Who are the most famous sinners in history?
She escaped to the UK in 2019, but was haunted by threats from the sheikh. He's said to have used his media connections in Britain to spread negative stories about her, and she was terrified he would abduct her children. After an eight month trial in the UK courts, his behavior was exposed and he was publicly embarrassed. He did not admit fault, however, and suggested that it was a private family matter.
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The Malaysian prince married 16-year-old Indonesian-American model Manohara Odelia Pinot in 2008. She escaped from the marriage one year later with the help of the Singapore police.
Princess Haya of Jordan was one of the wives of Sheikh Mohammed until 2019. Around that time, she began to question his treatment of his children, and also allegedly started an affair with her bodyguard. The sheikh made veiled threats to her life, such as allegedly leaving a gun on her pillow.
She claims that she was kept at the palace against her will, where she was drugged, tortured, and sexually abused throughout the short marriage.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the monarch of the Emirate of Dubai, as well as the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. It’s reported that two of his daughters, Shamsa and Latifa, have made multiple attempts to escape from the family. They were also reportedly abducted by the sheik and forcibly imprisoned in his estates in Dubai. Latifa even posted videos online as proof that she was physically abused while being held captive.
King Rama X of Thailand was crowned in 2019 after his father’s death. Shortly before, he married for the fourth time. His bodyguard and rumored lover Suthida Vajiralongkorn became queen. He also assigned a Royal Noble Consort–an official mistress. It was the first time this position had been used since 1921.
Prince Bernhard, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, was involved in several financial scandals. In the 1950s and 1960s, the prince had been paid large sums of money by a company called Lockheed for his ‘services.’ He had been paid to convince the Dutch government to give Lockheed big contracts worth millions.
Thai royals are extremely private and there are laws against insulting the family or publishing embarrassing stories about them. However, the king announced that his mistress was being stripped of her titles for plotting against the queen.
More recently, King Rama X made the news during the coronavirus pandemic. He reportedly checked himself into a 4-star hotel in the Alps with 20 women while the rest of the world was in lockdown.
He married Simpson and the two remained together until his death in 1972. However, Edward's abdication and marriage were not the only scandals he caused in his lifetime.
This was revealed in the 1970s when Lockheed was going bankrupt. Investigations began, but Queen Juliana stepped in and threatened to abdicate if her husband was prosecuted. His punishment was his resignation from official duties, and he was no longer allowed to wear his military uniform.
After WWII, German documents were uncovered that detailed the plan to overthrow King George VI and return Edward to the throne, as he was thought to be a Nazi sympathizer. He and Wallis visited Hitler in 1937, and gave him the Nazi salute.
Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, was rarely out of the tabloids. She was in love with Peter Townsend, a man many years older than her and recently divorced. The Queen felt forced to deny their request to marry on the basis of his divorce. Princess Margaret would have had to give up her titles and inheritance to proceed. Sadly, their relationship came to an end.
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and then-wife of Prince Andrew, was photographed topless on the beach in 1992. She was with an American financier who was snapped sucking her toes.
Princess Margaret later married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. They were said to have a tumultuous relationship, which came to an end shortly after Margaret was reportedly caught having an affair with a young landscape gardener in 1978.
Her tempestuous love life was the bread and butter of many European tabloids. She married her bodyguard but divorced him a year later, and then had a third child (she has never confirmed the name of the father). In the early 2000s, she briefly married an elephant trainer and brought her three children to live in his caravan and travel with the circus. Shortly after, she left him for a trapeze artist.
In 2011, however, he was banished from the palace in when he went without permission to the Democratic Republic of Congo...
She was divorced from Prince Andrew four years later, and was said to have received a very small settlement. In need of money 10 years later, she was exposed trying to sell access to her ex-husband and the royal family for £500,000 (US$615,000).
Queen Nothando Dube of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) was one of King Mswati III’s 14 wives. She was reportedly caught having sex with the king’s justice minister, Ndumiso Mamba. The pair were arrested and kept in jail due to a concern that they would flee.
It was also reported that the king engaged the Swedish police force and local gangsters to cover up his activities. After the book was published, he made no denials, and simply stated that he and the queen intended to move on.
He was back in front of a judge in 2007, when he was charged with embezzling US$3.5 million from the sale of Cambodia's royalist party headquarters. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail but fled to Malaysia and waited to be pardoned.
In 2010, the book ‘The Reluctant Monarch’ was published, exposing the scandalous activities of King Carl Gustaf of Sweden. It alleged that he frequently visited strip clubs, hired sex workers, and had young women brought to him so he could convince them to have sex with him in exchange for money and gifts.
This wasn’t the first time the king had had this problem. In 2004, two of his wives escaped the country when rumors of their affairs began to surface.
King Edward VIII abdicated after less than a year on the throne. His relationship with the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson was long rumored, but it was when his request to marry her was denied that he officially renounced his title.
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco is the youngest child of the late Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco. She had a number of public romances with questionable characters and had three children out of wedlock. In the '80s, she released a few songs, one of which was accompanied by a rather racy video (by royal standards).
Prince Laurent of Belgium was called to testify in a 2007 case, concerning fraud with public money, perpetrated by veterans. The King lifted his immunity and Prince Laurent was accused of having used navy funds to renovate his holiday villa. The Prince was finally acquitted.
Prince Norodom Ranariddh of Cambodia was caught cheating on his wife in 2006. He was almost sent to jail under Cambodia’s Monogamy Law, but escaped on the technicality that his marriage was never legally registered.
He was rumored to have had affairs with Noel Coward, the famous playwright, and singer Jessie Matthews (right). It was also said he enjoyed using cocaine and morphine.
He died in a plane crash in 1942, and it was rumored that he may have been intoxicated while flying, or that he perhaps was ‘taken out’ to stop the embarrassment he was causing the royal family.
Prince George, Duke of Kent was married to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. However, it seems he wasn’t very dedicated to his royal duties nor his role as a husband. Although it was kept out of the press at the time, his bisexual escapades were apparently London’s worst-kept secret.
Prince Laurent's father is not an example to follow either... He denied for years being the father of Delphine Boël, even refusing to submit to a DNA test. The latter, an artist, claimed to be his illegitimate daughter, the fruit of his affair with Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Belgian baroness.
In 2022, Princess Cristina of Spain and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, announced their separation after 24 years of marriage. This came as little surprise after photos of Urdangarin holding hands with another woman were released in a Spanish tabloid. When asked to comment on whether or not he was having an affair, he seemed to confirm the rumors: “These things happen…" A week later, he and Princess Cristina released a joint statement announcing their divorce.
This wasn't the first scandal that the royal couple endured during their marriage. In 2018, Urdangarin was found guilty of embezzlement, influence-peddling, and tax fraud via his non-profit organization. He was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, but was given permission to move to a more flexible program that allowed day release in 2021.
One of the few universal truths is that you can’t choose your family. That’s a hard cross to bear for the royals when a few wild family members don’t play by the rules. Many princes and princesses, and even kings and queens, have indeed rebelled against their duties or abused their powers.
Let’s take a look at a few royals around the world who broke the mystique and showed that they’re just as flawed as anyone else–if not more so! Click through the gallery to get started.
The biggest royal scandals around the world
These royal families are far from infallible
CELEBRITY Scandalous
One of the few universal truths is that you can’t choose your family. That’s a hard cross to bear for the royals when a few wild family members don’t play by the rules. Many princes and princesses, and even kings and queens, have indeed rebelled against their duties or abused their powers.
Let’s take a look at a few royals around the world who broke the mystique and showed that they’re just as flawed as anyone else–if not more so! Click through the gallery to get started.