Most monarchies around the world have long since gone the way of buttonhooks and horse-drawn buggies, yet Britain’s royal family continues to endure. Not only is the British royal family still around, but they continued to capture the attention of worldwide media. Practically their every move is chronicled and documented to the most infinitesimal degree. That’s true of celebratory moments, such as weddings and births, and equally true in times of tragedy. Sure, they live lives of extreme wealth and privilege that most people will never experience; however, they’re not immune to illness, turmoil, and death. While the latter has often come for royalty as the result of old age, there have been those occasions when the royals have suffered losses that were as unexpected as they were heartbreaking.

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These royal tragedies did not occur in a vacuum and were often met with huge displays of public mourning. Meanwhile, there have also been occasions when the unanticipated death of a royal has changed the course of history.

A future queen died after royal doctors botched her baby’s birth

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When pregnant Princess Charlotte of Wales went into labor in 1817, what should have been a joyous occasion turned tragic for the British royal family. After two days of long and arduous labor, she delivered a son who was stillborn. Due to complications from the difficult birth, Charlotte herself died five hours later. 

Reports and correspondence from the attending physicians — Dr. Matthew Baillie, Sir Richard Croft, and Dr. John Sims — indicated a state of chaos and confusion among the doctors during the botched birth. The public came to place the blame on Croft, who had decided not to use forceps — then seen as unduly risky — to extract the baby earlier and potentially save the lives of both mother and child. Croft was overcome with guilt. Blaming himself for their deaths, he died by suicide just a few months later. 

Meanwhile, the passing of Charlotte and her baby created a royal conundrum for the monarchy, given that the princess was the king’s only child, thus eliminating two generations of heirs to the throne and altering the path of succession. As a result, the king’s unmarried brothers were encouraged to quickly find wives and start producing some royal babies — one of whom was the future Queen Victoria. 

Prince John died at 13 after being hidden away

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In 19015, Prince John was born. He was the youngest child of King George V, who was Queen Victoria’s grandson and King Charles III’s great-grandfather. By the age of 4, John began suffering epileptic seizures and was deemed to have a disability, which would’ve perhaps been classified as autism today. As his seizures became more frequent, the child was sent away to the royals’ Sandringham estate under the care of a governess, separate from the rest of the family save for special occasions such as Christmas dinner. Three years after his exile to Sandringham, Prince John died in his sleep. He was just 13.

His older brother — future monarch King Edward VIII — wrote about John’s death in a letter that was illustrative of the royal family’s cruel indifference. “He’s been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow no one has even seen him except the family and then only once or twice a year and his death is the greatest relief imaginable or what we’ve always silently prayed for,” he wrote, as reported by The Telegraph. “No one would be more cut up if any of [the] other three brothers were to die than I should be, but this poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else and was only a brother in the flesh and nothing else.”

Prince George, Duke of Kent, died in a mysterious plane crash

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Now known as “the forgotten prince,” Prince George (aka the Duke of Kent) was the fourth son of King George V. His oldest brother, Edward, would go on to become king before abdicating, placing their sibling on the throne as King George VI.

Groomed for a life in the Royal Navy, the prince eventually sought employment with the government, working as a factory inspector for Britain’s Foreign Office and then the Home Office — earning the distinction of becoming the first British royal in history to be employed as a civil servant. He married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent became the toast of British high society in the years leading up to the Second World War.

In 1942, George boarded an RAF aircraft, reportedly to visit troops in Iceland in order to bolster morale. He never made it. The plane crashed into a hill in Scotland, leaving no survivors. Conspiracy theories began to emerge when the flight plan mysteriously disappeared, as did all records from a secret court of inquiry investigating the crash. One such unsubstantiated theory posited that the duke wasn’t actually planning to meet troops in Iceland but was instead heading to Sweden on a covert mission to undertake peace talks with the Germans. A related theory held that he was assassinated on the orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who believed the royal was a Nazi sympathizer.

King George VI’s premature death likely resulted from his smoking habit

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The British royalty’s line of succession was altered when King Edward VIII abdicated the throne and his younger brother, King George VI, became monarch. The king was a lifelong heavy smoker, reportedly inhaling two-plus packs a day, resulting in some serious health problems later in life. In 1948, a pain in his leg was diagnosed as arteriosclerosis. While doctors feared his entire leg might have to be amputated, he successfully underwent surgery the following year. 

Then, in 1951, doctors performed an operation to remove one of his lungs. “The decision to operate was taken on Friday after doctors noticed ‘structural changes’ in the King’s lung, which were giving cause for concern,” noted a BBC news report at the time. While the British public — and, in fact, the king himself — were told that the surgery went well and he was recovering, the truth was that they’d removed a malignant tumor and that the cancer had spread. Five months after that surgery, in February 1952, he died in his sleep at the age of 56. At the time, the cause of death was said to be cardiac arrest caused by coronary thrombosis; the word “cancer” was never once used — one of many health issues the royal family tried to hide.

Princess Marina was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor

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After the death of her husband in the aforementioned mysterious 1942 plane crash, the widowed Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, remained a particularly popular member of the royal family among the British public. An aficionado of fashion and a frequent visitor to the couture houses of Paris, she became a fashion icon. In fact, her distinctive pillbox hats became all the rage, with cheap copies produced and sold in British shops as “Marina hats” — a phenomenon immortalized by British rock group The Kinks in the 1969 song “She’s Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina.”

In 1968, Princess Marina entered London’s National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, where she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Five weeks later, she died in her sleep at the age of 61.

Marina’s funeral was held at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, with royals in attendance, including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip Princess Margaret, and the Queen Mother. Edward VIII, the queen’s uncle and the brother-in-law of the deceased duchess, also attended — marking his final public appearance before his own death.

Prince William of Gloucester perished in a plane crash at 30

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Prince William of Gloucester was the grandson of King George V, making him Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin and fourth in line to the throne when he was born. Unlike many of his more idle royal relatives, William took a job with Britain’s Commonwealth Office, stationed in Lagos and then Tokyo. 

William was also an avid pilot who owned several planes, served as the president of the British Light Aviation Centre, and routinely participated in British aerial competitions. While competing for the Goodyear International Air Trophy in 1972, his plane crashed during takeoff. He and his co-pilot were killed in the crash, having been burned beyond recognition to the point that dental records were required to identify the bodies. “It ended up just a mangled burned-out wreck,” a witness recalled, as reported by The New York Times.

Prince William was just 30 years old when he died. At the time of his death, he was ninth in line to the throne.

Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by IRA terrorists

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Uncle of Prince Philip, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten — more commonly known as Lord Mountbatten — had a distinguished military career, appointed as Britain’s final viceroy of India until the nation’s independence. In 1979, Lord Mountbatten decided to go fishing in Northern Ireland, where he had a summer house. Shortly after his boat left the dock, it was destroyed in a massive explosion. He was immediately killed in the blast, as were his grandson and another young passenger. Four others were injured, with three surviving. As an eyewitness to the explosion told The New York Times, “The boat was there one minute and the next minute it was like a lot of matchsticks floating on the water.”

The provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army issued a statement taking credit. “In claiming responsibility for the execution of Lord Mountbatten the I.R.A. state that the bombing was a discriminate act to bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country,” read the statement, as reported by The New York Times. 

The royal family was understandably shocked, saddened, and angered. Years later, then-Prince Charles reflected on his uncle’s assassination. “At the time I remember feeling intense anger, even hatred of those who could even contemplate doing such a thing,” he said in 2011 (via Irish Independent).

Queen Elizabeth’s grim ‘annus horribilis’

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The year 1992 was a particularly awful one for Britain’s royal family, with Queen Elizabeth II memorably quoting it as her “annus horribilis.” A swipe through the calendar sums up what made ’92 particularly terrible for the queen and her family.

In February, there was that now-iconic photo of Princess Diana looking sad and lonely in the shadow of the Taj Mahal during a trip to India with then-husband Prince Charles. Then, in March, Prince Andrew announced that he and wife Sarah Ferguson were separating, followed by the April announcement that Princess Anne’s divorce had been granted. June brought the publication of Andrew Morton’s sensational book, “Diana: Her True Story,” which served up a cavalcade of salacious secrets the queen would have preferred to stay that way, while August delivered a scandalous and awkward photo of the newly single Duchess of York having her toe suckled by a financial adviser from Texas. Days later came the published transcript of a secretly recorded and headline-making conversation with Diana and longtime friend James Gilbey that came to be dubbed “Squidgygate.”

In mid-November, Windsor Castle was ravaged by a massive fire. “Within three hours 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the flames,” noted the Royal Collection Trust. In late November, the queen delivered her famous speech about the awful year: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.” As bad as it was then, the annus horribilis continued with the December announcement of then-Prince Charles and Diana’s separation.

Princess Diana’s tragic death while fleeing paparazzi

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Countless reports and numerous books have been written about the tragic death of Princess Diana, killed in a 1997 car crash in Paris while her driver attempted to evade hordes of pursuing paparazzi.

While millions throughout the world mourned the loss of “the people’s princess,” the royal family was hit with backlash when Buckingham Palace didn’t issue an immediate statement expressing bereavement. When Queen Elizabeth II finally addressed the tragedy in a televised speech, it was five days after Diana’s death. 

While “The Crown” offered a fictionalized account of what took the queen so long to respond, royal expert Marlene Koenig believed that the queen felt that since Diana had divorced Charles and thus was no longer a member of the royal family, the Spencers, Diana’s family, should be handling matters. That, however, wasn’t how the public viewed it. “To Charles’ credit, he put his foot down. He went to Paris to bring her home and he was really the one pushed for the funeral — and it wasn’t a state funeral, it was an official funeral,” Koenig told Express. “Of course, the Queen didn’t want that but eventually I think she came around to it because you also had the Prime Minister [Tony Blair] who played this all up and, ‘Oh, the Queen was cruel’ and all that.”

Queen Camilla’s brother died in a freak accident

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Mark Shand was the older brother of Queen Camilla, renowned for his work in elephant conservation. In 2014, he was visiting New York City to participate in a charity fundraising event when he stepped outside a Manhattan bar to smoke a cigarette. As he re-entered through a revolving door, he fell backward and hit the back of his head on the sidewalk. First responders arrived on the scene and Shand was transported to a hospital, where he was sadly pronounced dead. 

“The Duchess, the Prince of Wales and all her family members are utterly devastated by this sudden and tragic loss,” read a statement from Clarence House, as reported by ABC News. “Mark Shand was a man of extraordinary vitality, a tireless campaigner and conservationist whose incredible work through the Elephant Family and beyond remained his focus right up until his death.”

After his death, writer Bob Colacello paid tribute to Shand in Vanity Fair, writing, “People routinely compared him to Tarzan, Indiana Jones and [British explorer] Sir Richard Burton. … The late Nigel Dempster, London’s top society columnist for decades, dubbed him ‘He-Man Shand.'”

Lady Gabriella Windsor’s husband died tragically just four years after their wedding

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In May 2019, Lady Gabriella Windsor — daughter of Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent — tied the knot with Thomas Kingston in a lavish ceremony attended by an array of royals, including the queen herself.

Sadly, Kingston died in December 2023 at the age of 45. Initially, Kingston was thought to be missing. Searching the grounds of the family estate, his father forcibly entered a locked building on the property and discovered a tragic scene. “He found Mr. Kingston deceased with a catastrophic head injury,” coroner Katy Skerrett wrote in her inquest, as reported by the Daily Mail. “A gun was present at the scene. Emergency services were called. Police are satisfied the death is not suspicious.”

The outcome was understandably disturbing to the royal family, with Buckingham Palace issuing an official statement. “Tom was an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him,” read the statement (via People). “His death has come as a great shock to the whole family and we ask you to respect our privacy as we mourn his passing.”

King Charles’ cancer diagnosis rocked the royal family

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It’s no secret that King Charles III’s ascension to the British throne had been a long time coming. Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96 in September 2022, Charles finally became monarch. Aged 73 at the time of his coronation, Charles had been king for just over a year when Buckingham Palace announced in February 2024 that he’d received a cancer diagnosis. “During the king’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer,” read a statement from Buckingham Palace. 

According to the statement, Charles started unspecified treatment and would be stepping back from public royal duties for a time. “He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible,” the statement continued, adding that the king had decided to go public with his diagnosis to avoid rumors. 

As of this writing, further news about Charles’ prognosis has been scarce; however, it was apparently serious enough to thaw the frigid relationship between the king and his estranged son, Prince Harry. “I jumped on a plane and went to go see him as soon as I could. … The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go see and spend anytime with him, I’m grateful for that,” Harry said in an interview with “Good Morning America.”

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What’s the tragic truth of Prince Harry? Whether you’re a big fan of the royal family or simply a casual observer, you’ve undoubtedly come across plenty of headlines about the royal “bad boy” over the years. Prince Harry is the second son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana; his older brother, Prince William, is second in line to the throne.

As a member of the royal family, Prince Harry has, unsurprisingly, grown up in the public eye. That means we’ve seen him living a life many of us could only dream about, especially when you also consider his net worth. However, while he’s always lived in the lap of luxury, bouncing between various British palaces, attending the best private schools, and partying it up at some of the world’s priciest clubs and bars in his younger days, Prince Harry has actually experienced his fair share of darkness as well. Curious to learn the tragic details about Prince Harry? Here’s everything we know about the royal’s saddest experiences.

Prince Harry has put up with an overly inquisitive press his whole life

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While life as a royal comes with unthinkable wealth and privilege, it also requires dealing with the almost daily barrage of the press. Ever since Prince Harry was a child, he’s had to put up with overly inquisitive reporters and undeniably intrusive photographers.

 

In fact, the paparazzi have been a thorn in the side of the royal family for decades and are often a part of what makes their lives pretty tragic. As Town & Country reported in 2020, a TV documentary titled “Lucy Worsley’s Royal Photo Album” delved into the troublesome nature of the British paparazzi for the royal family. Spoiler alert: it’s a lot.

When it comes to Prince Harry, the press have been known to use drones and helicopters to intrude upon his and his family’s life. This was especially the case when Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, started dating, though he reportedly did everything in his power to hide from their intrusive lenses. Eventually, Prince Harry filed several lawsuits against the hounding press. It’s pretty tragic that the royal has never been allowed any privacy.

The tragic death of Prince Harry’s mother couldn’t have been more public

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Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, it was practically impossible to avoid hearing about the utterly tragic death of Princess Diana. The young princess was killed in a car accident in 1997, when Prince Harry was just 12 years old. We later learned more about Princess Diana after her death.

 

For Princess Diana’s two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, her death was a traumatic, life-changing event that would take years for them to process. In a documentary titled “Our Mother Diana: Her Life and Legacy,” Prince Harry opened up about Princess Diana’s death (via ABC News). “There’s not a day that William and I don’t wish that she was … still around,” he revealed. “[W]e wonder what kind of a mother she would be now … and what a difference she would be making.” 

Prince Harry also confessed that he still thinks about his last phone call with his mother and wishes he could have expressed more in that last talk. Truly, everything about her death was deeply tragic on a personal level for the royal.

He eventually got therapy to help deal with his mother’s death

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In 2017, Prince Harry opened up about his personal struggles with mental health. As he told The Telegraph, it wasn’t until he was in his late 20s that he accepted that he needed help dealing with his grief. The royal recalled how he often felt a “flight or fight” sensation while at public engagements. He even described experiencing irrational angry episodes that he couldn’t explain. “I just didn’t know what was wrong with me,” he shared. 

As it turns out, Prince Harry’s bottled up grief about his mother’s death had led to what could almost be described as a mental breakdown. That’s why the royal decided to get the help he’d needed for so long.

In 2020, Prince Harry went into more detail about his mental health journey. Apparently, he explained at an event that he’d been in therapy for three years to process his trauma (via Page Six). We have to say — it’s pretty tragic that Prince Harry felt that he couldn’t get professional counseling until more than 20 years after his mother’s death.

When Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy broke up, many thought he’d let true love get away

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What really happened between Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy? The pair dated from around 2004 until 2009, as noted in “Harry: Life, Loss, and Love.” So it’s no surprise that many fans were convinced that Chelsy Davy was destined to join the royal family. However, like many of us, it seems that Prince Harry let his first true love get away.

Even though Prince Harry is now married to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, it’s still pretty tragic that he lost his first love. As one royal fan pointed out in InStyle, Davy seemed like the perfect fit for the royal family. She even helped him write his best man speech for his brother’s wedding.

However, as happy as the couple often looked, it would seem that the pressures of a royal life were too much for Davy. As she told The Times, life with Prince Harry was “crazy and scary and uncomfortable” — so much so that she decided to part ways with the royal and find refuge back home in Zimbabwe.

His school days were anything but normal

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Most people would agree that a person’s teenage years are pretty important for their development. Whether you enjoy high school or not, the people you meet and the things you learn during those years can change you for life. 

However, for Prince Harry, having a normal school life was impossible. The royal went to the prodigious boarding school Eton starting at age 13. On his very first day, Prince Harry was followed around by the press as he met his teachers and toured the school. Additionally, while Prince Harry had his own room, unlike the other students, he also had a full-time bodyguard who slept in the room next door.

In 2018, The Cut spoke to some of Prince Harry’s fellow students at Eton. One recalled that while Prince William was integrated with the other students, Prince Harry “had it harder finding his way.” Another student explained that while everyone tried to make life as normal as possible for the young prince, it was often impossible, thanks to his bodyguards and the occasional visits from Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince Harry loved being in the army but had to give up his titles after Megxit

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Like many of his royal predecessors, Prince Harry entered the British Army after leaving school. He was a member of the Army until 2015 but maintained many of his titles afterward. As ITV reported, these were: Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington, and Honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Commands’ Small Ships and Diving — quite a mouthful! 

However, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from the royal family, Prince Harry had to give up these titles — even though he’d had originally planned to maintain them for life. As he said in an official statement in 2015, “I will continue to wear the uniform and mix with fellow servicemen and women for the rest of my life.”

After losing the titles he’d worked so hard for, Prince Harry was reportedly “devastated,” as an insider told The Sun. Tragically, he had to make a seriously difficult decision — and in the process, give up something that was incredibly important to him.

He was subject to a strict set of rules from a young age, labeling him a rebel

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For Prince Harry, growing up as a direct descendant of the Queen Elizabeth II meant he had to obey the strict rules the royal family has to follow. For any young man, this would be a difficult way to grow up. And while most of us know that Prince Harry became a “bad boy” in his early adulthood, as it turns out, he was actually showing signs of rebellion as early as 8 years old.

According to a series of letters written by Princess Diana, young Prince Harry always had trouble abiding by the royal rules. The notes, published in The Telegraph, explained that Harry was “constantly in trouble” at boarding school. While it’s unclear exactly what mischief Harry was getting up to at that time, it was obvious that he didn’t care much for the royal code.

Eventually, Prince Harry was labeled a rebel, thanks to his penchant for partying. And in 2019, Prince Harry’s decision to step back from the royal family was arguably the ultimate rebel move.

As the younger sibling, Prince Harry is the royal spare

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If you are the second or third sibling in your family, you may sometimes feel like the eldest child gets all the attention. Well, for members of the royal family, this problem is about 1,000 times worse. According to People, being a younger sibling as a royal tragically makes you the “spare” — which means Prince Harry is exactly that to his older brother, Prince William.

Queen Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret — who has her own tragic story — also struggled to find her place in the family. As Robert Lacey, who wrote the books “Majesty” and “Monarch,” told People, “The system has not found a way of giving them the recognition that they need.”

The problem comes down to the fact that the younger sibling of a royal heir is another potential heir — that is, until the older sibling has children. This puts the “spare” in a pretty confusing position. While they aren’t as important as their older sibling, they are kept in reserve as another alternate heir. This odd mixture of pressure and uselessness seems to have definitely made it hard for Prince Harry to feel normal.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, dealt with hurtful press coverage

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Finding real romance as a prince couldn’t have been easy for Prince Harry. Fortunately, the royal finally fell in love with a woman willing to make the necessary sacrifices that come with marrying into the royal family: Meghan Markle, now Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

However, things weren’t always easy for the royal couple. One major reason? The British press hounded Prince Harry and his wife relentlessly, often publishing some pretty problematic stories. In fact, some of the press coverage of the royal couple was downright racist. No wonder Meghan was so upset before leaving the royal family.

Eventually, the tabloids acknowledged their problematic coverage of the couple. However, for Meghan and Prince Harry, the damage had been done. According to NBC News, the couple released a public statement to leaders of the major British tabloids saying they wouldn’t cooperate with them after how they were treated. It’s tragic that Prince Harry had to see his wife being treated so poorly by his own country’s press.

He is extremely anxious about the climate crisis

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It’s no secret that the modern world can be a stressful place to live for a variety of reasons; one of the most unsettling among them being the ongoing climate crisis. As it turns out, the situation really is a great equalizer — even Prince Harry has sleepless nights worrying about the tragic future of our planet.

As Prince Harry reportedly told Peter Oki, a student he met while traveling through Africa, he sometimes feels overwhelmed by the threat posed by climate change (via The Telegraph). But rather than do nothing, Oki added that Prince Harry and his wife want to “use their platform to enable grass-roots change and to try and create a better society.” Prince Harry has also spoken out about the need to acknowledge that the coronavirus outbreak may also be linked to “our exploitation of nature,” as noted by The Telegraph. 

There’s no doubt that someone in Prince Harry’s position is highly informed about the world’s biggest issues, so it’s no wonder he gets depressed. But at least he’s determined to make a positive impact.

Prince Harry was sad to give up his royal life but had no other choice

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In one of the most shocking moments in the history of the royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced their decision to “step back” from their royal roles in 2019 (via the BBC). In the announcement, Prince Harry expressed “great sadness” at the decision. Let’s face it: The couple’s departure from royal life was undoubtedly deeply sad for everyone involved, including fans of the royal family.

According to an episode of the “Royally Obsessed” podcast (via Express), the couple’s last royal engagement was incredibly difficult for Prince Harry. “He looked very emotional at the Mountbatten Festival of Music,” its hosts explained. “When they received a standing ovation, people thought Harry looked a little teary-eyed.”

While Prince Harry was clearly upset to leave the royal family, he also felt that he had no choice. This was definitely one of the most tragic moments in the royal’s life.

In 2020, Prince Harry lost someone to the coronavirus

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Almost everyone was affected by the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2019 in some way. After all, there have been countless deaths from the disease around the world, according to CNN. 

Like many other people, Prince Harry was personally impacted by a tragic death caused by COVID-19. According to Metro, Prince Harry and his brother Prince William served with fellow soldier Ryan Cartwright, who caught the virus and passed away. Cartwright served in the Blues and Royals cavalry regiment alongside the princes. He was just 36 years old when he succumbed to the illness.

In addition to taking the life of a fellow soldier, COVID-19 also forced Prince Harry to miss out on a trip to the U.K. to visit family. And, if that wasn’t enough, his own father, Prince Charles, contracted the virus in March 2020. Here’s what we knew about Prince Charles’ coronavirus diagnosis.

Experts believe that Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will never have any privacy

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It’s no secret that Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have had their issues with negative press coverage, thanks to overly inquisitive public attention. In fact, the couple’s surprising departure from royal life shows their unwillingness to live under the scrutiny of the tabloids. And while Prince Harry and Meghan’s move to America initially seemed to offer respite from the public’s prying eyes, some experts believe that the couple will never be able to lead a normal life.

On the Us Weekly podcast “Royally Us,” royal expert Simon Morgan said that the couple will probably never get the privacy they seek. “[O]nce you withdraw from something, people naturally want to know what you’re doing,” he explained. He added that moving to the United States could potentially compromise their privacy more due to the attitudes people have on this side of the pond.

It’s all too probable that Prince Harry and his wife will always be plagued by the paparazzi, even though they moved to another country — and their security team can only do so much.

Prince Harry reportedly feuded with Prince William for two years

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For most of their lives, Prince Harry and his brother Prince William were incredibly close. After all, they’ve been through a lot together. However, according to The Sun, the two brothers had a pretty serious feud that lasted for two years. Apparently, it all began in 2018 when Prince William tried to interfere with Prince Harry’s relationship with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, then Meghan Markle. “I was told by a number of sources that [Prince Harry] went ballistic,” a reporter shared.

Then, in October 2019, Prince Harry confessed that his relationship with Prince William had indeed changed. “[S]tuff happens,” he explained in the documentary “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey” (via Town & Country). “But look, we’re brothers. We’ll always be brothers.” The royal then added that the press had exaggerated the rift, which isn’t exactly surprising.

Prince Harry lost his beloved grandmother

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On September 8, 2022, the world as we knew it changed. Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96. The monarch had an indelible impact on the world, but her death was felt most by those closest to her, including Prince Harry. Although Prince Harry had already left the royal family by the time Queen Elizabeth died, he was still close to her. “My grandmother and I were very close, and we very much did have a special relationship. I miss her dearly, as well as her cheeky sense of humor and quick wit,” Harry told People a few months after her death.

Harry’s relationship with his family was very strained at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s death, but he and Meghan Markle still attended the funeral. Ultimately, Prince Harry found beauty in Queen Elizabeth’s death. “I’m also really happy for her. She lived a full life and is now reunited with her husband,” he said.

His father was diagnosed with cancer

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Early in 2024, King Charles III revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer. The monarch did not share any further details regarding what type of cancer he has, but he did share in a speech that he intends to remain committed to his duties during his illness, and he thanked his subjects for their support. “In recent weeks, I have been most deeply touched by your wonderfully kind and thoughtful good wishes for my health and, in return, can only continue to serve you, to the best of my ability, throughout the Commonwealth,” King Charles said, as USA Today reported.

Considering the status of Prince Harry and Charles’ relationship at the time of the king’s diagnosis, many wondered how Harry would react to the news. As the prince later confirmed, Harry traveled to see his father as soon as he heard the news. “I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that,” Harry said on “Good Morning America.”

Prince Harry no longer has HRH status

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Titles are a thing of importance in the United Kingdom, particularly among those who have them. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal family, they were also stripped of their HRH (His or Her Royal Highness) status. HRH is a particularly coveted status within the United Kingdom because it’s historically only been given to the monarch’s children and grandchildren. Additionally, as a result of stepping back from his royal duties, Prince Harry lost his military titles. Although Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, no longer have their HRH status and Prince Harry no longer has his military titles, the couple did retain their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles when they stepped down from their positions.

Prince Harry is by no means the first person in the British royal family to lose his titles, nor is he the most recent. In 2022, Prince Andrew lost his HRH status due to legal accusations of sexual assault. And back in the late 1930s, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so he could marry Wallis Simpson, and because of his decision, he lost his royal titles, as well.

Prince Harry was reportedly disinvited from a family holiday

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Holidays are complicated for many families, including the Windsors. In 2023, reports claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, were hoping to spend Christmas with Harry’s family in the United Kingdom, but the couple and their children were disinvited from the holiday celebration. According to royal expert Jennie Bond, the Duke and Duchess would not be missed by certain family members. “I don’t think William will be shedding a tear over this. Deep down, I’m sure he still loves Harry, but I don’t think he can see a way out of the rift that has opened between them,” Bond told The Sun.

Whether or not those are the true opinions of Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan did not spend Christmas with the royal family. They reportedly held a private celebration with their children at their home in Montecito, California, instead. The couple also celebrated by releasing a virtual Christmas card a couple of weeks before the holiday.

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