The Rules All Royals Must Obey When They Get Divorced

Ah, the royal wedding fairytale. Many a girl has dreamed of walking down the aisle with a handsome prince and settling down in a castle for the happily ever after. Unfortunately, as you know, the reality is sometimes quite different. Multiple royal marriages have ended in divorce, and then things get even more difficult. The royals have some surprising divorce protocols to follow, you see.

Immediately own up to any affairs

Yes, ideally no one would be having affairs, but history’s shown that royals and infidelity frequently mix. Princess Margaret reportedly romanced many men while still married to Lord Antony Armstrong-Jones, including her youngest child’s godfather. The British establishment was furious when the news came out, and she got called all sorts of names.

Charles’ confession

Prince Charles went through a similar experience. In 1994 he was questioned on TV by Jonathan Dimbleby about whether or not he’d been faithful to Diana. At first Charles tried to deny he’d had an affair, but eventually he admitted that he’d kept his vows only “until [the marriage] became irretrievably broken down.”

Be honest

The fear of bringing the family into disrepute hangs heavy whenever a royal gets divorced. If there was any infidelity involved, the media will always find out, and there will probably be all sorts of gossip thrown into the mix as well. So, tell your public what you’ve been doing, and they might go easier on you.

Be prepared for a big settlement

There’s a lot of money involved when royals get divorced. And if you play your cards right, you might be able to walk away with enough to set you up for life. Diana managed to wrangle more than $22 million once she split from Prince Charles, and she even had continued use of royal aircraft. Being mom to a royal heir helped there, of course.