The biggest royal news of the last decade

As the 2010s come to a close, join Wonderwall.com as we look back at some of the biggest royals news of the last decade, from weddings, births and international abdications and coronations to scandals, health crises and historic milestones…. starting with a sting that made headlines back in 2010… Britain's Sarah, Duchess of York — Prince Andrew's ex-wife with whom he's always been close — found herself at the center of a humiliating cash-for-access scandal in May 2010. An undercover reporter for the now-defunct News of the World newspaper posed as a foreign businessman and secretly recorded Fergie saying she could get him access to Andrew — who had a role as a trade envoy for the U.K. at the time — in exchange for £500,000. "That opens up everything you would ever wish for. I can open any door you want, and I will for you. Look after me and he'll look after you … you'll get it back tenfold," she said. Fergie soon apologized for what she called a "serious lapse in judgement," The Guardian reported.

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Prince Harry ends his first major romance

Britain's Prince Harry is hopelessly devoted to wife Duchess Meghan now, but at the start of the decade, he was in another headline-making relationship — the longest and most significant of his life at that point — and it was ending. After more than six years of on-off dating, Harry and Zimbabwean heiress-turned-law student Chelsy Davy finally called it quits between 2010 and 2011. Years later in 2016, Chelsy — who's now a jewelry designer — spoke to Britain's The Times about how the pressure and scrutiny that came with dating a royal made things hard for them. "It was so full-on. Crazy and scary and uncomfortable," said Chelsy, who remained friends with Harry after their breakup (and even attended his 2018 wedding). "I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn't cope. I was trying to be a normal kid, and it was horrible."

RELATED: Every outfit the Duchess of Cambridge wore in 2019

Prince William finally proposes

Finally! After about eight years of dating that began while they were college students — save for a brief split — Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement in November 2010. It was revealed that William had proposed with his late mother Princess Diana's oval sapphire engagement ring during a 10-day safari in Kenya in October.

RELATED: Royal engagement rings

Sweden's crown princess marries

In what was at the time perhaps Europe's most celebrated royal wedding since Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria wed her former personal trainer, Daniel Westling, in 2010 at Stockholm Cathedral after eight years of dating. The pair exchanged vows on June 19 — the 34th anniversary of the nuptials of her parents, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, at the same venue.

The queen welcomes her first great-grandchild

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrated the birth of their first great-grandchild in 2010. Savannah Anne Kathleen Phillips — the daughter of Peter Phillips and wife Autumn Kelly (and the granddaughter of Princess Anne and ex-husband Mark Phillips) — arrived on Dec. 29, 2010. Fifteen months later, little sister Isla — the queen's second great-grandchild — was born. As the decade came to a close, the queen and her husband had eight great-grandkids in total!

Prince William marries Kate Middleton

It was the wedding of the century: In April 2011, Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton married at London's Westminster Abbey in front of nearly 2,000 guests while an audience of hundreds of millions tuned in to watch the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge exchange vows. Kate's Alexander McQueen wedding dress, sister Pippa Middleton's bum-flattering bridesmaid dress and royal cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie's hats were the subject of many headlines on the big day too.

A history-making royal visit

In May 2011, Queen Elizabeth II made a historic visit to the Republic of Ireland — the first by a reigning British monarch since Ireland became an independent country early in the 20th century, and the first since her grandfather King George V's 1911 tour. Upon her arrival, Her Majesty met with Mary McAleese, Ireland's second female president.

Monaco's prince marries

2011 was a big year for royal weddings. That July, Monaco's Prince Albert II wed Charlene Wittstock, a Zimbabwean-South African former Olympic swimmer, after about four years of dating.

The queen's popular granddaughter marries in Scotland

Another royal wedding made headlines in July 2011. Zara Phillips, the well-liked daughter of Britain's Princess Anne and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, married pro rugby star Mike Tindall at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. The next year, Zara won a silver medal at the Summer Olympics as a member of Britain's equestrian team. In 2014, she welcomed the first of their adorable daughters, Mia Grace. Two more pregnancies ended in miscarriages — in a royal first, Zara spoke about the losses publicly — before their second child, Lena Elizabeth, was born in 2018.

Bhutan's king marries

In October 2011, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the 31-year-old King of Bhutan, married 21-year-old Jetsun Pema in a traditional ceremony at their country's Punakha Dzong, or palace of great happiness or bliss, making her his Dragon Queen. The couple welcomed their first and only child, Crown Prince of Bhutan Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, in 2016.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee

In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II marked 60 years of her reign with various Diamond Jubilee celebrations — she visited 10 regions in the U.K. over 25 days and conducted 83 public engagements — to commemorate her accession to the throne in February 1952. She's only the second monarch in British history to have a Diamond Jubilee: Her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, was the first to mark the same milestone, which she did in 1897.

Sweden welcomes a new heir to the throne

In February 2012, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria and husband Prince Daniel welcomed their first child, Princess Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, Duchess of Östergötland — King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia's first grandchild. Estelle, who's second in line to the throne, got a little brother, Prince Oscar Carl Olof, Duke of Skåne, two years later in March 2016.

Prince Harry's Las Vegas nude photo scandal makes headlines

Another year, another royal scandal! But this one ended up actually endearing naughty Prince Harry to many fans of Britain's royal family. In August 2012, just a few weeks before his 28th birthday, Harry headed to America to do some serious poolside partying with friends — TMZ called his visit a "Vegas rager" — and ended up making headlines around the world after he was secretly photographed in the buff while playing strip billiards with friends and a few beautiful women in his Las Vegas VIP suite. Declared one cheeky headline in the Sun, which featured a pic of the prince barely maintaining his modesty: "Harry grabs the crown." Days later, it emerged that the trip was meant to be a pre-deployment getaway: In early September, Harry — known as Captain Wales at the time — arrived in Afghanistan for a four-month tour of duty (his second) as an Apache helicopter pilot with Britain's Army Air Corps.

Duchess Kate endures a topless photo scandal and lawsuit

In September 2012 while Prince William and Duchess Kate were in the midst of a goodwill tour of Asia, a French magazine published topless photos of Kate taken with a long-lens camera when the couple was sunbathing earlier that month while vacationing at a family member's private chateau in Provence, France. The Cambridges were devastated. "The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to The Duke and Duchess for being so," a palace statement explained. "Their Royal Highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them." They sued and in 2017, a French court agreed that their privacy had been breached, resulting in fines for photographers and magazine directors.

The Netherlands gets a new king

In January 2013, 75-year-old Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands — at the time the oldest reigning monarch in the nation's history — announced plans to give up the throne following a 33-year reign because she felt it was time it was held by "a new generation." That April, her son, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, became King Willem-Alexander — the country's first king since 1890. He and his wife, Queen Máxima — an Argentine-born former investment banker — have three daughters.

A Swedish princess marries

In June 2013, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden's youngest child, Princess Madeleine, wed British-American financier Christopher O'Neill at the Royal Chapel in Stockholm three years after she broke off an engagement to Swedish lawyer Jonas Bergström. Chris asked that he not be granted royal status as he wished to remain a private citizen — and to keep his foreign citizenship and career. The couple welcomed three children over the next few years: Princess Leonore in 2014, Prince Nicolas in 2015 and Princess Adrienne in 2018.

Belgium gets a new king

Another abdication! In early July 2013, Albert II of Belgium surprised the world when he announced that in just a matter of weeks, he would abdicate the throne at 79 — becoming the first king of Belgium to voluntarily give up the crown. His son, Prince Philippe — a married father of four who's a trained fighter pilot and parachutist with degrees from Trinity College, Oxford and Stanford University — took over as monarch, becoming King Philippe, the same month on Belgium's National Day. "I am at an age never attained by my predecessors. I have noticed that my age and health no longer allow me to fulfill my job as I should have wished. I would not meet my duties and not honor my view of the royal function if I stuck to my post at all costs," King Albert II said in a national address. "It's a question of elementary respect for the institutions and of respect towards you. Following a 20-year reign I am of the opinion that the moment has come to hand the torch on to the next generation."

Duchess Kate and Prince William welcome first child

A new prince! In July 2013 following a headline-making pregnancy plagued by hyperemesis gravidarum, a rare and debilitating form of severe morning sickness, Britain's Duchess Kate gave birth to her first child with Prince William, His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis, in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London — the same place Princess Diana gave birth to William 31 years earlier. George is third in line to the U.K.'s throne. Ahead of his birth, Parliament changed the laws of succession, replacing male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture, which meant that William's first-born child would have been next in line for the throne regardless of the baby's gender.

Prince Harry splits with another beautiful blonde

Not long after Britain's Prince Harry split from Chelsy Davy, he made headlines with a new romance: In 2012, he started seeing aspiring model and actress Cressida Bonas, a trained dancer he reportedly met through cousin Princess Eugenie. But after nearly two years of dating, they broke up in April 2014. Like Chelsy, Cressida reportedly struggled with unwanted media attention and constant engagement speculation.

Prince George steals the show

In April 2014 during a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand, Britain's Prince William and Duchess Kate were upstaged by their adorable son, Prince George. George, who was barely 9 months old at the time, seemed to thoroughly enjoy his first royal tour, where he met animals at Taronga Zoo in Sydney and enjoyed a playdate with other young children during a stop in Wellington, New Zealand.

Spain gets a new king

In June 2014, after nearly 40 years on the throne, King Juan Carlos I of Spain announced plans to abdicate in favor of his son, who just a few weeks later became King Felipe VI. Upon Felipe's ascension, his wife became Queen Letizia and his eldest daughter, Leonor, became Princess of Asturias — first in line to the throne. Spain's new rulers are also parents to younger daughter Sofía de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz, Infanta of Spain.

Prince Harry launches the Invictus Games

In September 2014, Britain's Prince Harry kicked off an event near and dear to his soldier's heart that is still thriving today: the Invictus Games. Harry's admitted he stole the idea for the international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick armed service personnel and veterans from America's Warrior Games.

Monaco welcomes royal twins

In December 2014, Princess Charlene of Monaco gave birth to twins — the first legitimate children fathered by her husband, Prince Albert II, who has two older kids out of wedlock with two different women. Though their son, His Serene Highness Jacques Honoré Rainier Grimaldi, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, Marquis of Baux, arrived two minutes after sister Princess Gabriella Thérèse Marie Grimaldi, Countess of Carladès, he is next in line for the throne as Monegasque primogeniture prioritizes males.

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla mark 10th wedding anniversary

In April 2015, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary and with it, a growing acceptance among Britons that Camilla — despite being Charles's mistress during his marriage to the late Princess Diana — would someday rule alongside the Prince of Wales.

Duchess Kate and Prince William welcome second child

Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born to Britain's Duchess Kate and Prince William in May 2015 in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London just like her big brother, Prince George. The newborn instantly became fourth in line to the throne.

Sweden's prince marries

Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland — the second child and only son of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia — made headlines in June 2015 when, after five years of dating, he married former model and reality TV star Sofia Hellqvist at the Royal Chapel at Stockholm Palace. The couple has since welcomed two sons: Prince Alexander in 2016 and Prince Gabriel in 2017.

Queen Elizabeth II sets a new record

In September 2015, Queen Elizabeth II passed her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, to become the longest reigning monarch in British history. As of Sept. 9, Elizabeth — who was 25 when she inherited the throne in 1952 — had ruled for a record-breaking 63 years and 217 days.

The queen turns 90

2016 was a big year for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. That April, she turned 90, and that June, she celebrated the milestone with her subjects and her family at her annual official birthday celebration, Trooping the Colour. Four months later, she became the longest reigning living monarch in the world (at the time, she'd been on the throne for 64 years, eight months and seven days) following the October death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. He had spent more than 70 years and four months on the throne when he passed away at 88.

Prince Harry's clandestine romance with Meghan Markle is revealed

2016 is the year Prince Harry met the love of his life. That October, Britain's Sunday Express broke the news that Harry had secretly been seeing actress Meghan Markle, who was best known for playing paralegal Rachel Zane on "Suits." Royal watchers went crazy, especially as the Toronto-based Los Angeles native — who ran a blog called The Tig at the time and had a long history of humanitarian work — was not only American but a divorcée. A source told the newspaper at the time, "He's happier than he's been for many years."

Prince William's Swiss ski trip scandal

Prince Harry isn't the only British royal with a penchant for partying. In March 2017, Prince William went on a boys-only ski trip to Verbier, Switzerland, with some buddies and ended up making headlines with a small-scale scandal of his own. During the alcohol-fueled getaway, the married father of two was photographed drinking and high-fiving a female lunch guest who used to be a topless model and then was caught on video showing off some cringe-worthy moves at a nightclub (the British media dubbed it "dad dancing") and putting his hand on the waist of a mystery woman. His timing might have been the worst part: The Duke of Cambridge's getaway coincided with Commonwealth Day, which Queen Elizabeth reportedly considers one of the most important days on the royal calendar. She, Prince Charles and Prince Harry attended services at London's Westminster Abbey while William was partying with pals.

Prince Philip retires from royal duty

Early in August 2017, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, officially retired from royal duties at 96 — three months after announcing plans to step back after more than 65 years of service to his country and his queen. Queen Elizabeth II's husband — the longest serving royal consort in British history — has since attended only the occasional public event, such as family weddings. At the time of his retirement, he'd conducted 22,219 solo engagements, gone on 637 solo overseas visits and delivered 5,496 speeches following his wife's ascension to the throne in 1952, CNN reported.

Princes mark 20-year anniversary of Princess Diana's death

In August 2017, the world mourned all over again on the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death at 36 in a Paris car crash. One day before the sad milestone — which sons Prince William and Prince Harry marked privately — they ventured out into the rain to look at some of the tributes to their mother that well-wishers had left outside the gates of Kensington Palace, where she'd raised them. The anniversary came almost four months after Harry bucked royal traditional and revealed in an unprecedented and frank interview on Telegraph columnist Bryony Gordon's podcast that, after years of experiencing "total chaos" in his life as well as attacks of panic and rage, he'd turned to therapy to help him come to terms with his grief. "I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well," he explained.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip mark 70th wedding anniversary

In November 2017, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. HELLO! magazine reported that the couple, who married at London's Westminster Abbey in 1947 when she was still Princess Elizabeth and he was known as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, celebrated their platinum anniversary with a family dinner at Windsor Castle that was attended by senior royals.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce engagement

In November 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement to the world. They posed together during an official photo call at Kensington Palace's Sunken Gardens where the future Duchess Meghan debuted her new three-diamond engagement ring featuring two stones from Princess Diana's jewelry collection and one from Botswana, the country where she and Harry took their first vacation together. In an interview with the BBC afterward, they revealed they were set up by a mutual friend in July 2016 and went on two back-to-back dates in London. They also shared that Harry got down on one knee when he popped the question earlier in November at their then-home, Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, after they roasted a chicken for dinner. When asked what his late mother would have thought of his bride to be, Harry lit up. "Oh, they'd be thick as thieves, without question," he said. "I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me… [they] would have probably been best friends."

The Fab Four make their debut

In December 2017, Prince William and wife Duchess Kate and Prince Harry and then-fiancée Meghan Markle — whom the British media dubbed the Fab Four — made headlines when they were photographed together as a group in public for the first time while attending Christmas Day services at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the queen's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. As People magazine reported at the time, the outing was also a big deal because it marked a departure from royal protocol since Meghan was invited along. Previously, unmarried partners of royals were not invited — even Kate, who didn't get to go to Sandringham for Christmas until she was William's wife.

Duchess Kate and Prince William welcome third child

Britain's Duchess Kate gave birth to her third child with Prince William — His Royal Highness Prince Louis Arthur Charles — in April 2018 and just hours later posed with him on the steps of St. Mary's Hospital in London just as she'd done with his two older siblings.

Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle

Meet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex! In May 2018, Britain's Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle — whose father, Thomas Markle Sr., dropped out of participating in her wedding just days earlier after suffering a heart attack following his confession that he'd brokered a deal with paparazzi — at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. The bride wore a haute couture wedding dress designed by Givenchy's Clare Waight Keller and a silk tulle veil featuring flora from all 53 countries in the Commonwealth as well as the California Poppy as a nod to her home state.

Britain's royal family sees its first same-sex marriage

In September 2018, the first same-sex wedding involving a member of Britain's royal family took place. Lord Ivar Mountbatten (right) — Queen Elizabeth II's cousin who's also godfather to Prince Edward's daughter, Lady Louise — married longtime partner James Coyle, an airline cabin services director. Ivar was walked down the aisle by ex-wife Penny Mountbatten, the mother of his three daughters whom he divorced eight years earlier. See their wedding photos here.

Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank

In October 2018, Princess Eugenie — the younger daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York — married her love of more than seven years, Casamigos tequila European brand manager Jack Brooksbank, at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The bride wore a custom Peter Pilotto wedding dress designed to show the scar she has on the back of her neck following surgery to correct her scoliosis when she was 12. Eugenie memorably wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara on her wedding day — a stunning piece lent to her by her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Norway's Princess Mette-Marit reveals rare lung disease

In October 2018, Norway's Princess Mette-Marit, the wife of Crown Prince Haakon, publicly revealed that she'd been diagnosed with an unusual form of fibrosis, a chronic lung disease that will likely restrict her ability to carry out royal duties in the future. "For a number of years, I have had health challenges on a regular basis, and now we know more about what these are," she said in a statement shared by the BBC, which further reported that doctors don't believe the mother of three's illness is lifestyle-based and that at 45, Mette-Marit is considered very young to have the disease, which usually affects people in their 70s. "Although such a diagnosis will limit my life at times, I'm glad that the disease has been discovered so early," she added.

Prince Charles hits two milestones

Prince Charles — the longest serving heir apparent in British history — reached a milestone birthday when he turned 70 in November 2018. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, toasted him during a special birthday dinner at Buckingham Palace, telling guests in part, "Over his 70 years, [Prince] Philip and I have seen Charles become a champion of conservation and the arts, a great charitable leader — a dedicated and respected heir to the throne to stand comparison with any in history — and a wonderful father. Most of all, sustained by his wife Camilla, he is his own man, passionate and creative. So this toast is to wish a happy birthday to my son, in every respect a duchy original. To you Charles. To the Prince of Wales." Seven months later in July 2019, Charles — seen here in his official birthday portrait with his family — celebrated another big milestone: the 50th anniversary of his investiture as the Prince of Wales.

Lawyers quash reports of a royal affair

In the spring of 2019, sparked by a March report from the Sun alleging that Duchess Kate had a mysterious falling out with country neighbor Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, reports began to emerge hinting that Prince William was involved in a cheating scandal with the former model back when Kate was pregnant with son Prince Louis (Refinery29 breaks it down). There was also unsubstantiated speculation that Prince Harry was upset with his brother over the claims and that his anger was one reason for their alleged feud. As interest in the allegations grew, The Daily Beast and other outlets reported that William's lawyer's sent letters to British media outlets in a successful attempt to quash reporting on the subject while simultaneously branding the allegations untrue and claiming that false speculation violated William's privacy. Though U.K. outlets backed off the story, American media and Twitter — where the hashtag #PrinceWilliamAffair made the rounds — had a field day with the unfounded allegations for months.

Japan celebrates a new emperor

Japan's royal family experienced two major events in the spring of 2019: In April, Emperor Akihito, 85, became the nation's first monarch to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne in 200 years. In May his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, was inaugurated as the 126th emperor, marking the beginning of the Reiwa era. Nearly six months later in October 2019, royals from around the world headed to Tokyo to watch Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan welcome first child

After a year marked by family drama — Duchess Meghan became estranged from her father, Thomas Markle Sr., after her royal wedding as he repeatedly spoke about her to the media, and Prince Harry grew apart from brother Prince William — there was finally some happy news for the couple in May 2019. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. They notably declined to give Archie, who's seventh in line to the British throne, a royal title.

Britain's Fab Four split

In early 2019 amid consistent reports of a growing feud, brothers Prince William and Prince Harry broke up their royal households, and in June, Harry and wife Duchess Meghan officially left the Royal Foundation, the charitable organization they'd shared with William and wife Duchess Kate, and started their own. A few months later in a documentary that was filmed in September during Harry and Meghan's royal tour of Southern Africa, Harry did not deny reports of a rift with his brother. "Part of this role and part of this job, and this family being under the pressure that it's under, inevitably stuff happens. But we're brothers, we'll always be brothers," Harry explained. "We're certainly on different paths at the moment. But I will always be there for him and as I know, he'll always be there for me. We don't see each other as much as we used to because we're so busy but I love him dearly and the majority of stuff is created out of nothing. As brothers, you have good days, you have bad days."

A milestone wedding anniversary

Queen Elizabeth II's youngest child, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, celebrated 20 years of marriage in June 2019. The milestone anniversary is newsworthy as Edward is the only one of the British monarch's four children who has not divorced.

A scandal haunts Prince Andrew

An old scandal reemerged with a vengeance to haunt Prince Andrew in the summer of 2019. In August, Britain's Duke of York was named in a trove of unsealed legal documents concerning his old friend, disgraced American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — and the following day, the alleged pedophile was found dead in the Manhattan jail cell where he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Though Andrew and the palace denied claims that the royal was intimate with a then-underage Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who's repeatedly alleged that Epstein used her as a sex slave and made her entertain his friends, including the royal she's branded "an abuser," it did little to stop scrutiny of the prince's behavior — especially after he failed to explain why he continued to spend time with Epstein earlier in the decade even after the sex offender served jail time for soliciting a prostitute and procuring a girl under 18 for prostitution.

Princess Beatrice gets engaged

In September 2019, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Princess Beatrice of York — the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York — and British-Italian property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi after less than a year of dating. When the couple marry in 2020, Beatrice will become the first British royal of her generation to become a stepmother, as Edo has a toddler son, Christopher Woolf, with former fiancée Dara Huang, an architect.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan get personal amid legal battle

In October 2019, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made extraordinary revelations in both an unprecedented statement explaining why they were taking legal action against several U.K. media outlets as well as in an ITV and ABC documentary, "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey," making it clear they will not be following the stoic "never complain, never explain" approach that most of Britain's senior royals have embraced for decades. In the wake of increasingly critical and intrusive reports about his family, which sparked lawsuits filed in September 2019, Harry spoke harshly about the British tabloids he claimed had waged "a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout [Meghan's] pregnancy and while raising our newborn son" and said their tactics were reminiscent of what happened to his late mother. In the documentary, Meghan revealed that British friends warned her not to marry Harry "'because the British tabloids will destroy your life'" she said, explaining, "I never thought this would be easy but I thought it would be fair." She also admitted that she's struggled amid the constant scrutiny and as a new mother. "I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a 'stiff upper lip.' I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging," she said.

Sweden's king strips five grandchildren of royal titles

In October 2019, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf declared that five of his and Queen Silvia's grandchildren will no longer be counted as members of The Royal House, though they'll remain members of the family and will retain "Prince" and "Princess" for personal use. The move affected daughter Princess Madeleine and husband Chris O'Neill's (right) three children and son Prince Carl Philip and wife Princess Sofia's (left) two children. The two children of the king's first-born child, Crown Princess Victoria — the heir to the throne — were not affected by the decision. Both Madeleine and Carl Philip issued statements in support of the move. "Earlier today, the court announced that [my children] Leonore, Nicolas and Adrienne will no longer belong to the royal house. This change has been planned for a long time," Madeleine wrote on Instagram. "Chris and I think it's good that our children are now getting a greater opportunity to shape their own lives as private individuals in the future." Carl Philip also took to Instagram to write in part, "[Sofia and I] see this as positive as [our boys] Alexander and Gabriel will have freer choices in life."