A wedding is said to be the happiest day of a person’s life. If that person is royal, however, there are a few extra complications.
The royal world has never been short of scandal and drama, even on wedding days. Here are a few wild moments from the years:
Louis XVI didn’t attend his own wedding:
Louis XVI was not happy that he had to marry Marie Antoinette, both of whom were in their mid-teens at the time. So much so that he didn’t even show up to the wedding! Their wedding took place by proxy in Vienna, and Marie’s older brother Ferdinand had to stand in as the groom at the altar. The pair met for the first time weeks after their wedding when she arrived in Versailles.
Their marriage was not an easy one. Seven years passed before they consummated the marriage, making them the laughing stock of the kingdom.
Henry VIII created a new church so he could divorce his wife
The Church of England was founded with a less-than-holy origin story. King Henry VIII wanted to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon after their union failed to produce a son and he became interested in one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. However, the Catholic Church does not allow divorce. King Henry VIII thus split from the church, built a new one and made himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
King Edward VIII abdicated the throne for love
Britain’s Edward VIII became King in 1936 after his father died. However, he was already in love with an ‘unsuitable’ woman: Wallis Warfield Simpson. Simpson was already married, had previously been divorced and was -gasp- American.
She got divorced but the royal family still could not accept her as an appropriate partner for the King. However, his love for Simpson proved too strong. King Edward abdicated later that same year to be with Simpson, thus causing his descendants to lose their place in line for the throne too.
The pair married in June 1937 but were shunned from the royal family for decades after.
The Queen did not attend Prince Charles and Camilla’s wedding ceremony
Prince Charles and Camilla’s relationship, which continued through his marriage to Princess Diana, was already a massive scandal on its own. Another huge scandal: his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, did not attend their wedding.
The Queen insists that her absence was a sign of her prioritizing her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England over any motherly duties. However, the Queen and Prince Phillip did not approve of Camilla when she first began dating their son, and many reports suggest that disdain continued over the years, adding fuel to the fire.
Sarah Ferguson wasn’t invited to Will and Kate’s wedding
Prince William did not extend an invitation for his highly anticipated wedding to his aunt, Sarah Ferguson.
“It was so difficult because I wanted to be there with my girls and to be getting them dressed and to go as a family,” Ferguson told Oprah. “And also it was so hard because the last bride up that aisle was me.”
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco married her bodyguard
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco fell in love with Daniel Ducruet in 1988. Only problem? He was her bodyguard. The two carried on a relationship in secret, even having two children out of wedlock before marrying in 1995.
However, the pair split a year later after Ducruet was caught on tape having an affair, causing yet another scandal for the family.
Megan Markle only had one family member attend her wedding
Megan Markle’s family has received much coverage ever since her relationship with Prince Harry became public. Many family members went out against her to speak to the press, and created great scandal.
Markle’s father was meant to walk her down the aisle but days before the big day, he was caught staging paparazzi photoshoots to garner positive press about him. As a result, Markle had only one family member by her side for her big day: her mother. Doria Raglan stood proudly as she watched her daughter say ‘I do’.
The Prince of Hanover’s dad skips his wedding
Prince Ernst August married long term girlfriend, Russian designer Ekaterina Malysheva in 2017 without his father, Ernst August Sr., in attendance. In fact, the father did not approve of the nuptials at all.
“The decision was not easy for me because it concerns my son,” August Sr. said to a German newspaper. “But I am constrained to preserve the interests of the House of Hanover and the property, including cultural property, which has been its property for centuries.”
The Prince refused to return an estimated $100 million worth of property he’d been given a decade earlier, causing his father to anger and skip the wedding.
Feature image: Instagram / The Royal Family
