Royal divorces over the years
The Windsors went through a spate of marriage breakdowns in the 1990s.
Members of the royal family have often been unlucky in love, with their relationship woes hitting the headlines.
Three of the Queen’s four children went through very public divorces.
Now Peter Phillips is to become the first of the monarch’s grandchildren to end their marriage, after splitting from his wife Autumn.
Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 was seen as a pure fairytale affair.
Amid pomp and circumstance, the heir to the throne married his 20-year-old bride in the opulent St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29 1981, watched by a worldwide TV audience of more than 750 million.
It featured F and G for Fred and Gladys – their pet names for one another.
On their honeymoon, Diana was furious when she noticed the prince wearing a pair of gold cufflinks engraved with interwoven Cs – a present from Camilla.
The princess found Buckingham Palace courtiers unapproachable, and was overwhelmed by her role as a royal superstar.
Their relationship broke down bitterly. Behind the scenes, Charles had an affair with Camilla and Diana with Major James Hewitt.
In December 1992, prime minister John Major announced Charles and Diana – the parents of princes William and Harry – were separating.
The same year, the growing intimacy between Charles and Camilla became apparent when the so-called “Camillagate” tape of a conversation between the pair surfaced.
In November 1995, Diana gave a Panorama television interview in which she said of her relationship with Charles “there were three of us in this marriage”, and cast doubts on his suitability as a king.
The Queen urged them to divorce and they did so in 1996. Diana died in a car crash just over a year later.
The Duke and Duchess of York wed in 1986, but split in 1992.
Exuberant, fun loving “commoner” Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, was seen as a breath of fresh air, but later confessed: “I was hopeless from the start… They could never make me the perfect princess.”
Their relationship came under scrutiny when photographs were discovered of the duchess on holiday with Texan oilman Steve Wyatt in Morocco.
A separation was announced in March 1992, but in the summer of the same a year a new scandal paved the way for the duchess’s exile from the Windsors.
The Duke of Edinburgh is said to have never forgiven the duchess for the scandal.
Andrew and Sarah eventually divorced in 1996, but the pair navigated their post-marriage relationship with ease, jointly raising their children Beatrice and Eugenie.
The duchess has always been a staunch supporter of the duke, continuing her devotion during the Epstein saga, which has seen Andrew step down from royal duties in the wake of his car-crash Newsnight interview about his friendship with the convicted paedophile.
In April 1989, the Palace named Royal Navy Commander Timothy Laurence as the writer of a number of personal letters stolen from the Princess Royal’s briefcase and sent to The Sun newspaper.
They divorced in 1992, but remained on good terms.
In December the same year, Anne married Timothy Laurence at a private ceremony at Crathie Church, near Balmoral Castle, in Scotland.
She later wed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who became the Earl of Snowdon, in 1960.
Rumours of a rift began as early as 1967, when foreign newspapers began to carry stories of a private “battle royal”, but the reports were denied.
As the relationship became increasingly bitter, Lord Snowdon reportedly would make lists of “things I hate about you” and leave them in books Margaret was reading.
One note placed in her glove drawer allegedly read: “You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you.”
With divorce viewed as unthinkable, it was assumed the couple would simply lead separate lives.
They finally divorced in 1978, making Margaret the first senior royal to do so since Henry VIII.
The only child of the Queen not to divorce is the Earl of Wessex who married Sophie Rhys Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, in 1999.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been married for 72 years, celebrating their platinum anniversary in 2017.
