When you think about the Royal Family, chances are you think about stately and dignified people. After all, these are the nobles that British citizens look to for guidance and leadership, especially in times of crisis.
However, the Royal Family is capable of making mistakes just like anyone else. And because they are royalty, some of the most cringe-worthy mistakes have been caught on camera.
Don’t believe us? Well, don’t worry: we’ve assembled the most embarrassing royal moments ever captured on camera!
Prince Charles humiliates Diana in engagement interview
Prince Charles had a notorious awkward relationship with his wife Princess Diana. After all, he was cheating on her pretty much the entire time, and that affair was largely an open secret. But it’s still surprising how openly awkward Charles could be to the press regarding Diana from the very beginning.
Charles and Diana got engaged after only meeting in person 13 times and courting for six months. Diana was 19 and Charles was 32 at the time. In their first official joint interview after their engagement announcement, a reporter asked if they were in love. Diana instantly responded “Of course.” But Charles shockingly added, “Whatever ‘in love’ means.”
Diana later revealed that Charles’ appalling answer “traumatized” her.
RELATED: The Unknown Truth of How Prince Charles Broke Princess Diana’s Heart
Prince Edward snaps at the ‘Royal Knockout’ press
Sometimes royals let their guard down and reveal a major case of royal entitlement.
That was the case when Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son, organized the It’s A Royal Knockout charity event in 1987. The embarrassing TV competition included silly games where celebrities and members of the Royal Family did things like dress up as vegetables and throw hams at each other.
The 23-year-old prince was eager to start a career in television, and this was supposed to be his moment of glory. This led to a cringe interview with reporters after the event, where Edward said, “I only hope that you’ve enjoyed yourselves. Have you?”
At the general lack of response, he angrily snapped, “Well, thanks for sounding so bloody enthusiastic! What have you been doing in here all day?” And then he walked out of the press conference! But unbeknownst to him, the journalists hadn’t seen the event, as they’d been stuck inside the press tent.
Duchess Fergie is caught taking bribes
Most of the awkward and embarrassing moments on this list are pretty harmless. However, in this clip, we can see Duchess Fergie on video accepting bribes!
In 2010, Sarah Ferguson was caught selling access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew, Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment, in exchange for half a million pounds. Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid News of the World helped set up a sting and managed to capture her criminal behavior for the whole world to see.
“Five hundred thousand pounds when you can, to me… [to] open doors,” Fergie says in the video. She is even seen hauling away a bag stuffed with $40K in cash as a fee for “doing the big deal with Andrew.”
She later apologized and cause the scandal a “lapse in judgment.”
RELATED: The Biggest British Royal Family Scandals of All Time
Prince William’s awkward dance movies
Between Prince William and Prince Harry, we usually think of Harry as the party animal. After all, he’s the one with the history of partying in Vegas and playing strip poker with his friends.
However, in 2017 TMZ obtained footage of Prince William busting out some dance moves in the club. And… well… this might be the worst dancing ever captured on camera. Maybe William should leave the clubbing to his brother.
Prince Harry snaps at reporter
As we said before, Prince Harry is no stranger to controversy. And compared to some of his previous exploits, this royal reprimand is downright tame!
In 2019, Harry was ambushed by a reporter who asked what Harry hoped to achieve through his “brief visit” to the Mauwa Health Centre. After trying to laugh it off, Harry soon hit the reporter with a withering “Don’t behave like this” before getting in his car and leaving.
RELATED: Why Prince Harry & Prince Charles Relationship May Be Over For Good
Prince William has trouble staying awake during church
Did you ever have any moments where you accidentally fell asleep in church? If you did, you were probably lucky enough not to have cameras trained on you at the time!
Here, we have poor Prince William attending the Anzac Day service at Westminster Abby in 2018. This is just another part of his royal duties, but it is clear that William is having trouble keeping his eyes open during the ceremony.
Meghan Markle is snubbed by Prince William
The Royal Family basically invented the “stiff upper lip.” This is largely because they do their best to obscure any weird family drama that may be happening behind the scenes.
Sometimes, though, that drama pops out on camera. For example, in this video, we can see Meghan Markle trying to have a conversation with Prince William. However, the prince seems to ignore her completely and chooses to play with his scarf for a good, long time.
That’s ok, William. None of us knows a graceful way out of unwanted conversations, either!
RELATED: How the Royal Family Really Feels About Harry & Meghan In Their Own Words
Prince Charles squirms over questions about his affair
Even though everyone knows Prince Charles was constantly cheating on Diana, he is not often questioned about it directly. But that changed with this interview!
When Charles was asked point-blank about the affair in a 1994 documentary by Jonathan Dimbleby, he eventually dodged the question by talking about how personal the whole thing was. But just watch how he squirms uncomfortably through every syllable of the reporter’s question!
3-year-old Princess Charlotte claps back at paparazzi
Royalty has a complicated relationship with the press. On one hand, the press helps keep royalty famous. On the other hand, the press tends to intrude in royals’ lives at every possible opportunity.
And it looks like William and Kate’s daughter Princess Charlotte is already sick of it. Here, we see the three-year-old giving her best death stare to some paparazzi before informing them “You’re not coming!” as she and her parents walk into the event for Prince Louis’ christening in 2018.
RELATED: How Long Will Prince William Have To Wait To Take The Throne?
Prince George gets pushed down a hill by his cousin
When you’re born into the Royal Family, everyone expects you to act like proper princes and princesses from day one. But having a royal title can’t keep children from horsing around.
Perhaps our favorite example of this is this clip from 2018, in which seven-year-old Savannah Philips, great-granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, pushes her cousin down the hill. In this case, her cousin is Prince William’s eldest child Prince George.
One day Prince George will be the King of England, but the five-year-old looks just like any other kid when he is falling down the short hill! George of course was fine, and Savannah got reprimanded by her mother.