A King who can't stop pointing, a photo crop heard around the world and a war against ink pens. With as much scrutiny as they're under, it's no surprise that royals can cause quite a stir when they do something rude.
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00:00A king who can't stop pointing, a photocrop heard around the world, and a war against
00:06ink pens. With as much scrutiny as they're under, it's no surprise that royals can cause
00:10quite a stir when they do something rude.
00:14A lot of people have probably wanted to tell presidents to shut up, but few actually take
00:18the plunge — unless you're King Juan Carlos of Spain. In 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo
00:24Chavez referred to then-President George W. Bush as the devil, and he took aim at one
00:29of the American politician's allies, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar,
00:34a year later at a political summit in Chile.
00:38According to The New York Times, during a speech, Chavez called Aznar, quote, a fascist.
00:42Chavez proceeded to stir up more trouble when he kept talking while another leader was speaking.
00:47King Juan Carlos then reportedly said to him,
00:50"...why don't you shut up?"
00:51Some Spaniards thought this was a bit much. Willie Meyer, a member of a Spanish leftist
00:56group, told The Times,
00:57"...telling an elected head of state to shut up is something you can't do in Spain or abroad."
01:02It seems the people at that summit weren't the only ones who weren't the biggest fans
01:06of King Juan Carlos' behavior. As reported by Politico in 2020, a fraud scandal partly
01:10connected to an extramarital affair led him to leaving his country, though the charges
01:15were eventually dropped. He's since lived in the United Arab Emirates in self-exile.
01:20It's unclear where he'll go next, but he'd better not try Venezuela.
01:25The youngest entry on our list, Savannah Phillips, may also be one of the lesser-known members
01:29of the royal family, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been causing plenty of mischief
01:33in the background. Savannah is Princess Anne's granddaughter and the child of Peter and Autumn
01:38Phillips. As such, she's cousins with Kate Middleton and Prince William's children, and
01:43it seems that they are a close-knit family. However, in June 2018, Savannah was caught
01:48on camera acting a little rude, even from a child's standard, and cousin Prince George
01:52was the victim.
01:54According to the Daily Mail, the royal cousins were attending an event at the Beaufort Polo
01:58Club, where they were sitting on a bank with their families. At one point, Savannah was
02:02seen pushing George down the bank. The future heir to the British throne apparently lost
02:06his balance and was seen falling. Kids will be kids, and perhaps it was all in good fun,
02:11but this definitely wouldn't be considered royal behavior.
02:15According to the outlet, Savannah was reprimanded by mom Autumn for the polo club incident.
02:19It's also worth noting that Savannah's cheekiness has been caught on camera more than once.
02:23The same month, Savannah appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony with the royal family to celebrate
02:28trooping the color. As the royals sang, God Save the Queen, Savannah decided to shut her
02:32cousin up by placing her hand over George's mouth. The hilarious moment was photographed,
02:37and Savannah was seen giving a sassy smirk to the camera while George giggled.
02:42Following Queen Elizabeth II's death in September 2022, King Charles III assumed the throne.
02:48Despite waiting his entire life to take on the coveted role, Charles' ascension was far
02:52from smooth. On September 13, 2022, Charles and Queen Consort Camilla visited Hillsborough
02:58Castle, Northern Ireland, and the new king was caught appearing to be somewhat flustered.
03:03While signing the guest book, the pen King Charles was using started leaking. Rather
03:07than handling the situation like a professional, Charles was filmed venting his frustrations
03:12at the inanimate object. Luckily, Charles' wife was on hand to help, and she even took
03:16the faulty pen from her husband. However, the king wasn't finished with his battle against
03:21the writing utensil.
03:30King Charles' pen debacle wasn't the first time the new monarch had expressed his frustration
03:34in public. Just a few days prior, Charles officially became the King of England at an
03:38event called the Accession Council, which was held at St. James' Palace.
03:41But while signing the royal proclamation, the king was seen getting annoyed with the
03:45objects on the table around him. Charles was witnessed gesturing to a pen box on the desk,
03:50which was apparently in his way, more than once. Aides rushed to help the monarch, but
03:54the comical moment suggested that Charles is used to having everything done in a particular
03:58way.
03:59Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and Prince Andrew's ex-wife, has often found herself
04:03in the press for all the wrong reasons. In 2011, she made headlines once again for walking
04:08out of an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. The duchess was apparently outraged when she
04:13was shown footage of the infamous News of the World sting, in which she was allegedly
04:17caught on camera offering access to Prince Andrew for a sum of £500,000, which was approximately
04:23$715,000 at the time.
04:26When 60 Minutes Australia showed her the footage, Ferguson walked off set and told the interviewer
04:31to delete her reaction.
04:33But don't try and trick me now, because I'm not going to play this game. Delete that bit.
04:37John, can you just delete it, please, that bit? Because I don't want to go down this
04:40Duchess.
04:41John Scott, the duchess's manager, was extremely unhappy with the way the 60 Minutes Australia
04:46interview was conducted, telling The Telegraph,
04:48"...we had gone through all the questions and subject matter beforehand. She did walk
04:52out when she was ambushed, but after cooling down she said to me, f—k them, let's do
04:57this, and she did, but it was a banal interview and her demeanor reflected that."
05:01Ferguson's reaction during the interview certainly seemed rude in the moment. However, the fact
05:06that she apparently hadn't been prepared to discuss the subject matter somewhat explains
05:10her emotional response.
05:12While King Charles' altercation with a leaky pen was heavily publicized, he's also faced
05:17criticism for making certain hand gestures at public events. Back in 2007, North Wales
05:22Live reported that Charles had been called out for pointing his finger while making public
05:26appearances. The leader of the Campaign for Courtesy pressure group, Reverend Ian Gregory,
05:31told the publication,
05:32"...constant pointing is never a good thing. Pointing to get your opinion across can be
05:36excused, but to point at someone directly to identify them is very rude."
05:41It would seem that the main reason the group was especially upset over Charles' apparent
05:45bad habit had to do with his position of influence, with Gregory explaining,
05:49"...Prince Charles is an ambassador for Britain and by being so inconsiderate he is setting
05:54a bad example."
05:55It's unclear if Charles ever learned about the campaign criticizing his finger pointing.
06:00However, Gregory was extremely serious about the royal's need to change his seemingly rude
06:04behavior, even suggesting that Charles should attend etiquette classes. As Gregory told
06:09North Wales Live,
06:10"...if a man in his position is showing such a public disregard for politeness, then it
06:14will surely influence other people to follow suit."
06:18Prince Harry's 2023 memoir, Spare, made plentiful allegations about the royal family. In one
06:23especially revealing segment, Harry elaborated on the alleged dispute between Kate Middleton
06:28and Meghan Markle ahead of the latter's royal wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
06:32Bringing receipts to the table, Harry decided to share the supposed text messages between
06:37wife and his sister-in-law. According to Harper's Bazaar, the Princess of Wales allegedly texted
06:42Meghan to complain about her daughter Charlotte's dress being too baggy. Meghan reportedly replied
06:46to Kate with,
06:47"...right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8 a.m. here at Kensington
06:52Palace. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered as the other mums are doing?"
06:56According to Prince Harry, Kate subsequently told Meghan via texts that all of the flower
06:59girl dresses needed to be remade, despite the wedding being mere days away. Meghan allegedly
07:04responded by sharing her own stress regarding the drama surrounding her father, who ended
07:08up missing the royal wedding. According to the Duke of Sussex, the entire text exchange
07:13and Kate's alleged rudeness reduced his wife to tears, and added even more stress during
07:18an already fraught time.
07:21Social media can cause us all problems from time to time, and the royal family is not
07:25exempt. Princess Eugenie made a potentially rude social media faux pas when she seemingly
07:31cropped Kate Middleton out of a photo. In an Instagram post shared in June 2022, Eugenie
07:35posted several photos from Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
07:40One of the pictures showed the queen on the balcony with King Charles, Prince William,
07:44Prince George, and Princess Charlotte. On the far right of the picture, a sliver of
07:48Kate's dress was visible, but the Princess of Wales had been almost entirely cut from
07:53the snap. Royal fans flooded the post with comments. One Instagram user wrote,
07:57Who crops a picture purposefully to exclude Kate and Camilla? This is low and more than
08:02petty. It's mean girl behavior.
08:04Whether or not Eugenie was being intentionally rude remains unclear.
08:09While Queen Elizabeth II seemed to warm to King Charles' second wife, Queen Consort Camilla,
08:14their relationship reportedly took quite some time to thaw. For her 2022 book, The New Royals,
08:19Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown, Katie Nicholl interviewed historian
08:23Robert Lacey. He detailed Queen Elizabeth's allegedly real thoughts on Camilla Parker
08:28Bowles, telling Nicholl,
08:30In 1998, when Charles was trying to persuade his mother to be more accommodating of Camilla,
08:35the queen described her as that wicked woman. Those damning words were reported in distress
08:40by Prince Charles himself.
08:42If Lacey's words are to be believed, the queen was most definitely not a fan of Camilla,
08:47especially in the wake of Princess Diana's tragic death in August 1997. In the years
08:52after the queen's alleged verbal jab, Charles' new partner began to ingratiate herself with
08:57the royal family and the general public. In fact, when Charles and Camilla finally tied
09:01the knot on April 9, 2005, the queen had some important words for the couple. According
09:06to The Irish Times, the monarch toasted her son and his new bride after the wedding by
09:10reportedly saying,
09:11They have come through, and I'm very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry
09:16with the woman he loves.
09:18The monarch's death even surprised many when she made a surprise announcement regarding
09:21Camilla's future royal title.
09:23She said that when her son Charles becomes king, his wife Camilla will be known as queen.
09:28After all the drama of the Diana years, this is quite a moment.