When you really think about it, it’s not that shocking that so many members of the Royal Family are arrogant. After all, each one is born rich and famous and benefits from both inherited wealth and a media that will fawn over their every move. If that was how you were raised, chances are that you’d be pretty arrogant, too!
But that got us thinking: while every royal is at least a little arrogant, who is the worst offender? In short, who are the most arrogant members of the Royal Family? Keep reading to find out!
King Charles
Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, Charles became the King of England. That makes him the most influential member of the Royal Family. And while you might think that was what made him arrogant, make no mistake: “arrogance” has described Charles since long before he put on the crown.
Sally Bedell Smith wrote about this arrogance in the biography Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life. As reported by The New Yorker, the book describes Charles quite bluntly as “a tantrum-throwing dilettante.” Additionally, the book claims that Charles deeply resents when he is forced to fly first-class, preferring instead to travel by private jet. Oh, and he carries around a white leather toilet seat (whether that’s arrogant or just weird, we’ll let you decide).
But to really understand Charles’ arrogance, you need to understand what he has his servants do (he once had 85 servants and may likely have many more now as king). According to The Guardian, no less than four different servants had the unenviable job of picking up Charles’ discarded clothes, laying out new outfits, and even helping the king get dressed. Oh, he also allegedly has a servant to squeeze toothpaste onto his brush and other servants to iron his shoelaces, like a perfectly normal and humble royal.
RELATED: 8 Odd Facts You Never Knew About Prince Charles
Prince Philip
Despite being married to the beloved Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip was her opposite number in many ways. And this included being one of the most arrogant royals to ever walk the planet while he was still alive.
According to Mashable, much of Philip’s arrogance was on display when he traveled. He once told the Nigerian president that his traditional robes of office made him look “ready for bed.” At one point, he received a gift from a Kenyan woman…and promptly asked her whether she was a woman or not. And speaking of women, he once said that “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing,” which seems like a sidelong swipe at his own wife, the Queen!
The most arrogant Philip moment, though, came when he caused a car crash in 2019. The other car had two adults and one baby, and even though Philip was not injured at all, the other car’s passenger broke his wrist and couldn’t work for two months. According to The Daily Beast, Philip not only refused to apologize for injuring a man and nearly killing a baby, but he was spotted driving around the next day without wearing a seatbelt.
Prince Andrew
By now, Prince Andrew’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein is well-known, as is Andrew getting accused of allegedly raping an underage girl (a matter that went to court, forcing Andrew to settle). So you might expect him to be an arrogant monster, but trust us: this is just scratching the bottom of the barrel.
For example, as the late Queen’s favorite son, Andrew grew up quite spoiled, and that resulted in rotten behavior. As the Daily Mail reports, this included everything from taunting guards on duty to kicking dogs when he thought nobody was watching.
Vanity Fair also points out that Andrew has been openly arrogant for a good, long time. The mildest of these scandals involved Andrew flying 50 miles by helicopter just to have lunch, a stunt that cost taxpayers $5,000 and earned the royal the nickname “Air-Miles Andy.” He also had dinner with the corrupt Kazakhstan president, which apparently resulted in that president’s son-in-law buying a mansion Andrew was selling…for almost $5 million more than its worth.
Ah, Prince Andrew. Come for the dog-kicking and stick around for the deals with corrupt foreign officials and his palling around with Jeffrey Epstein!
RELATED: A Timeline Of Prince Andrew’s Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell
Harry and Meghan
Of course, it’s impossible to discuss arrogant royals without discussing Harry and Meghan. Interestingly, these two demonstrated some serious arrogance back when they lived in England, but things arguably didn’t shift into high gear until they left the country, ultimately settling in America.
For example, Page Six reports that some staff quit working for Buckingham Palace after reporting that Meghan Markle bullied them. At the time, some claimed this was just a cover for the bombshell Oprah interview (more on that in a moment), but nearly two years later, many who made those claims are sticking to them.
The couple also caused major headlines when they expected taxpayers to cover their security costs after they left the country (British taxpayers, as you might imagine, did not want to pay to protect royals who chose to live in America). And once Harry and Meghan got to America, they threw the Royal Family under the bus at every turn, from airing dirty laundry (including allegations of one senior royal being racist) during their Oprah interview to mining family drama to help promote their Harry & Meghan docuseries on Netflix.
In other words, as working royals, they were allegedly arrogant and bullying, and after stepping down, expected special taxpayer treatment and, when they didn’t get it, began putting their own family on blast at every turn while chasing fat paychecks. It doesn’t get more arrogant than this!