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Meet the British Royal Family: A Complete Guide to the Modern Monarchy

King Charles acceded to the British throne in September 2022 following his mother Queen Elizabeth's historic 70-year reign. Here's everything to know about the current generation of British royals

Charlotte Walsh is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared in E!, Tudum, Insider and Vulture.

The United Kingdom has a new monarch.

Following Queen Elizabeth 's death in September 2022, her eldest son King Charles acceded to the throne. He, along with his wife Queen Camilla , was coronated on May 6, 2023 , in front of 2,200 guests — including many members of the British royal family.

The U.K.'s modern royal family began when Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip in 1947. Throughout her 70-year reign — which was the longest of any British monarch to date — the family endured both happy marriages and heartbreaking divorces, tragic deaths and royal births.

Now with King Charles at the helm of the monarchy, a handful of family members carry on royal duties beside him full-time, including Queen Camilla, his older son Prince William and daughter-in-law Kate Middleton . Other members of the Mountbatten-Windsor clan — including the King's younger son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle — have chosen to pursue life outside of the royal fold.

The youngest generation of British royals, which includes Prince George , Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis , are also starting to make appearances at public family events — and stealing the spotlight with their adorable antics. In 2022, Prince Louis went viral for making funny faces at his mom Kate Middleton during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Just a few years prior, Queen Elizabeth's great-granddaughter Savannah Phillips (who was 7 at the time) made headlines for shushing a 4-year-old George on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

In February 2024, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles was diagnosed with cancer and would postpone all future engagements. The news came less than a month after the King underwent a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate .

The following month, Kate shared her own cancer diagnosis after undergoing a "planned abdominal surgery" in January. Though it appeared that the issue was non-cancerous, post-operative tests revealed that "cancer had been present."

Here's everything to know about the British royal family.

Queen Elizabeth

Born on April 21, 1926, Queen Elizabeth was the monarch of the United Kingdom from 1952 until she died in 2022. She served in the armed forces, joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service when she was 18 years old to become a vehicle mechanic during World War II.

She acceded to the throne when she was just 25 following the death of her father, King George VI .

In 1947, she married Prince Philip , and together, they welcomed four children: the future King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

The Queen "died peacefully" at 96 years old on Sept. 8, 2022. Reigning over 70 years, she had the longest tenure of any British monarch.

Prince Philip

Prince Philip , the Duke of Edinburgh, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth from their wedding in 1947 until his death in 2021 . Born to Greek and Danish royal families, Prince Philip served in the navy and was active in the sport of carriage driving.

King Charles

King Charles is the oldest child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and the current King of the United Kingdom, having acceded to the throne upon the death of his mother on Sept. 8, 2022. King Charles' coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.

Charles married Princess Diana in 1981, welcoming sons Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984. The couple separated in 1992, and Charles went on to wed Queen Camilla in 2005.

An active humanitarian, Charles founded the Prince's Trust in 1976 and has contributed to over 400 different organizations.

In February 2024, King Charles announced he was diagnosed with the cancer and would be postponing all future engagements. The palace said in a statement, "The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible."

Princess Diana

Princess Diana was King Charles' first wife and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry . After meeting Charles through her sister, Lady Sarah, the two began courting in 1980 and wed at St. Paul's Cathedral the following year.

A prolific philanthropist, Princess Diana advocated for causes like homelessness, cancer and AIDS research.

Diana tragically died on Aug. 31, 1997, following a car accident in Paris. She was 36 years old.

Queen Camilla

Queen Camilla is the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the second wife of King Charles.

She was previously married to army officer Andrew Parker-Bowles , with whom she shares two children, Tom and Laura, though they divorced in 1995. Camilla and Charles had an affair during both of their marriages and eventually wed in 2005.

In October 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that Camilla would be crowned alongside her husband at his May 2023 coronation ceremony. She will be the first Queen Consort crowned at Westminster Abbey in nearly 90 years.

Prince William

The older son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, Prince William was born on June 21, 1982. He is currently next in line for the British throne.

After attending St. Andrews in Scotland, where he met his future wife Kate Middleton , Prince William completed officer training and entered the RAF Search and Rescue Force.

William and Kate got married at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 , and the two share three children: Prince George , Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis .

He holds over 30 charitable patronages, and in 2020 started The Earthshot Prize, awarded each year for winners' contributions to environmentalism.

Following the death of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales — titles that were previously held by his parents.

Kate Middleton

Princess Kate was born on Jan. 9, 1982, to parents Michael and Carole Middleton.

She met Prince William as a student at St. Andrews in 2001, and the two eventually wed 10 years later. On their wedding day, the couple were given the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. However, following King Charles' accession in 2022, they became the Prince and Princess of Wales.

She shares three young children with her husband — Prince George , Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — and holds over 20 charitable patronages, including organizations that support mental health resources, fight addiction and promote the arts.

In March 2024, Kate shared a video on the Prince and Princess of Wales' Instagram account revealing that she'd been diagnosed with cancer following a "planned abdominal surgery" in January.

"My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I am now in the early stages of that treatment," she said in the video, later adding, "We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy, and I look forward to being back when I am able — but for now, I must focus on making a full recovery."

Prince George

William and Kate's eldest child is Prince George . He was on born July 22, 2013, and is second in line to the throne behind his father.

He's already participated in many royal activities, including the Platinum Jubilee and Queen Elizabeth's state funeral .

In 2023, George will make history at his grandfather's coronation by serving as a Page of Honor at the crowning ceremony. In doing so, he will become the youngest future king to have an official role at a coronation.

Princess Charlotte

William and Kate's second child and only daughter is Princess Charlotte , who was born on May 2, 2015. She is third in line for the throne.

Like her brother, she's already participated in a number of royal activities and even got the attention of royal watchers after she cheekily stopped little brother Louis from waving during a 2022 carriage ride.

Prince Louis

William and Kate's youngest child, Prince Louis , was born on April 23, 2018, and currently sits fourth in line for the throne. Though he's still young, the prince has already gone viral for his goofy antics at the 2022 Platinum Jubilee, in which he showed off a series of funny faces while watching the events.

In April 2023, the then-4-year-old prince made his Easter debut alongside his parents and siblings.

Prince Harry

King Charles and Princess Diana's younger child, Prince Harry , the Duke of Sussex, was born Sept. 15, 1984.

After undergoing officer training, Prince Harry served in Afghanistan with the Army Air Corps before resigning from the army in 2015.

In 2018, he married former Suits actress Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The couple has since welcomed two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

In 2020, the couple stepped back from their roles as working royals and moved to Meghan's home state of California. Three years later, Prince Harry released his memoir Spare , which contained bombshell revelations about his relationship with other members of the family.

Ahead of the King's coronation, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Harry will attend his father's crowning ceremony , though his wife will stay in California.

Meghan Markle

After meeting through friends, actress Meghan Markle wed Prince Harry in 2018 . On their wedding day, they were given the titles Duke and Duchess of Sussex by the Queen.

The couple are parents to two children: son Archie, who was born in 2019, and daughter Lilibet, who was born in 2021.

In 2020, the two announced their intentions to step back from their roles as working royals and began living in California. They support a number of charitable causes through their Archewell Foundation. Markle is also the host of her podcast Archetypes, which explores stereotypes women face daily.

Meghan will not attend King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation ceremony in May 2023 and will instead remain in California with her children.

Prince Archie

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's older child, Prince Archie of Sussex , was born on May 6, 2019.

Archie gained the title of prince when King Charles acceded the throne, as he's the grandson of a monarch; his sister Lilibet, respectively, gained the title of princess.

Princess Lilibet

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's younger child, Princess Lilibet , was born on June 4, 2021.

Her first name pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth 's childhood nickname, while her middle name, Diana, is in honor of Harry's late mother.

In March 2023, she was christened during a small, intimate ceremony at the family's home in Montecito, California.

Princess Anne

The second child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip , Princess Anne was born Aug. 15, 1950. An accomplished equestrian, Anne became the first British royal to compete in the Olympics in 1976.

She married Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. The couple had two children, Peter and Zara, before their 1992 divorce. That same year, she married Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

As a working royal, Anne performs official duties on behalf of the King and is the patron of over 300 charities.

Sir Timothy Laurence

Timothy Laurence and Princess Anne met while he was working as an equerry for Queen Elizabeth . They got married in 1992 following Anne's divorce from Phillips. In 2004, the retired naval officer was named personal aide-de-camp to the Queen.

Peter Phillips

Born Nov. 15, 1977, Peter Phillips is the first child of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips. A businessman, Peter has worked for Jaguar Racing and the Royal Bank of Scotland and has owned his own sports management company, SEL UK, since 2012.

He married Canadian management consultant Autumn Phillips in 2008. The couple had two children together, Savannah and Isla, before their 2021 divorce .

Savannah Phillips

Born on Dec. 29, 2010, Savannah Phillips was Queen Elizabeth 's first great-grandchild. She and her younger sister Isla made their royal debuts in 2017 at the Trooping the Color. The next year at the ceremony, she went viral for shushing her second cousin Prince George .

Isla Phillips

Peter and Autumn's second child, Isla Phillips, was born on March 29, 2012. Isla is often seen attending royal events and playing with cousins Mia, Lena and Lucas Tindall.

Zara Tindall

Born May 15, 1981, Zara is Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' second child. A talented equestrian like her mother, Zara competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in team eventing. In 2011, she married rugby player Mike Tindall, and together they have three children, Mia, Lena and Lucas.

Mike Tindall

Mike Tindall first met his future wife Zara at the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

In 2022, he competed on the British reality show I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and was eliminated just before the finale. A former rugby player, he played for Bath and Gloucester and was part of the English team that won the World Cup in 2003.

Mia Tindall

Zara and Mike's first child, Mia Tindall, was born on Jan. 17, 2014. She's close with second cousins George, Charlotte and Louis, even getting caught on camera distracting George during a 2022 Christmas walk.

Lena Tindall

Zara and Mike's second child, Lena Tindall, was born on June 18, 2018. Although she's young, Lena has already become a royal favorite , having been seen playing with cousins Savannah and Isla at equestrian events and crashing her dad Mike's podcast, House of Rugby .

Lucas Tindall

The youngest child of Zara and Mike, Lucas Tindall was born on March 21, 2021. His birth was anything but smooth, however, with Mike revealing that he was born at home in the bathroom .

Prince Andrew

The third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip , Prince Andrew was born on Feb. 19, 1960, at Buckingham Palace. A career naval officer, Andrew married Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson in 1986 . The couple welcomed two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie , before their divorce in 1996 .

In 2019, Prince Andrew was accused of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre and was later sued, though he has denied the allegations. In 2022, he was stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages, and a settlement was reached.

Sarah Ferguson

Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson first met Prince Andrew when Princess Diana invited the soon-to-be Duchess of York to the Royal Ascot in 1985. The two married in 1986 , welcoming daughters Beatrice in 1988 and Eugenie in 1990. However, the couple separated in 1992 and finalized their divorce four years later.

In the years since, she and Andrew have remained close, living together after the split and even adopting the Queen's corgis after her death.

Princess Beatrice

The first child of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice was born on Aug. 8, 1988. In 2020, she married property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi , and the two welcomed their daughter Sienna in 2021.

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

Property developer Edoardo "Edo" Mapelli Mozzi first met Princess Beatrice through mutual friends. They debuted their relationship at a 2019 gala for the National Portrait Gallery. The two married in an intimate 2020 wedding and welcomed daughter Sienna in 2021. Edo also shares son Christopher Woolf, known as "Wolfie," with ex-girlfriend and American architect Dara Huang.

Sienna Mapelli Mozzi

Beatrice and Edo's first child together, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, was born on Sept. 18, 2021 . Sienna's middle name, Elizabeth, is a nod to Princess Beatrice 's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth , while her first name, Sienna, is reportedly inspired by the red hair that Beatrice and her mother, Sarah Ferguson, share.

Princess Eugenie

The second daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Princess Eugenie was born on March 23, 1990. In 2018, she wed her longtime partner Jack Brooksbank , and in 2021, they welcomed their first child, August Philip Hawke. Eugenie is currently pregnant with her second baby.

Jack Brooksbank

Jack Brooksbank first met Princess Eugenie on a 2010 ski trip in Verbier, Switzerland . The two married in 2018 and welcomed their first child, August, in 2021.

August Brooksbank

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's first child, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank —affectionately nicknamed Augie — was born on Feb. 9, 2021. He made his royal debut in June 2022 for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant, showing off his wave in a Union Jack sweater.

Prince Edward

The youngest child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, Prince Edward was born on March 10, 1964, at Buckingham Palace. After graduating from the University of Cambridge and completing a brief stint in the Royal Marines, Edward went into theater and formed his own company, Ardent Productions. In 1999, he married Sophie Rhys-Jones; the couple would go on to welcome two children, Lady Louise and James Mountbatten-Windsor. In 2002, he stepped down from Ardent to become a full-time working royal and is now the Duke of Edinburgh.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh , wed Prince Edward in 1999. They have since welcomed two children, Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex. After working in public relations, Sophie became a full-time working member of the royal family in 2002.

Lady Louise

Edward and Sophie's first child, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor , was born on Nov. 8, 2003, about a month before her due date. Lady Louise's premature birth resulted in the young royal having an eye condition called esotropia (which Sophie explained is a "profound squint").

When she was 7, Lady Louise was a bridesmaid for Prince William and Kate's 2011 wedding. In 2018, she served as a special attendant at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding. She currently attends St. Andrews University .

James, Earl of Wessex

Louise's younger brother James was born on Dec. 17, 2007. While James was styled as Viscount Severn since birth, in March 2023, he became Earl of Wessex when his father Edward received the title of Duke of Edinburgh.

Related Articles

Prince William said it's been the 'hardest year' of his life. It marks a shift for the royal family's image.

• Prince William said 2024 has been his hardest year because of his family's health issues.
• William's openness marks a shift from the royal family's traditional public-relations approach.
• Experts said this could be part of a strategy to appear more relatable amid scrutiny over finances.

Prince William this week opened up about his "brutal" year amid King Charles and Kate Middleton 's cancer diagnoses.

Speaking to reporters in Cape Town, South Africa, William said it's been "dreadful" and "the hardest year in my life."

His comments are a significant shift from the royal family's motto : "Never complain, never explain," which was a hallmark of Queen Elizabeth II's reign .

King Charles' biographer, Robert Hardman , told the BBC's "Today" show that the prince's candid admission reflected how the royal family is "resetting the dial" on their public image.

'Another annus horribilis'

Richard Fitzwilliams , a royal commentator and a public-relations consultant, told Business Insider that William's comments were a "seismic change" and a positive move away from the late Queen's PR approach.

"It's been another 'annus horribilis' but for totally different reasons," Fitzwilliams said, referencing a Latin phrase that translates to "horrible year."

Queen Elizabeth II used the phrase in 1992 after Charles, Prince Andrew, and Princess Anne all ended their respective marriages. In the same year, a fire destroyed parts of Windsor Castle, causing more than $47.2 million worth of damage .

By all accounts, it's been another difficult year for the royal family. Buckingham Palace confirmed in February that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer following a prostate procedure.

The king was relatively open about his experience. During a meeting with then-UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on February 21, Charles said the support he'd received had " reduced me to tears ."

The royal family wasn't initially as forthcoming about the Princess of Wales' cancer diagnosis.

Kate announced in March that she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment following weeks of online speculation and conspiracy theories about her absence from public duties.

In September, Kate released a video on Instagram saying she'd completed the treatment but added that her path to healing would be "long."

In comparison, Queen Elizabeth II was extremely private about her health. In the biography, "Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait," Gyles Brandreth wrote about a rumor that the Queen was suffering from bone-marrow cancer before she died. (This was never confirmed by the palace.)

The battle for relatability

Experts said William's recent interview could be part of a wider strategy to promote the royals as a relatable family.

Related stories

It follows a controversial investigation over royal finances.

The joint investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches and The Sunday Times reported that William and Charles' private Duchy estates were making millions in profit from leasing lands to public bodies in the UK, including Britain's National Health Service, prisons, schools, the army, and the navy.

William and Charles are exempt from paying tax on the corporate profit they make from these estates, the investigation said.

The report added that in 2023, the king's Duchy of Lancaster estate made £27.4 million, or about $35.4 million, while William's Duchy of Cornwall made £23.6 million, or $30.5 million.

"With all the recent scrutiny over royal estates, William's candidness could be a move to foster trust and show they're human, just like the rest of us," Jack Johnson, a creative director at the PR agency One March, said.

"William is smart, and he sees that this attitude of being a real person rather than a godlike figure that's untouchable is a much more popular and powerful way to approach the people of his country," Jane Owen, the CEO of a global PR agency, said.

Russell Myers, a royal editor at ITV who was present during William's interview in Cape Town, said on the British talk show " Lorraine " that it was significant because it was the first time William spoke openly about the topic.

"I think that pays tribute to all the other people who go through it with family members," Myers said, adding that the prince's words will "resonate" with people.

"He will be king one day, and it's important for the future of the monarchy that he's a popular one," Owen said.

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

• Main content

Prince William Says It Has Been The Hardest Year of His Life

The Prince was speaking in an interview with reporters at the end of his visit to Cape Town.

Prince William has spent the past week in Cape Town highlighting solutions for the climate crisis at his fourth annual Earthshot Prize awards . And at the end of his trip he has opened up in a wide-ranging interview with UK media about his difficult year.

"It's been dreadful. It's probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult,” the BBC reported the Prince as saying in response to a question about how his year has been.

According to reports, William went on to praise Kate and say how proud he was of her and of his father after a year that has seen them both announce their cancer diagnoses . He added, "But from a personal family point of view, it's been brutal.” While the Princess has released messages and videos about her cancer journey, the is is the first time that William has spoken at any length on his perspective.

The Prince’s interview, which appears to have been one interview with content shared between the traveling media, made the front pages of most UK newspapers on Friday. William was also asked about his extra responsibilities in his role as Prince of Wales and even about his beard. “Charlotte didn’t like it the first time,” the Daily Mail reported William as saying. “I got floods of tears the first time I grew a beard, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back.”

The interview came after a documentary about William’s Duchy of Cornwall had made headlines in the UK and sparked much debate about the Duchy’s finances and conditions for some of its tenants. It is unclear if the Prince was asked about this in the interview, but there were no comments from him on the subject. The Duchy previously responded to the documentary by saying the estate was private with a commercial imperative and that the Prince has committed to an “expansive transformation of the Duchy” since he inherited it in 2022.

Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy has reported on the British Royal Family since 2010. She has interviewed Prince Harry and has travelled the world covering several royal tours. She is a frequent contributor to Good Morning America. Victoria authored Town & Country book The Queen: A Life in Pictures , released in 2021. 

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The 14 Best and Most Accurate Books About the Royal Family

The best way to satisfy your royal obsession between seasons of The Crown ? By digging into a royal biography or two. We rounded up the best (and most true-to-life) books about the royal family. Some are pictorial, some feature first-hand interviews with members of the British monarchy themselves, but all are chock-full of royal details you’ll want to know.

From Meghan Markle to Kate Middleton, All the Royals Who Have Recently Given Fans a Look Inside Their Homes

1. diana: Her True Story—in Her Own Words By Andrew Morton

Written with Princess Diana’s cooperation—and featuring first-person interviews with the woman herself—this book honestly chronicles everything from Diana’s unhappy marriage to her relationship with Queen Elizabeth. What’s more, it was re-published 25 years after its original 1992 release to include even more details about the princess’s extraordinary royal life. (Writer Morton re-visited the interview tapes to glean more insights into Di’s life and mind.)

2. finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan And The Making Of A Modern Royal Family By Omid Scobie And Carolyn Durand

Speaking of authorized biographies, royal scuttlebutt on the street is that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle themselves may have contributed to this upcoming biography (it’s due out in August, but available for pre-order now) about the relationship between a beloved English prince who courts and falls in love with an American actress who lives across the pond. But whether this book features interviews with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex themselves or not, it does promise participation of those closest to Harry and Meghan, not to mention an honest and up-close portrait of a modern couple unafraid to break with tradition and go their own way—even if that means away from the monarchy.

3. the Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser And The Wardrobe By Angela Kelly

Queen Elizabeth herself gave Kelly personal permission to pen this book, which details her 25 years working as her royal highness’s personal dresser. It’s about the clothes first, of course, but it includes gossipy revelations about royal protocol and life inside Buckingham Palace.

4. elizabeth The Queen By Sally Bedell Smith

Drawing on numerous interviews and documents, Smith paints a picture of Queen Elizabeth II starting with her early days as Heiress Presumptive up through all the highs and lows of her impressive 60-plus-year-reign. But Smith also has a flair for pulling the curtain back, revealing a more personable side of the stoic monarch from her determination to marry Prince Philip despite the objections of her parents to the ins and outs of her daily routines (including the famous “red boxes” carrying the news of the day).

5. the Queen Mother By William Shawcross

The Queen Mum died in 2002 at 102 years old, but before she passed, she authorized this biography—which came out seven years after her death—and includes access to her personal papers, letters and diaries, provided by Queen Elizabeth II’s mother herself. For background, the Queen Mother was incredibly well-liked during her reign as monarch. This biography is a portrait of a lady, but also a portrait of Britain’s evolution over the course of the 20th century.

6. philip And Elizabeth: Portrait Of A Royal Marriage By Gyles Brandreth

This book is best-defined as semi-authorized. (In fact, The New York Times reports that Prince Philip himself annotated some of the original manuscript noting: “Do you really want to keep that last sentence?”) It also captures the early days and longevity of the romance between Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip—now married for more than 70 years—as told through the eyes of some of their most trusted servants.

7. modern Monarchy: The British Royal Family Today By Chris Jackson

As a Getty photographer who’s been granted intimate access to members of the royal family ranging from Prince Charles to Princess Charlotte, Chris Jackson has compiled a collection of his favorite photos snapped over the past 15 years. But that’s not all: He’s annotated them too, offering behind-the-scenes details of events ranging from Princes George’s first day of school to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s fairy-tale wedding.

8. on Duty With The Queen By Dickie Arbiter

As the former press secretary for the royal family, Arbiter has a unique perspective—and insight—on daily life inside Buckingham Palace. He also has over four decades experience covering the queen including being the only royal commentator to have witnessed her coronation and lived through her Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees.

9. her Majesty: Queen Elizabeth Ii And Her Court By Robert Hardman

Written in celebration of the queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this book details Elizabeth’s monumental reign via interviews with those closest to her—including her beloved grandson, Prince William . In fact, Hardman was given special access in order to produce this portrait, which looks at her rise to the throne, but also how she’s modernized the monarchy slowly, but surely, year after year.

10. prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life By Sally Bedell Smith

A rich and nuanced account of the life of Prince Charles, author Smith captures—via interviews with those in his inner circle—his awkwardness, but also his good humor as the oldest heir to the throne. It also details not only his romance with Princess Diana, but also with Camilla Parker-Bowles, and the complex dichotomy between his ambition and the pressures to follow protocol.

11. the Diana Chronicles By Tina Brown

The former editor-in-chief of Tatler , Vanity Fair and The New Yorker , Brown was also a personal friend of Princess Diana. A decade after Diana’s death, Brown released this biography that details the female cast of characters (ranging from her mother Frances Shand-Kydd to her sister-in-law Fergie) that shaped the Princess of Wales’s life—whether she liked it or not.

12. ninety-nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret By Craig Brown

In one of the more sympathetic portraits of Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister, Brown manages to capture Princess Margaret’s glamour, vulnerability, likeability and unlikability all at once. To do this, he relies on interviews, parodies, diaries, royal announcements and more, painting Princess Margaret as the opposite of Cinderella—someone full of hopes and dreams that all get thwarted (or mishandled) in favor of preserving the crown.

13. kate: The Making Of A Princess By Claudia Joseph

Based on interviews with Kate Middleton’s closest friends and relatives, this book takes a deeper look at the woman who will be queen, starting with her upbringing as a commoner and covering her journey all the way to Westminster Abbey and Kensington Palace, when she married Prince William, the future King of England.

14. the Crown Official Companion: Volumes 1 And 2 By Robert Lacey

Yep, we’re in withdrawal, too. The official companion guides to the series provide a deeper dive into the historical events depicted in the series—everything from Queen Elizabeth II’s relationship with Winston Churchill to her royal relationship with Prince Philip.

5 Kensington-Palace Sized Secrets We Learned from Royal Photographer Chris Jackson

Senior Director, Special Projects and Royals

• Writes and produces family, fashion, wellness, relationships, money and royals content
• Podcast co-host and published author with a book about the British Royal Family
• Studied sociology at Wheaton College and received a masters degree in journalism from Emerson College

• Entertainment

Explore Beyond The Crown With These 15 Biographies of the British Royal Family

Fans of Netflix's The Crown are enamored with the British royal family. Rife with drama, tragedy, and privilege, the family cannot escape public scrutiny. But the show and tabloids don't always tell the whole story. This list of royal biographies is for fans who want to learn more and won't shy away from a nice, long book. You don't need to be a historian to learn more — this list of 15 books is full of scandal , heartbreak, and all you could ever want to know about British royal history. It contains more modern stories as well as older stories in royal family history, so you can dive in and get your fill of lesser-known royal stories.

Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand

Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand tell the story of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship and exit from royal life in Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family . Scobie and Durand work as reporters for the royal family, which enabled them to have insider information.

My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage by Ingrid Seward

Royal biographer Ingrid Seward details the dynamics of the widely-speculated-upon relationship between Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, in My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage . The book sheds light on their courtship, including how they met while Philip was still a Naval lieutenant.

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner

Anne Glenconner's memoir Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown tells the story of Lady Anne's friendship with Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II. As Princess Margaret's lady in waiting, Anne was witness to some of the crown's most important events and moments, so you'll get an intimate look at the British royals.

Royal Bastards by Peter Beauclerk-Dewar and Roger Powell

Peter Beauclerk-Dewar and Roger Powell explore the illegitimate children of the royal family in Royal Bastards: Illegitimate Children of the British Royal Family . The story starts in 1066 and goes from there, citing at least 150 illegitimate children of royalty.

Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages That Shaped Europe by Deborah Cadbury

As the title suggests, Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages That Shaped Europe examines Queen Victoria's ploy to control who married whom in the royal family. The book is full of drama as it follows the rebellion of Queen Victoria's descendants and international affairs gone awry.

Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury

Deborah Cadbury also wrote Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII , an account of four different princes during World War II. One of the men discussed is King George VI, who was a stutterer and subject of the award-winning film The King's Speech .

George and Marina Duke and Duchess of Kent by Christopher Warwick

Christopher Warwick wrote painstakingly of the courtship between the Duke and Duchess of Kent in George and Marina Duke and Duchess of Kent . George was the Prince Harry of his time, a playboy who loved to party.

Charles I: A Life From Beginning to End by Hourly History

Charles I: A Life From Beginning to End covers the life of King Charles I, a lesser-known historical character. Being that Charles I was executed, this makes for an interesting read.

Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the British Royal Household by Adrian Tinniswood

Behind the Throne: A Domestic History of the British Royal Household by Adrian Tinniswood tells the insider scoop of the royal family's oftentimes scandalous domestic lives. The drama includes a king tripping over his dogs (!), alcoholism, and a patriarch kicking his son out of the house.

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Craig Brown chronicles the scandal-filled life of Princess Margaret in Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret . Margaret was known to party with celebrities (as fans of The Crown know) — just one of the many fun facts you'll learn about her in this book.

Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had by Andrew Cook

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The Little Princesses by Marion Crawford

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Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird

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Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith

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Princess Catherine confirmed to attend Remembrance Day services with royal family after finishing chemotherapy

Princess Catherine will step out for two big public appearances this weekend as she eases back into royal duties after finishing chemotherapy treatment, Buckingham Palace has confirmed. 

Princess Catherine will make two big appearances with the royal family this weekend as she continues her recovery post cancer diagnosis. 

The mother-of-three stepped back from public engagements earlier this year after she revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer , shocking royal fans around the world. 

Princess Catherine eased back into royal duties in September after announcing in a heartwarming social media video that she had finished chemotherapy. 

Buckingham Palace has confirmed the senior working royal will on Saturday attend the Festival of Remembrance in London, followed by a Cenotaph memorial on Remembrance Sunday. 

Held at the Royal Albert Hall, the Remembrance Day ceremony commemorates those servicemen and women who lost their lives at war. 

Both events are significant public appearances for the royal family and are also attended by past and present military personnel, as well as government officials. 

Prince William and King Charles will join Princess Catherine on the weekend, the palace said, but Queen Camilla's attendance is yet to be confirmed as she recovers from a chest infection. 

It had been speculated that Kate would attend both Remembrance Day events , while sources claimed she is also poised to step out for the Christmas Carol concert on December 25. 

The Princess made her first public appearance back in full-time royal life on September 17, hosting a Royal Foundation Meeting at Windsor Palace after being cleared by her medical team. 

The 42-year-old also participated in Trooping the Colour in June and appeared at Wimbledon in July alongside her daughter Charlotte and sister Pippa Middleton. 

In a heartfelt update in September, the Princess of Wales said her focus was trying to stay cancer free , revealing the past few months had been incredibly tough.

"The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family. Life as you know it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown," she she in the video shared to X.

"The cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you.

"With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything."

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Nonfiction Books » Best Biographies

The best royal biographies, recommended by hugo vickers.

Behind Closed Doors by Hugo Vickers

Hugo Vickers talks about what makes a good royal biography, and how he helped Helena Bonham Carter prepare for her film role as the Queen Mother

Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy

King George V by Kenneth Rose

The Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester by Princess Alice

Ask Sir James by Michaela Reid

Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon by Sir Henry Channon

1 Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy

2 king george v by kenneth rose, 3 the memoirs of princess alice, duchess of gloucester by princess alice, 4 ask sir james by michaela reid, 5 chips: the diaries of sir henry channon by sir henry channon.

W hat do you think makes a good royal biography?

Do you agree with the idea that you need three types of biographies to get the best picture of someone – the official biography, the unofficial one and the memoir?

Not necessarily. I am not sure what is meant by an official biography, but if it means something that is written in such a way that someone is forever looking over your shoulder, then I don’t agree with that. But then, as I am someone who wrote an unofficial biography of the Queen Mother after many years of research and knowing quite a lot of her friends and spending quite a lot of time with her – to some extent I feel that that may be of more interest in the end. But you do need to have both.

The Queen Mother was quite a complicated person. Many people see her as the smiling old granny and she came out well in the film The King’s Speech , but quite a few people are uncomplimentary about her.

Cecil Beaton once said that she was a marshmallow made on a welding machine. I worked on The King’s Speech and I told that to Helena Bonham Carter and the image very much appealed to her. I spent a lot of time with Helena helping her to interpret the Queen Mother. We looked at things like the way she spoke. The question that I used to ask people was how many Queen Mothers were there? There were quite a few different ones. The smiling granny certainly was one of them. But there was the woman of steel underneath and she needed to be strong, but she used her strength in a very positive way.

And is it true that she didn’t want the film to be made until after she was dead?

That sounds plausible. Your first choice is Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy, whom you see as a bit of a role model as a royal biographer.

Yes I do, and one of the reasons is that it is the first royal biography that I ever read. I bought it when I was 13 on 30 January 1965 and I remember that date because it was Churchill ’s state funeral. The next day I rather nervously told my parents that I had bought it, expecting to have my head bitten off, because that had happened once before when I expressed an interest in buying a book on the royal line of succession. They said, “Why do you want to be bothered with that sort of stuff?” But this time they seemed to be quite interested that I had done this. And so that really opened the floodgates and I have bought a lot since.

So I read it then, and I have read it several times since. And I did subsequently read James Pope-Hennessy’s papers so I know how he wrote it and what he was trying to do. Of course this was the official biography, but what I like about it is the fact he got away with so much. It is so beautifully written and it is terribly funny and you can read a lot between the lines. Let me read one of my favourite paragraphs. It is a description of Queen Mary at Marlborough House in the late 1940s not long before she died. He writes:

“In the midst of this shimmering Georgian enclave in bedraggled post-war London, visitors found Queen Mary herself, upright, distinguished, dressed perhaps in purple blue or in blue velvet or pale grey, around her neck her ropes of matchless pearls. Awed strangers talked of Queen Mary as a representative of another epoch but this was a misjudgment, for the Queen Dowager was in no way isolated, a magnificent relic, in these 18th century surroundings. She would sally forth from Marlborough House to the young court for juvenile delinquents – ‘It was most interesting but I have never heard so many lies told in my life’ – or to enjoy Oklahoma! or Annie Get Your Gun .”

I love that sort of stuff.

So she was truly modern then. As a young boy, what was it about the royals that so fascinated you, even though you weren’t particularly encouraged by your parents?

Well my mother did certainly like the royal family. But I think perhaps she was concerned about how my interests were going. It started a bit like trainspotting and then continued. She took me to see the state visit of the Shah of Persia in 1959 and I enjoyed it so much I asked her to take me out of school to see that of General de Gaulle in 1960 and that made a great impression. And then as I grew older I wanted to find out more and more about these people.

And was it the other worldliness and the spectacle that attracted you?

I think it was spectacle partly and also [the waxworks museum] Madame Tussaud’s helped me a lot. These days, like so many things, it has a kind of theme park atmosphere, but in those days it had all the royal family and little biographies of each one so you could find out who they were. And I used to pore over the wonderful guidebook, which I still have, which had six or seven lines about each person. And that is how I got to know who these people were.

So you are a real mastermind on it?

You started young! Your next choice is King George V by Kenneth Rose, who introduced you to the literary form of litotes. Can you explain what that is?

Litotes sounds like a tropical disease but in fact it is confirmation of the affirmative by the denial of the negative, as in the line, “The King was not unknown for toying with his food”. What is so wonderful about Kenneth Rose’s book that it is again very funny. He writes things like:

“It was always a memorable day when the King visited an exhibition. At the opening of the Tate Gallery extension he stood before the French Impressionists and called out to the Queen, ‘Here is something to make you laugh, Mary’. In the National Gallery he shook his stick at a Cézanne. In another room he confided to the director, ‘I tell you that Turner was mad. My grandmother always said so!’… The King’s instinctive dislike of modern painting was reinforced by the treatment he received from leading artists…”

It is the dry and wry way of writing that I like very much. He paints a wonderful picture and throws off what must have been months and months of research very lightly.

And really brings them to life, by the sounds of it.

So biographies such as this really make headlines. Your next choice is an autobiography, Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester .

Yes, she lived to be nearly 103 and I went to see her a couple of times. She was very shy and wonderfully dry. When she spoke she always put an emphasis on the wrong word. She was a very attractive person. I reviewed the book when it came out. I just found myself laughing on every page. I was gripped and again it was this wry quality that attracted me.

For example, she wrote about the Duke of Gloucester in Australia and how at one point I think he was at the dentist and a lot of people spotted him there. She wrote about how crowds gathered but “it did seem a rather unnecessary display of loyalty!” She also talks about how her maid went off for a walk in Ethiopia and found two figures on a gibbet and came back rather white-faced.

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But she also wrote very movingly. She lost her son Prince William in an air crash in 1972, which is pretty much the worst thing that can ever happen to a mother. And she adored him because he was the wild child. She wrote very touchingly in the book about that. By that stage the Duke had had a stroke and he couldn’t speak and she said, “I never knew whether to tell Prince Henry or not but I think he understood from watching the television,” and on her own reaction to her son’s death: “I have tried to persuade myself that it was better to have known him and lost him than never to have had him at all.”

But you say she was shy so I am interested to know why she would decide to have her memoirs published?

That surprised everyone! I think she was persuaded by her family that she had an interesting story to tell and as a widow and having lost her son she had a bit of time on her hands. She wrote this very charming book.

Many people think autobiographies are somehow less reliable than biographies , in that people find it so hard to be subjective. Do you agree?

Yes of course it is hard to be subjective. But they are putting their records down which have many very interesting things. I always thought a book ought to be written in which people took selections from people’s autobiographies when they skipped over things. For example, if someone says, “The war years were quiet years for me,” you might say – hello, actually they weren’t at all quiet. This chap was in [the British foreign intelligence service] MI6.

I think with autobiographies sometimes it is really helpful to have somebody’s impression of their life and how they see the people they have met. I am a little bit suspicious of ghosted memoirs. I have just done this book about the Duchess of Windsor. Her memoirs were ghosted and the ghost actually said that the big problem was how to get rid of the first two husbands. The first one they turned into a sort of alcoholic, whom the Duchess rather warmed to, to the point where the ghost had to say to her, “Steady on, the readers are going to want to go drinking with this guy – he sounds like too much fun”.

Definitely. Michaela Reid’s book, Ask Sir James , focuses on Queen Victoria’s physician.

Sir James Reid was her doctor and it was said of him that she consulted her doctor like some people consult the stock market – three times a day. He never examined her, which was an extraordinary thing. It would have been very helpful if he had been allowed to do so. And he only discovered all sorts of things after she died. But it is a wonderful description of life in Queen Victoria’s court – the awful Munshi [her Indian servant] – which of course is fascinating. This book describes the last days of Queen Victoria and the Kaiser arriving and all the different people in the court so it really is very interesting.

Over the years there has always been someone close to royalty who is happy to kiss and tell. What do you think of their roles in royal biographies?

Your final book is more of an aristocratic biography than a royal one: Chips – The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon . He was an American-born British politician who kept diaries that were published after his death and provide quite a lot of gossip on the royal family. 

I chose him because he gives one of the most wonderful day-to-day accounts of the abdication. He was very keen on royalty. But not only that: I discovered in it the person I wrote my first biography of. That was someone called Gladys Deacon who was the Duchess of Marlborough and there is an amazing description of her in that book which set me on the quest to find her, and I did.

She was in a geriatric hospital and I went to see her during a couple of years and wrote my first book about her, which was then read by Cecil Beaton, who then asked me to do his biography, and off I went!

So this book was a great starting point for you.

Yes. And what I particularly liked were his extraordinary descriptions of royal dinners. At one point he said: “My own big dinner. As usual the house played up and looked very grand and glittering. It was lit up and full of yellow chrysanthemums from Kelvedon. I laced the cocktails with Benzedrine, which I find always makes a party go. Noel Coward arrived first … then the Queen of Spain arrived punctually and I was on the doorstep to meet her. Five minutes later, the Queen of Romania drove up so there was just time to make the presentations to Spain before Romania arrived,” et cetera.

And people don’t do those sorts of things anymore. This was a very rich man who was married to a [member of the wealthy] Guinness [family] and he was a very good observer of the party scene so those diaries are really enjoyable.

And they inspired you to keep a diary – why?

Because I take slightly the Mae West line about diaries, which is, you keep a diary and one day it will keep you! And also because when I first started writing biographies I met so many interesting people who told me lots of very interesting things that were not strictly relevant to the book I was writing but I felt those things ought to be written down. Actually, with Behind Closed Doors , this new book I have written, I transcribed about 60,000 or 70,000 words about the Windsors from my own diaries.

So a great source of material. And considering that you like Sir Henry Channon’s book about the abdication and you have recently written a book about it – it’s a topic which obviously fascinates you. Why?

Because as Lady Diana Cooper said after the Duchess of Windsor died, “No man ever gave up so much for one woman”. Men don’t give things up for women, so why did he do it? That is what is so interesting about it. To give up reigning over two-thirds of the world at that time on account of this rather strange, not particularly good looking and perhaps not particularly interesting woman.

And why do you think he did it?

Ithink psychologically he wanted to escape and she was a way of escaping. I think she was horrified when it happened because I don’t think that was what she had in mind at all.

She was vilified wasn’t she?

Yes she was, and I seem to be leading a sort of one-man crusade to ask people to think about it in a slightly different way. Every time something happened, like when the Duke of Windsor died, somebody like James Pope-Hennessy or Kenneth Rose would write a very well reasoned article saying it was not the great love story of the 20th century and everyone would say that is really interesting, and then they would go back to saying, oh, but it is the great love story.

Because people want that, don’t they? We want the great love story.

They do want that. I remember the Duke’s private secretary saying that when they were at the Mill, which is a house they had outside Paris, if they didn’t have guests, after dinner they would go through to the drawing room. They had nothing to say to each other, but they weren’t tired enough to go to bed. The decanter of whisky would come out and it would just go down, down, down.

May 30, 2011

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Hugo Vickers

Hugo Vickers is a writer and broadcaster, who has written biographies of many 20th century figures, including Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother; Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough; Cecil Beaton; and Vivien Leigh. His latest book, Behind Closed Doors , is about the Duchess of Windsor

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The (very) unconventional Princess Louise of Battenberg – who worked as a nurse, fell in love with a penniless painter and became the Queen of Sweden

Queen Louise of Sweden arriving in London airport in 1953

Princess Louise of Battenberg came from one of Europe's most noble families: her great-grandmother was Queen Victoria ; her brother, Louis, was created Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and would one day become ‘honorary grandfather’ to King Charles; her sister, Alice, was mother to Prince Philip. But what was the life story of this little-known royal, who went on to become the Queen of Sweden?

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Princess Louise grew up at the sprawling Schloss Heiligenberg in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and was known as Lady Louise Mountbatten when her father, Prince Louis , was created the first Marquess of Milford Haven by George V in 1917. The family moved around between different territories in the British Empire, and Louise often visited her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, at Osborne, her beloved home on the Isle of Wight . It was, by all accounts, a happy childhood: Louise's parents were very much in love, and she greatly enjoyed the company of her siblings, particularly her brother, with whom she remained in correspondence all her life.

Louise Mountbatten originally fell in love with a painter, Alexander Stuart-Hill, before she married King Gustavus VI Adolf of Sweden

With Dame Jilly Cooper’s blessing, Alex Hassell was cast as her all-time favourite character: Rupert Campbell-Black, a fictional formulation of real life aristocrats Andrew Parker Bowles, Rupert Lycett-Green and the Earl of Suffolk. Tatler ’s Annabel Sampson went to meet the man who made husbands jealous ahead of this riotous remake of Rivals

During the First World War, the Princess enlisted in the Red Cross as a nurse and was awarded the British War and Victory medals for for her outstanding service. It was during this time, in a field-hospital in Nevers, that she met a fellow volunteer: Sandy Hill, a penniless artist who was born above the family fish shop in Perth . Against all odds and despite their different backgrounds, they fell in love, with Louise describing him as ‘the person I have always looked for end never thought I should find. He understands love and marriage in the same way I do.’

Sandy, who had been a notable talent at the Edinburgh School of Art , had won a travelling scholarship which allowed him to explore Europe extensively. After the war, he settled in Paris , where Louise joined him. Queen Victoria enjoyed his company – even describing him as ‘witty and shy, a thoroughly good fellow’ – but not everyone approved of the unorthodox match. ‘I went around London with the two of them, but everyone turns in the street and laughs at him. She is madly in love with him, but he is so incredibly affected,’ Princess Alice, Louise's sister, is said to have remarked.

A wedding portrait of Adolf and Louise surrounded by bridesmaids and attendants, taken in 1923

Even so, the couple secretly became engaged, while Sandy – now calling himself Alexander Stuart-Hill – set about trying to impress his fiancée's social set, even staying a few times with Louise's parents. After some time, however, Louise's father realised that he would have to call a halt to their romance – for one very important reason, of which Louise was entirely unaware. The Marquess was ‘finally was forced to tell Louise that she could not marry [Sandy] because he was homosexual,’ writes Hugo Vickers in Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece . ‘In those unsophisticated times, Louise had grown up unaware of what homosexuality was, or indeed that such a possibility existed.’

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After the breakdown of their relationship, Sandy moved to a studio in fashionable Chelsea and became part of the 1920s smart set, counting Evelyn Waugh and Florence Mills among his friends. Louise, meanwhile, was heartbroken and, at 29 years old, convinced that she would never marry. However, she was wrong: at 35, she became engaged to Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden, a 41-year old widower. ‘Her engagement took everybody by surprise, not least Louise herself,’ writes Vickers. ‘But she had found a rare man.’

Adolf and Louise were a much-loved couple, and the Queen Consort dedicated herself to many important philanthropic causes

Louise rose magnificently to the challenge of royal life, and was swiftly given all manner of patronages – although she found it, as she said, hard ‘to be the protector of different institutions, as I have been accustomed to practical work, as an ordinary person, before my marriage’. Despite meeting some tragedy (her only child, a daughter, was stillborn in 1925) she dedicated her life to the causes of others, and became known for her modern and progressive views. Louise often advocated for causes such as gender equality, and the fair pay and treatment of nurses – indeed, such was her commitment to the Red Cross, that she was active in aid work for the organisation during World War II.

At the age of 61 in October 1950, Louise became Queen of Sweden when her husband ascended the throne, and proved to be immensely popular both at home and abroad. She was wonderfully eccentric, and travelled everywhere with a collection of Pomeranian dogs, which she would attempt to hide under her clothes when going through customs – much to the chagrin of the officers. She was once almost hit by a bus in London (as she would frequently jaywalk) and thereafter kept a small card on her person, printed with the words, ‘I am the Queen of Sweden’, so that she could be identified if she were ever in a car accident.

Celebrating her 72nd birthday, Queen Louise relaxes in the garden at Sofiero Castle in Sweden, with her husband and one of her dogs, Mitzie

During the 1950s, Louise suffered a few minor heart attacks. Her health deteriorated significantly during the autumn of 1964, and she was taken ill following the Nobel Banquet in December of that year, which was to be her final public appearance. She died in Stockholm in 1965 and is buried beside her husband and his first wife, Crown Princess Margaret , in the city 's royal cemetery. To this day, she is remembered as a pioneering royal, who flouted convention, stood up for her beliefs, and undertook her duty with style .

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The heir to the British throne admitted he’s had a “brutal” year after both his wife, Kate Middleton, and his father, King Charles III, both received cancer diagnoses.

“It’s been dreadful,” William, 42, said while in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, adding that it’s been the “hardest year in my life,” according to People .

The Prince of Wales stated that he’s “so proud” of Middleton and his father for “handling the things that they have done, but from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.”

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William shared that she is “doing well” after she announced on Sept. 9 that she completed her chemotherapy treatment .

After being told that he appeared relaxed, William replied, “I couldn’t be less relaxed this year, so it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that.”

The father of three then explained that focusing on work and his family motivates him everyday.

“But it’s more a case of just crack on and you’ve got to keep going,” William said. “I enjoy my work and I enjoy pacing myself and keeping sure that I have got time for my family, too.”

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Earlier this week, royal author Robert Jobson spoke to Hello! and shared that Middleton is back to her fitness routine following her cancer treatment.

“From what I understand, Catherine is doing very well,” he said on Monday. “She is back training at the gym and doing all the things she wanted to do.”

Although it wasn’t revealed what type of cancer Middleton was diagnosed with, she did admit that it was a “huge shock” when she went public with the news this spring.

Meanwhile, Charles was diagnosed with cancer after he underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate in February.

Last month, it was revealed that the British monarch would pause his cancer treatment due to his royal engagements in Australia that were scheduled to last for 11 days.

A source told the Daily Mail on Oct. 6 that Charles’ doctors were “mindful” and that his schedule did ensure to “prioritize” his health.

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