Are the queen's children doomed to divorce?

Published Apr 9, 2005

Share

London - Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles's wedding on Saturday was the sixth by Queen Elizabeth's four children. They already have three divorces between them.

Here are some key facts on the marriages of the three princes and one princess:

Prince Charles

- The 1981 wedding of Prince Charles to 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer relieved the gloom of economic recession. Diana became one of the most high-profile royals and gave the institution some glamour.

The mood was one of national rejoicing. But the union was ill-starred, and the marriage eventually collapsed amid mutual accusations of adultery.

They had two children - Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry two years later. In December 1992, Charles and Diana announced their separation and finally divorced in August 1996. Diana and her millionaire companion Dodi Al Fayed were killed one year later in a car crash in Paris.

Princess Anne

- The queen's only daughter, Charles's younger sister Anne, married Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. The couple had two children, Peter, the queen's first grandchild, in 1977 and Zara in 1981.

The marriage broke down in 1989 and they were divorced in 1992. In the same year, Anne married onetime royal aide Timothy Laurence, now a rear-admiral.

Prince Andrew

- Charles's brother the Duke of York married high-spirited publishing executive Sarah Ferguson in 1986.

The marriage fell apart in 1992 after the publication of raunchy photographs showing the still-married duchess in the arms of another man, Texan John Bryan. The marriage produced two daughters, Beatrice in 1988 and Eugenie in 1990.

Prince Edward

- The queen's youngest son is the only one of her children who has yet to divorce. He married public relations executive Sophie Rhys-Jones in June 1999 and they became the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

Their first baby, named Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor was born in January 2004. In 2001, Sophie lost a baby during an emergency operation for an ectopic pregnancy.

Related Topics: