appearing in public and failing to lower the flag over Buckingham Palace to half-staff.

2002: Princess Anne’s criminal conviction

In November 2002, Princess Anne, the Queen’s only daughter, pleaded guilty to losing control of her dog, an English bull terrier, who then proceeded to bite two children in Windsor Great Park.

Anne was fined and became the first working royal in modern times to have a criminal record.

2005: Prince Harry’s Nazi costume

Photos of Prince Harry wearing a Nazi armband at a costume party in 2005 caused global outrage and forced him to issue a public apology.

In his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry claimed that his older brother, the now-Prince of Wales William and his then-girlfriend (now wife) Kate Middleton had encouraged the choice of outfit and “howled” with laughter when they saw it.

2020: Megxit

After years of rising tensions with the media, Prince Harry and his wife, the former actor Meghan Markle – now styled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – announced plans to quit their senior royal duties, move part-time to North America, seek financial independence and withdraw from regular media scrutiny.

The couple believed that Meghan’s lack of popularity in the UK was down to the mostly negative media coverage she received from the British press. Rumours were also rife that they clashed with other members of the royal family.

In 2021, the couple appeared on television with Oprah Winfrey, and Harry revealed a rift with his father and brother.

Meghan described feeling so isolated and miserable inside the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts and said a member of the family had voiced “concerns” about the colour of her unborn child’s skin. Markle is half Caucasian and half African American.

The family member was not Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip, Harry clarified, sparking a flurry of speculation about who it could be.

2023: Spare

Harry’s memoir, Spare, laid bare intimate family details – much to the reported horror of the royal family. In one incident, he claimed, William had knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Markle.

In his book, Harry also acknowledged killing 25 people in Afghanistan during his time as an Apache helicopter pilot. He had served in Afghanistan first as a forward air controller in air raids from 2007 to 2008, then flying the attack helicopter between 2012 and 2013.