Royal exes – Where are they now?
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Royal relationships have long captivated our attention. We want to know everything, from where they met to whether or not they’ll marry. But as much as we enjoy a good royal romance, we’re equally guilty of wanting all the details of a royal breakup. Once the curiosity fades, however, what happens to the people the royals once loved? Wonderwall.com is taking a look at what’s become of some of the most well-known exes of British royal family members… starting with Cressida Bonas, whom Prince Harry began dating in 2012 reportedly after his cousin, Princess Eugenie, introduced them. The aspiring model and actress was a constant presence in Harry’s life for two years as they shared kisses at Wembley Arena and took romantic holidays (including to Kazakhstan), causing many to predict the pair would eventually get married. However, in 2014, they called it quits, with some suggesting that Cressida felt overwhelmed by the attention and public scrutiny she received as Harry’s significant other.
Keep reading to find out where Cressida and more royal exes are today…
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Since her split from Prince Harry, Cressida Bonas has made her acting dream a reality. In 2017, the talented beauty and trained dancer had roles in two British films, “The Bye Bye Man” and “Tulip Fever.” The year prior, she appeared in two episodes of the British TV drama “Doctor Thorne.” In 2018, she starred in a stage production of “The Dog Beneath the Skin” in London’s West End, and in 2020, she appeared on the television series “The Murders at White House Farm.” She’s still close with Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and remained friendly with the Duke of Sussex after their breakup, even scoring an invite to his 2018 royal wedding. In 2019, another Harry — Cressida’s boyfriend of a few years, estate agent Harry Wentworth-Stanley (who’s the son of the Marchioness of Milford Haven and stepson of one of the queen’s cousins) — proposed. They wed in 2020 and welcomed their first child in 2022.
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Former “The Real Housewives of D.C.” star Catherine Ommanney made a shocking revelation in November 2022: In May 2006 when she was a 34-year-old separated mother of two, she had a month-long fling with a 21-year old Prince Harry, who was on and off with girlfriend Chelsy Davy at the time. The reality star told The Sun it started when they met at a trendy nightclub in London. “We had some mutual friends in the property business and he introduced himself… once we started talking, it was like there was no one else was in the room,” she said. They hit two more clubs before ending up at his friend’s place where the royal made her a bacon sandwich. When she said she had to go home, “he lifted me by my waist off the floor and held me against the wall. He gave me the most incredible, passionate kiss I have ever had in my life. I was absolutely speechless.” They continued to text and met up at clubs for the next few weeks. As for the reason she shared the news so many years later? Catherine told The Sun, “I doubt I will be in Harry’s [January 2023] book, as a prince can’t run off with a 34-year-old mother of two. It’s just not the done thing.” So what is Catherine up to today?
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Catherine Ommanney divorced her first husband then married and divorced husband No. 2, Charles Ommanney. In 2013, she welcomed her third child, daughter Zara, with new boyfriend Rick. She’s retired from the reality television life after appearing on one season of the Bravo series “The Real Housewives of D.C.” in 2010. She now lives in Mallorca, Spain, where she works as an interior designer.
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In 2001, Prince William struck up a love affair with Jessica “Jecca” Craig, a socialite from Kenya (left, circa 2013). The couple didn’t date for too long but during their romance, they reportedly spent long stretches of time together on Jecca’s family’s Kenyan estate and even, as gossip holds, once held a “pretend engagement.”
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Jessica “Jecca” Craig has kept an intensely low profile over the years, but she’s still quite close with Prince William. Jecca, seen here in 2015, reportedly married London Zoological Society director and conservationist professor Jonathan Baillie in Africa in 2016 — with William in attendance but not his wife, Princess Kate. It was later revealed that shortly before her marriage, Jecca had given birth to son Wolf.
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In 2004, Prince Harry met and became smitten with Zimbabwean heiress and law student Chelsy Davy while on his gap year in South Africa. The couple dated on and off until 2007 when they officially became an item publicly, though Chelsy and Harry were known to break up and make up repeatedly for years. Finally, between 2010 and 2011, they decided to end their love story for good.
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Although Chelsy Davy and Prince Harry had a passionate romance and a devastating breakup, they’ve reportedly remained good friends since moving on — she was even invited to Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 royal wedding. In 2016, after leaving her legal career behind and earning a gemology diploma from the Gemological Institute of America, Chelsy launched the ethical jewelry line AYA, which features designs and precious gems from her African homeland. These days, Chelsy is a married mother of one. She welcomed son Leo with then-boyfriend Sam Cutmore-Scott, who attended Eton College with Prince Harry. The couple quietly married sometime after the birth of their child.
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On March 17, 1986, the world met Sarah Ferguson, the bride-to-be of Prince Andrew, the third son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The couple married that July and Sarah (often referred to as Fergie) was given the title Duchess of York. The pair went on to have two daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. In 1992, Sarah and Andrew separated (the same year Prince Charles and Princess Diana did the same) and in 1996, they were officially divorced.
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Sarah, Duchess of York, didn’t fare well in the public eye after her separation and divorce from Prince Andrew, especially after racy images of her and an American businessman surfaced in 1992 showing him sucking her toes. Over the years, she’s worked hard to repair her image, becoming an author and even a Weight Watchers spokeswoman, eventually earning a renewed welcome from some royal family members. Fergie, as she’s also known, has long maintained a close friendship with her ex. She and Andrew, whom she’s said are “the best of friends,” have lived in the same home, Royal Lodge on the queen’s Windsor estate, for years — but they’ve not reconciled romantically. These days, Sarah is a busy grandmother of two: Daughter Princess Eugenie welcomed a son in February 2021 and daughter Princess Beatrice welcomed a daughter in September 2021.
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Even Queen Elizabeth II’s late sister, Princess Margaret, had a high-profile ex to contend with. The royal married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960 after a whirlwind (and secretive) romance. As per tradition, Antony was given a formal royal title after his marriage to the princess, becoming the 1st Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children over the course of their marriage (Lady Sarah Chatto and David Armstrong-Jones, whos’ now the 2nd Earl of Snowdon). In 1976, the pair separated and in 1978, they officially divorced amid rumors of infidelity on both sides.
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After his 1978 divorce from Princess Margaret, Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, maintained a friendly relationship with his ex-wife until her death in 2002. The same year their marriage ended, Antony remarried, this time to divorcée Lucy Lindsay-Hogg. Over the years, it was discovered that Antony had fathered children out of wedlock, including a son in his later years as well as Polly Fry, who was born in 1960 and allegedly conceived while Antony was courting Princess Margaret. In 2004, Polly took a DNA test that confirmed the earl was indeed her father. Through all the scandals, he maintained his relationship with the royal family and continued on as an official royal photographer for many years. In 2017 at 86, Antony (seen here in 2011) died in London.
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Prince William and Prince Harry aren’t the only royals who’ve earned a reputation as ladies’ men. Before his marriage to Princess Diana in 1981, Prince Charles was quite the man about town. In the late 1970s, Charles was in a brief romantic relationship with Lady Sarah Spencer — Diana’s older sister. In fact, it was Sarah who introduced Charles to Diana, reportedly after their own romance began to fizzle.
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Today, Lady Sarah Spencer is known as Lady Sarah Mccorquodale. Although she’s not often in the public eye (this picture is from 2013), she’s still close with nephews Prince William and Prince Harry. Sarah was in attendance at William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding and at Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials in 2018. She also posed for a family photo at grand-nephew Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s christening in July 2019. To honor the memory of her late sister, Princess Diana, Sarah serves as president of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which was established in 1997 to continue Diana’s passion for humanitarian aid across the world. Sarah has been married to Neil Edmund McCorquodale since 1980. The couple has three children.
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Sometime around 2003, while Prince William was attending the University of St. Andrews, he struck up a brief romance with fellow student Olivia Hunt. The couple didn’t last long, as it’s rumored that once William saw fellow classmate and friend Kate Middleton walking on on the runway at a university-hosted fundraiser, he was smitten and ready to call it quits with Olivia.
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Even though Olivia Hunt and Prince William didn’t work out as a couple, there were no hard feelings between them and they’ve remained friends over the years. When William married Kate Middleton in 2011, Olivia was on the guest list. In 2016, she returned the favor by inviting Will and Kate to her own wedding to English barrister Nicholas Wilkinson (seen here). While the royal couple didn’t attend the ceremony, pal Prince Harry did. Olivia and Nicholas were invited to Pippa Middleton and James Matthews’ 2017 wedding, which they happily attended.
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The reported romance between Prince Harry and British singer Ellie Goulding might be pure speculation, but eyewitness accounts of the two snuggling have us thinking there might have at least been something to the story. The two have known each other for quite some time (Ellie performed at Prince WIlliam and Kate Middleton’s wedding reception and attended Harry’s 2014 Invictus Games closing ceremony) and in 2016, while at the Audi Polo Challenge in Berkshire, England, onlookers claimed to have seen Harry and Ellie cuddling under a blanket and possibly kissing. Perhaps they were just friends, or maybe friends with benefits? Whatever the case, he set his sights on Meghan Markle just days after the polo event.
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Pop star Ellie Goulding is still very much in the spotlight. The “Love Me Like You Do” singer has continued to release music. She married Sotheby’s art strategist Caspar Jopling in 2019 and in 2021, the couple welcomed their first child, son Arthur.
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Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter, Princess Anne, was all aglow in May of 1973 when Buckingham Palace announced her engagement to Lt. Mark Phillips (seen here). The couple married that November and went on to have two children, Zara Tindall (née Phillips) and Peter Phillips. Their marriage was plagued by rumors of affairs on both sides for years, which led to a scandal in April 1989 when letters stolen from Anne revealed she was having an affair with a young naval officer, Commander Timothy Laurence, the queen’s equerry. That August, Anne and Mark separated. It was also confirmed around this time that Mark had fathered a daughter with a New Zealand woman during a one-night stand while he was married to the Princess Royal. Their divorce was finalized in April 1992 and in December that same year, Anne married Tim, her current husband, who retired from the Royal Navy as a vice admiral and is now a successful property businessman.
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Although the marriage between Captain Mark Phillips and Princess Anne didn’t last, they remained friendly with one another for the sake of their children, who’ve since made them grandparents. A trained Navy pilot, Mark turned his military flight experience into a commercial piloting career that later evolved into working as a pilot instructor. Mark found a new lease on love when he married American equestrian and heiress Sandy Pflueger in 1997 and had a daughter with her, but their union was rocked in 2012 when the press caught wind of a year-long affair between the captain and another equestrian 30 years his junior. He and his second wife separated. He’s currently rumored to be dating Belgian equestrian Florence Standaert, who’s also more than 30 years his junior. Mark (seen here in 2017) has also served as the co-chairman and cross-country course designer for British Eventing, an annual equestrian event held in Gatcombe Park, England.
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One of Prince Charles’s early romances was with young divorcée Jane Ward. The couple reportedly briefly dated in 1979 before he began seriously courting Princess Diana. What caused them to split? Not only was the future king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, concerned about Jane’s marital status, but Jane talked to the press about her relationship with the prince, which is a major no-no for the royal family.
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The story of Jane Ward’s life after she was dismissed by Prince Charles for speaking to the press about their romance is filled with unhappiness. By the mid-’90s, Jane had married, divorced and then married again, this time to farmer Andrew Collie. The couple had three children while living and working on their English farm. They reportedly divorced in 1995 but got back together in 1998, living as an unmarried couple for years. In 2007, Jane (seen here with one of her daughters at an art gallery opening in 2004) and her ex-husband reportedly broke up again and Jane took him to court to sue for financial compensation after he left her to foot the bills for their six-bedroom farmhouse.
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In 1949, the future Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (center) married professional concert pianist Marion Stein (center). The couple had three sons over the course of their marriage and divorced in 1967 after it was revealed that George had engaged in an eight-year affair with Australian divorcée Patricia Tuckwell, who’d secretly given birth to his child, Mark Lascelles. To obtain the divorce, Marion had to get permission from the queen.
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In 1973, former concert pianist Marion Stein, who was raised in Vienna before moving to England prior to WWII, married British politician and member of parliament Jeremy Thorpe. The couple lived in North Devon in a home built in the 16th century. While they preferred to live a quiet life, things changed when Jeremy was arrested on charges of attempted murder after allegedly hiring a hitman to get rid of a man who claimed to have had an affair with him years earlier. Throughout the ensuing trial, Marion was a staunch supporter of her husband and defender of his innocence. The jury later found Jeremy not guilty and the judge even went so far as to call his accuser “a liar.” Jeremy and Marion (seen here in a rare photo from 2003) never had children together but remained committed to one another until her death in 2014.
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