Aug. 23, 2012 --
Adding to a long saga of scandal, the United Kingdom's Prince Harry was photographed naked in a hotel room in Las Vegas last Friday (Aug. 17). And like almost every photo of a celebrity sans clothes taken with a smartphone, the photos were leaked to the Internet. Prince Harry has had his fair share of public embarrassments throughout his life. But when it comes it royals behaving badly, he's certainly not the only prince to have a history of hijinks, to say the least.
Prince Charles never had the same wild streak as his son, but the elder prince has had his fair share of sordid public embarrassments. Back when Charles was married to Princess Diana, allegations swirled -- and turned out to be true -- about an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, with whom he had shared an on-again, off-again relationship for years. Although the two attempted to keep their affections a secret, he too caused a stir following the public release of a transcript of a private telephone conversation between the two in which Charles famously declared: "I want to be reincarnated as your tampon." The relationship was one of the factors that led Diana and Charles to divorce, with Diana publicly accusing Charles of adultery. Charles married Bowles in 2005.
Prince Andrew, Harry's uncle, Charles' brother and the Duke of York, is another male member of the British royal family whose relationships have sparked controversy. Andrew is a friend of multimillionaire -- and convicted sex offender -- Jeffrey Epstein. Last year, an Australian woman came forward stating that Epstein had employed her as a personal masseuse for four years starting when she was 17 years old, according to the Daily Mail. Epstein even ferried her around the world to meet the prince. The incident was not the first time Andrew's associations have drawn fire. The prince's choice of company has included oil billionaires from the Middle East, North Africa and the former Soviet Union.
Born in 1902 and the fourth child of King George V, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the uncle of Queen Elizabeth II. He, too, had a well-known reputation for unsavory behavior. Over the course of his lifetime, George had sexual affairs with both men and women, a major scandal at a time when homosexuality was an arrestable offense, a crime for which the prince was briefly detained. One of George's partners over the years was a male prostitute who attempted to blackmail the prince. The prostitute had in his possession love letters to him written by George. The duke also (allegedly) had a longstanding affair with English playwright Noel Coward. The prince was also a drug addict, hooked on cocaine and morphine. His family tried to intervene to get him to kick the habit, but it didn't take. George died in a plane crash in 1942.
Before Edward VII rose to the throne in 1901 following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, Albert Edward was the longest-serving heir to the throne and Prince of Wales in British history. And although he grew up in the Victorian era, the prince exhibited none of the sexual restraint that would define the times. When Edward was sent off to military camp as a teenager, he snuck away to have sexual relations with an actress, Nellie Clifden. The news of the affair stunned his prudish mother and father, Prince Albert. In fact, Albert, already ill with stomach cramps and in poor health, died two weeks after reprimanding Edward for his behavior. Victoria would plunge into a lifetime of mourning and always blamed Edward for Albert's death.
Son of Edward VII, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, was involved in a controversy that made his father's dalliances pale in comparison. When police raided a homosexual brothel on Cleveland Street, Albert Victor was implicated, along with other aristocrats, of being a patron of the facility. Whether the prince actually solicited sex from men and the very nature of his sexuality is up for debate. Although sent to British India in a seven-month tour to avoid the negative attention in the wake of the allegations, Albert Victor's popularity didn't suffer. When he died in 1892 at the young age of 28, the nation went into mourning. Prior to his death, the young prince had been making plans for marriage to Princess Mary of Teck, who later instead wed George V.
Taking power after the death of George III, the king who lost the American colonies, George IV didn't exactly have a tough act to follow. Before he took the throne, however, George IV caused a scandal as a prince. He led a lavish lifestyle, mounting enormous debt at a time when poverty was a chronic condition in London. In order to have his father, the king, pay for the debts the prince had incurred, George IV married his cousin, Princess Caroline, at the order of George III. The prince also, however, secretly married a Catholic woman, Maria Fitzherbert, who had been already twice married herself.
Born in 1660, George I became king in 1714. Though previously married, George had arrived in London for his coronation with two mistresses he brought with him from his native Germany. His ex-wife, cousin Sophia Dorothea of Celle, wasn't in any position to object to the arrangement. Nearly 20 years earlier, George imprisoned his wife over allegations of infidelity and dissolved their marriage. She remained confined until her death in 1726.
PHOTOS: Want to see Prince Harry at the North Pole? Don't worry, these pictures are SFW, he had to wear several layers of clothes for that adventure.
