Whether you’re born into it or marry in, becoming part of a Royal Family is a bit like winning the lottery and becoming a film star, all rolled into one. Just like that, you become rich and famous. And for better or for worse, people will intensely follow what you are doing and discuss what you have and haven’t been doing for the rest of your life.
Every now and then, though, being a royal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For example, when a royal marriage goes south, the royal in question usually has to pay ungodly amounts of money in the divorce settlement. And in some cases, these settlements go far beyond cash.
So, which royal divorce settlements were the most shocking, and who got what when the marriage hit the skids? Keep reading to find out!
Charles had to pay Princess Diana big time
You probably won’t be surprised to discover that Princess Diana ended up getting a huge settlement from then-Prince Charles. After all, we watched their marriage fall apart in front of our very eyes for many years. And while both of them ended up cheating, Charles seemed like he was checked out of their union from the beginning due to his ongoing affair with Camilla.
In terms of cash, Cosmopolitan reports that Diana got a cool $22.5 million in cash as well as $600,000 a year, every year, for the rest of her life. That would have been a great settlement in itself, but not only did Diana retain the use of her “Princess of Wales” title, but she also got to keep her royal apartments and some of her favorite jewels. Oh, and she could even use the royal jets whenever she wanted to, which is one hell of a perk!
RELATED: 10 Men Princess Diana Loved Besides Prince Charles
The hits kept coming for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
We’re willing to bet that you aren’t nearly as familiar with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as you are with Charles and Diana. Nonetheless, this Dubai royal’s settlement with Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein was so huge that it makes what Charles owed to Diana look like chump change.
As reported by Forbes, he ended up paying the princess and her two children a staggering $733 million. This amount was so high that it ended up making history: the settlement came from a UK court, and what this billionaire was ordered to pay became the highest amount the London court had ever seen.
Fergie got her due from Prince Andrew
Sarah Ferguson (better known in the press as Fergie) narrowly beat Princess Diana to the punch when it came to getting divorced. Her divorce from Prince Andrew in 1996 was finalized only months ahead of Diana’s divorce from Charles. As for Andrew, he was likely grateful that he didn’t have to pay her anywhere close to what Charles had to pay Diana.
According to Yahoo!, Fergie received a settlement of £2 million, an amount that would be worth closer to £3.8 million today (or three million in United States dollars at the time). Interestingly, much of this amount was specifically earmarked for certain activities. For example, a portion of it was intended to help Fergie find a place to live, and a large portion was put into a trust for her two daughters. She also ended up getting a yearly payment of about $24,000 but later admitted that she was so much in debt that she would have become homeless without the generosity of Prince Andrew, who eventually welcomed her back into his home (but not romantically) around 2008.
RELATED: Fergie Has Finally Spilled The Beans About Prince Andrew
Janan Harb seriously fumbles the bag
While it’s difficult to sympathize with rich people losing money, we couldn’t help but feel bad for what happened with Janan Harb. She was married to King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, but he left the country–and functionally left the relationship–after about two years. But because Sharia law still considered them married, she ended up making a big legal gamble once he died.
At first, she took the king’s son to court and argued that since the king had promised to financially take care of her, she was owed major compensation. She ended up receiving $17 million, and that could have been her happily ever after. However, as the Guardian reports, the king’s son countersued, arguing that he wasn’t responsible for paying his dad’s secret wife. And the court decided in his favor, meaning that he held on to his father’s millions and Harb walked away with no payout whatsoever.
Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud goes manic over a mansion
While there are many differences between the very wealthy and the rest of us, we certainly have one thing in common: if there is a house involved in a divorce, everyone involved is going to fight for it, especially if it’s a nice house. And that’s something that Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia discovered when he and his ex-wife Princess Fahdah Husain Abdulrahman Al-Athel ended up clashing over their beautiful mansion in Beverly Hills
The two bought the home back in 2011 for $17 million, and that alone would be a good reason to fight over the house, which the prince did by insisting that she not sell the property without his explicit consent. But as reported by AP News, he also ended up taking her to court in Delaware because he had an LLC that owed him $42 million and he believed she was to blame for its mismanagement. If that’s not wild enough, they ended up in court again later when they did try to sell the house because neither of them wanted to pay the costs necessary to repair the beautiful mansion that they had let fall into serious disrepair.