Four monarchs later, and the House of Windsor stands prominently as one of the most well-known families in the world.
Just over a decade into the newly named house, King Edward VIII caused the major scandal by abdicating from the throne in order to marry his American love, Wallis Simpson.
Undoubtedly, there’s been a lot of controversies surrounding the royal family since the 1930s.
At the time, a twice divorced partner was “unacceptable” as a prospective British monarch, and with no resolution Edward decided to rescind his title.
Following the coronation of George VI, Edward and Simpson moved to Europe in “semi-exile”.
According to Biography, the couple visited Hitler’s country home in the Bavarian Alps, where they had afternoon tea.
On a trip with her parents and sister in 1939, and then 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth visited Dartmouth’s Britannia Royal Navy College.
Elizabeth’s lineage to Victoria is through her father’s side, while Philip is related to Victoria through his mother’s side.
It’s not entirely clear whether Townsend was still married when they began their relationship, but it was his divorce that prevented them from marrying a year later.
While the Queen gave her consent for Margaret’s marriage, the government disapproved of the marriage, and would only allow it if Margaret was stripped of her royal privileges.
One of the most highly publicised was Margaret’s relationship with landscape gardener Roddy Llewellyn, who was 17 years her junior.
Six years into their marriage, rumours began to circulate that Anne was having an affair with her personal bodyguard Detective Sergeant Peter Cross.
Anne’s marriage to Phillips survived this alleged affair, however in 1985 Phillips was linked to New Zealand art teacher Heather Tonkin after the birth of her daughter, Felicity, of whom Phillips was the father.
Anne and Phillips would later divorce in 1992, and Anne would go on to marry Laurence that same year.
This resulted in Anne being the first royal since Princess Victoria, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, to be a remarried divorcee.
In 1981, Prince Charles married Princess Diana in a fairytale wedding that was broadcast all over the world.
Diana claimed that she confronted Parker-Bowles about the affair in 1989, in interview tapes recorded by Andrew Morton for her biography, Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words.
Hewitt wrote of their affair in a 1994 book titled Princess in Love, which detailed their five year relationship.
As a result of the affairs on both sides, plus other issues in their relationship, Charles and Diana announced their separation in 1992.
Prince Philip notably took Diana’s side during the divorce, writing in letters to Diana that “Charles was silly to risk everything with Camilla for a man in his position”.
Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview stirred a lot of controversy for the royal family.
According to a graphic artist working for the BBC at the time, Bashir asked them to produce fake bank statements in order to “gain confidence” from Diana’s brother Earl Spencer so he would introduce Bashir to his sister.
In 1992, royal reporter Andrew Morton published a book detailing the breakdown of the royal couple with Diana’s input.
On August 31, 1997, they were involved in a fatal car crash in Paris as a result of a high-speed pursuit from local paparazzi through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
This was later changed, and the Queen ordered that the flag be flown at half-mast while she attended Diana’s funeral.
Prince Andrew and Ferguson announced their separation on March 19, 1992, mainly as a result of Andrew’s career in the Royal Navy.
There was one moment in particular that captured the media’s attention – when Bryan was seen sucking the Duchess of York’s toes.
Despite separating, the pair have described themselves as “the happiest divorced couple in the world”, remaining good friends and even living at the Royal Lodge in Windsor together.
In 2010, the News of the World revealed that Sarah Ferguson promised an undercover reporter access to Prince Andrew for £500,000.
“I deeply regret Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,” Ferguson said in a statement, describing the payment as a “gigantic error of judgement” on her part.
During an interview on The Meredith Vieria Show, the Duchess of York commented on the association between her ex-husband and Epstein.
However, the royal was often criticised in the media for his choice of people to entertain.
Throughout his life as a royal, Andrew has been given quite a few nicknames.
In that decade, he dated 21-year-old Tracie Lamb, actress Vicki Hodge, Miss UK 1980 Carolyn Seaward, and model Clare Park, as reported by Yahoo.
Another nickname for the prince was “Airmiles Andy”, as a result of his jet-set lifestyle.
In 2015, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, known as Jane Doe #3 in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, alleged that she was given to Prince Andrew as a “gift” by Epstein in 2001.
Buckingham Palace have said the allegations about the Duke of York are “categorically untrue”, and Prince Andrew went on to tell his side of the story in a disastrous interview with BBC’s Newsnight in 2019.
When Prince Harry was 20-years-old, he created a lot of controversy when he was spotted wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party hosted by Olympic equestrian Richard Meade.
While on holiday in Las Vegas in 2012, Harry was photographed naked, reportedly playing strip billiards.
In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they’d be stepping back from royal duties.
Meghan especially opened up about her struggles, explaining that she didn’t “want to be alive anymore” because of the relentless racism and hateful comments.
Taking part in Winfrey’s The Me You Can’t See docu-series for Apple TV+, Harry opened up about his struggles with mental health, and how it was never dealt with properly in the royal family.
In one particularly poignant moment, he describes having to walk behind his mum’s coffin at the age of 12.
Less than a month before Sophie Rhys-Jones was due to marry Prince Edward, The Sun published a topless photo of the soon-to-be Countess of Wessex.
Kate Middleton was the subject of a similar revelation in 2012, when the French edition of Closer published photographs of the Duchess sun-bathing topless while on holiday in France.
In February 2021, the Guardian started an investigation into the royal family’s use of parliamentary procedure.