Sex, death and scandals: Britain's royal crises

The bombshell announcement that Buckingham Palace is investigating claims Prince Harry's wife Meghan Markle bullied staff -- and her riposte to Oprah Winfrey they are "perpetuating falsehoods" against her -- is the latest instalment in a royal soap opera that has gripped the world for a century.

Love over country

The abdication of Edward VIII 326 days into his reign in 1936 remains the biggest scandal in modern royal history.

It was all over another American divorcée -- socialite Wallis Simpson -- which he stepped down to marry, sparking a constitutional crisis.

Their union was deemed impossible while Edward was monarch and head of the Church of England, which at the time refused to remarry divorcées while their former spouse was still alive.

Edward was the first monarch in the 1,000-year history of the British Crown to give up his throne of his own free will.

His brother King George VI replaced him and Edward was ostracised by the royal family until the late 1960s. He died in 1972.

Margaret's heartbreak

Queen Elizabeth II's fun-loving younger sister, Princess Margaret, also sparked a firestorm with her choice of husband.

In 1952 the then-22-year-old began a romance with her late father's divorced equerry, former Royal Air Force officer Peter Townsend.

Their wish to marry prompted a battle between the disapproving government and the public -- which was seen to be sympathetic to the union -- with the queen caught in the middle.

Margaret was eventually persuaded to abandon the relationship and instead married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. They divorced in 1978.

A horrible year

The queen memorably described 1992 as an "annus horribilis" after three of her children's marriages crumbled, and a fire at her Windsor Castle home.

Heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles' split from Princess Diana after 11 years of marriage caused a media sensation.

She then rocked the monarchy by leaking shocking details of palace life to author Andrew Morton for his 1992 book "Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words".

Then the queen's second son Prince Andrew separated from wife Sarah Ferguson.

Meanwhile Princess Anne, her only daughter, divorced her first husband Mark Phillips.

Diana's death

Diana died in a high-speed car crash in a Paris tunnel in August 1997 having been stripped of her royal status.

For the week leading up to her funeral, the monarchy was rocked by an unprecedented outpouring of grief for the popular "people's princess".

Anger mounted at the silence of senior royals, who were on holiday at the queen's Balmoral estate in northeast Scotland.

Newspapers, furious that the Union Jack flag was not flying at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, called on the queen to address her subjects.

Within days she had paid homage to her former daughter-in-law in a televised speech. She also publicly bowed before Diana's coffin.

Prince Andrew scandal

Prince Andrew has been dogged by allegations he had sex with one of the teenage victims of deceased US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The prince, often referred to as the queen's "favourite son", attempted to clear his name in a disastrously unapologetic BBC interview in November 2019.

He was forced to "step back from public duties" but remains under pressure to cooperate with US prosecutors and faces fresh scrutiny after the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former partner.

Harry and Meghan walk away

Prince Harry sent the royal family into another spin when he and his wife, Meghan, stepped backed from royal duties in 2020 and moved to North America.

Their departure -- dubbed "Megxit" in the British press -- came after an apparent rift between the couple and Harry's older brother William, and his wife Kate.

Last month, the palace ordered the couple to relinquish their honorary titles and patronages as the pair gave high-profile TV interviews in the US, including an audience with Oprah Winfrey which will air this weekend.

In one clip, Meghan accused the palace of "perpetuating falsehoods" about her, while the palace released an unprecedented statement Wednesday saying it was investigating claims that she bullied staff.