Most controversial royal love-stories from around the world

Around the world and throughout history, royal families and their problem-prone royal affairs have always caught the eye of the public and have remained in the headlines for various reasons. But much of it has always circulated around matters of love, controversial relationships and revolves around scandalous royal couples, who either have gone an extraordinary mile to be together with one another or have jointly made decisions that left the world in a state of shock.

That being said, here are some of the most controversial royal love-stories around the world, who surely stunned the world in some way or the other.

Photo: Getty images

Being the most classic examples of controversial royal couples, is King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, whose union compelled an entire kingdom to convert their religions from Roman Catholicism to a newly established Church of England. Dating back to the 16th century, when the King decided to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, because she couldn’t birth the son, he chose to remarry his mistress, Anne Boleyn. However, his plea was denied by the Catholic Church, which forced him to take the drastic step of introducing another Church of England in the country.

Many would recognize Edward VIII as the King who abdicated the throne in order to marry the love of his life, Wallis Simpson, a two-time American divorcee. Theirs was a royal love-story that not only shocked the world but also changed the entire line of British succession, making them one of the most scandalous royal couples of all time.

In 1956, when Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer III of Monaco tied the knot, the entire world couldn’t lift their eyes away from this power couple. No one ever imagined a renowned actress of her demeanour could ever become the Grace of Monaco. That being said, the Royal couple seemingly had a healthy relationship, until unfortunately she passed away in a car crash in 1982.

Talk about controversial royal couples and Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend seem to have made one of the most scandalous romantic pair of all times. In 1953, when the rumours about the two broke out in the public, it caused quite the stir in the royal household. From the Queen to the Parliament to the Church of England, everyone denied their plea to marry and placed a condition stating that Princess Margaret would lose all her royal privileges, in case she married divorcee. That being said, according to BBC, she later made an announcement stating that she will no longer marry Peter Townsend.

Although they’re still happily married and going strong together for over 9 years, reportedly the Monégasque Princess Charlene almost became a runaway bride on the eve of her wedding to Prince Albert. Allegedly, the Princess made many attempts to flee the wedding. Once she tried to hide out in Paris' South African embassy while trying on her wedding dress. Another time, she reportedly tried fleeing to Nice, France, when Monegasque officials took away her passport. However, after lots of persuasion, she finally agreed to marry and they have been married ever since.

Before becoming Princess Sofia of Sweden and the wife of the Swedish Prince Carl Philip, Sofia Hellqvist was infamously known for her provocative modelling career and reported claim to have kissed a porn star Jenna Jameson in public, which was to a great extent undeniably unconventional to the Swedish royal household. But after rows of backlash, the couple finally married in 2015 and are now blessed with two children.

As much as it is a controversial royal instance in the Japanese empire, the decision to relinquish all her royal privileges to marry the love of her life, awe-inspired a lot of emotional support from the public towards the royal love-birds, Princess Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, and Kei Komuro, a commoner. Although much has changed over the period of three years, when the announcement was first made in 2017, the couple surely caused a romantic stir around the world.

Photo: Shizou Kambayashi/AFP

One of the most searched royal couples in the world, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry really pulled off their marriage well, even after series of hateful backlash and disapproval. Recently having ‘stepped back’ from the royal duties and relinquishing all their royal privileges, the duo seem to make for the most controversial yet the most enduring power-couple of all times. While the two lived and grew up in a totally different environments, they managed to come together and are going strong up until today.

- By Tenzin Chodon