The most bizarre royal arguments ever - including Meghan Markle's alleged 2-word remark


From Harry's memoir revelations to King George III theatre brawl, the royals don't shy away from a good scrap when tensions start to boil


Prince William yelling with his mouth open and a fist raised at Royal Ascot in 2025.© Getty Images
Daisy Finch
Daisy FinchAudience Writer
1 hour ago

Classy, controlled and hardly ever cross, the royals ensure they're always on their best behaviour. Of course, they're only human and there are plenty of documented disputes within the royal family – throughout recent years and centuries past. Read on to find out more about Prince Harry and Prince William's physical fight, the board game banned from the palace and a brawl at the Theatre Royal...

Portrait of King Henry I.© Getty Images

In 1077, a chamberpot prompted a lifelong hatred between brothers

Perilous prank

It turns out that royal ruckuses have also been hidden away in the history books, with more deadly results than those today, dating all the way back to 1077.

That year, future English kings William Rufus and Henry I decided to 'tease' their older brother Robert Curthose by dumping a chamberpot on his head. Released from an upper floor, the incident prompted a family rebellion that resulted in a lifelong war against one another.

Prince Harry was once just as popular as Prince William© Getty Images

Prince William and Prince Harry had a physical fight over comments made about Meghan

Dog bowl brawl

It's not always a few terse words that spell the start and end of a royal argument. Indeed, the royals aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, particularly when it comes to Princes William and Harry. 

After all, they're brothers like any others. According to Harry's memoir Spare, William called Meghan "rude" and "difficult", an argument which escalated to the point that William grabbed his brother by the collar, ripped his necklace and knocked him onto a dog bowl. 

Pile of one notes from Monopoly the board game.© NurPhoto via Getty Images

Monopoly is completely banned from the royal residences

Board game ban

Some arguments don't lay fault at a single door; rather, it's a shared family trait of competitiveness or a stubborn refusal to read the rule book than can prevent board games from being the basis for cosy, afternoon fun and transform them into heated personal battles.

The royals have famously banned Monopoly from their residences, with the game reportedly prompting them to get "too vicious" and leading to several fierce arguments.

Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle talk in the Royal Box at Wimbledon in 2019.© Getty Images

Meghan reportedly remarked that Princess Catherine had 'baby brain'

Baby brain diss

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit from royal life, or 'Megixt', was enough to royally ruin fans' hopes of the Fab Four continuing to make public appearances, destroying dreams of the next generation of British royals working together to fulfil their public engagements.

But Prince Harry's tell-all memoir Spare revealed that things between the two princes and their wives weren't all sunshine and rainbows. According to the biography, Meghan Markle once noted that Kate Middleton had "baby brain" after having given birth – a remark which prompted an argument between the two duchesses.

Queen Victoria with her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice pictured in 1889.© Getty Images

Queen Victoria refused to speak to her daughter in person for seven months

Silent treatment

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's love story has gone down in the cultural history books as one of the deepest marriage bonds forged by the royals. But her attitude towards the romantic lives of her children was certainly not soppy.

Her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice travelled to Germany in 1884 and promptly fell for Prince Henry of Battenberg. Queen Victoria initially refused to consent to the match and refused to speak to her daughter for seven months except through their letters. Fortunately, a well-timed Christmas visit soon restored peace in the family.

King George III painted in 1767.© Getty Images

King George III had a fight with his son, the future King George IV, in the Theatre Royal

Stage fight

Sisters and brothers might have the occasional battle of wits, or a more violent confrontation as children. But King George III's patience ran so thin with his own son, the future King George IV, that the two fought it out in public at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

When the Prince of Wales stumbled in drunk, the pair started arguing. The argument became a physical fight and was so severe that two separate staircases and royal boxes were installed so that they wouldn't have to cross paths.

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