A PRINCESS Diana ‘lookalike daughter’, a prince’s Tory MP ‘son’ and Princess Margaret’s ‘secret child’ – it’s fair to say the royals have been hit with some explosive love child rumours over the years.
And now Prince Charles and Camilla have been thrust into the centre of a new scandal as a builder has made the bonkers claim that Megxit was actually a cover-up to hide the fact they’re his real parents.
Simon Dorante-Day, 53 – who lives in Australia – has had his bizarre claim thrown out of court three times already – buthe’s now heading to Australia’s high court in a bid to force Charles and Camilla to take a DNA test.
Simon claims the royal family must have learned of the latest development and discussed it at the Sandringham Summit, where the Megxit dealwas finalised earlier this month.
But he’s far from the first to make an outlandish claim about secretly being of royal blood. Here are all the most explosive rumours from previous years:
Diana’s ‘lookalike daughter’
Perhaps one of the most implausible royal rumours to come out of the US in 2014 was a bizarre claim that Prince Charles and Princess Diana had a secret daughter named Sarah.
US gossip magazine The Globe ran a front page photo of Kate Middleton with the headline: “Kate meets Diana’s secret daughter!”
Next to it was a side by side photo of ‘Sarah’, who was seen smiling with long blonde wavy hair, alongside a snap of the late Diana herself.
The tasteless story claimedthat in December 1980, before Charles announced his engagement to Lady Diana Spencer, the Queen insisted on fertility tests to check she was able to bear an heir to the throne.
During the process a fertilised egg was allegedly kept by a doctor who implanted it in his wife.
The girl, Sarah, was allegedly born in October 1981 eight months before Prince Williams birth on June 21, 1982.
The story was largely branded ridiculous around the world after circulating across the US.
Sensational claims of Prince Harry ‘love child’
Prepare to suspend your belief for this one.
Prince Harry and Meghan had to deal with their fair share of rumours in the run up to their wedding in 2018, but one particularly sensational US claim stood out amongst the rest.
Globe magazine – the very same that printed the Diana claims – this time published a front page with a photo of a young red headed boy and the headline: “Harry’s love child wrecks wedding! Crisis for Meghan as baby mama reveals hidden son.”
The report centred on a woman who claimed she became pregnant after a night of passion with the prince in 2013.
It’s fair to say the absurd claim did not wreck Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Scandalous George, Duke of Kent’s ‘secret son’
Prince George, Duke of Kent – younger brother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI – has long been rumoured to have enjoyed a scandalous life filled with parties and affairs – with both women and men.
And amid the gossip surrounding the duke was a claim he enjoyed a romance with glamorous American socialite Alice Kiki Gwynne.
According to rumours published in multiple news outlets, the pair had a child together in 1926 before putting the baby up for adoption.
The baby, later named Michael Temple Canfield, was reportedly adopted by Cass Canfield and went on to marry Caroline Lee Bouvier, the younger sister of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
The claims have never been confirmed by the royal family or anyone related to Michael and have largely been branded wild rumours.
Princess Margaret’s ‘secret son’
However far-fetched it may seem, accountant Robert Brown had the world hooked when he claimed he was the secret love child of the Queen’s late sister Princess Margaret more than a decade ago.
Robert claims Margaret had a fling with Robin Douglas-Home, a Scottish aristocrat and nephew of PM Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who died in 1968.
He claims Margaret later fell pregnant and gave birth in secret, before giving the baby to Cynthia and Douglas Brown to bring up as their own.
The Court of Appeal previously branded his claim scandalous and irrational, while lawyers acting for the royal family dismissed his case as that of “a fantasist seeking to feed his private obsession”.
Wild claims ex-jailbird Tory MP is son of prince
Jonathan Aitken had a scandal-filled life during his time as a Tory MP, having gone from being tipped as a future prime minister to being jailed for perjury.
But it didn’t end with his political career, as an extraordinary claim emerged in a book in 2008 that he was actually the child of the late Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the Mail Online previously reported.
The book, written by Dutch historian Cees Fasseur, shockingly claimed that Jonathan was born following a wartime affair between Bernhard and Aitken’s mother, Penelope Maffey.
The bizarre claim has never been confirmed – nor addressed – by anyone involved.
However, while some are simply rumours and gossip – other royals have openly admitted to having children out of wedlock – and even granted some royal titles in the past:
Belgium’s ex-king admits daughter from affair
Former Belgian King Albert II has been fighting claims from Belgian artist Delphine Bol, 51, for years that he fathered her in an affair in the 1960s.
But the 85-year-old former king has now finally admitted this week that he was indeed her father, after being forced to give a DNA test.
Albert acknowledged the result of the test in a statement to Belgian media, according to broadcaster RTBF. It read: “Legally, he will end the legal battle there and accept that Delphine Boel is his fourth child.”
The rumours first began circulating around 20 years ago, in an unauthorised biography about the former king’s wife.
Delphine’s mother Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps reportedly claimed the two had an affair between 1966 and 1984.
Albert II abdicated in July 2013 due to ill health, with his son, Philippe, taking over.
Prince of Monaco’s children
Prince Albert of Monaco may have fathered four children, but only his youngest two have been brought up in the royal family.
His first-born daughter Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, as well as his first-born son Alexandre Coste, have lived their lives out of the spotlight while his youngest twins with Charlene of Monaco, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, have remained royal.
Both Jazmin and Alexandre were born out of wedlock.
The prince publicly confirmed he was Jazmin’s father on June 1, 2006, after fathering her with Tamara Jean Rotolo. He reportedly said at the time he wanted to protect her identity until she was an adult.
Alexandre, born in 2003, is the son of flight attendant Nicole Coste, who Prince Albert enjoyed a relationship with in the late 1990s.
The siblings are all thought to be in touch and Jazmin previously told Harper’s Baazar of her half-siblings: “I can’t wait to be a sister to them and watch them grow up.”
Captain Mark Phillips’ NZ daughter
It was one of the greatest scandals to hit the royal family at the time, as it emerged Captain Mark Phillips, ex-husband of the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne, had fathered a love child.
It’s claimed Phillips had a one night stand with New Zealand art teacher Heather Tonkin in Auckland in 1984, before she went on to welcome a daughter, Felicity.
Mark was only confirmed as the father following a DNA test in 1991 and, according to the New Zealand Herald, Heather later defended going public with her daughter’s paternity.
She is said to have told the media: “I am doing what I am doing for my child. I hope and pray Mark will do the right thing and make a proper and legally-binding settlement on her.”
Spanish king’s son who won title before death
It was revealed in 2003 that the former King Juan Carlos of Spain had a new relative – an uncle, aged 74 at the time, named Leandro.
In fact, Leandro – full name Don Leandro Alfonso Ruiz Moragas – was the son of King Alfonso XIII and an actress.
Having taken his claims to court, he later revealed he had no obstacles thrown in front of him by the royal family at the time, and was even granted a DNA test.
Now I am Highness and, of course, my heirs are Excellencies, he told the Madrid daily newspaper El Mundo after the court ruled he was royal. I am Royal Highness, brother of the King and Infante (Prince) of Spain.”
He passed away in 2016.
Prince Carlos welcomes son as prince
Leandro wasn’t the only ‘new royal’ to be given a title after revealing his parentage.
In 2018, Hugo Klynstra – then 21 – won a legal fight to gain his own royal title.
Hugo is the son of Prince Carlos Xavier Bourbon de Parma and Brigette Klynstra, a friend of the royal who he had a relationship with before his marriage.
It was widely reported at the time that the prince made an unofficial pact with Hugo’s mother not to give him a title when he was born. However Hugo later overturned that decision.
Royal ‘black sheep’ Marina Ogilvy’s daughter
For years, Marina Ogilvy – daughter of Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy – was known as a bit of a black sheep in the royal family, as she previously posed for fetish magazines before falling pregnant out of wedlock.
Marina went on to marry the photographer father of her baby, Paul Mowatt, before giving birth – with Marina ensuring it was a ceremony to remember as she wore a black dress on the day.
They later welcomed daughter Zenouska Mowatt together and she has since been pictured sharing the Buckingham Palace balcony with the rest of the royal family.
While they’ve been hit with some extraordinary and downright absurd rumours over the years, the royals across the world have almost always kept a dignified silence unless there’s truth behind the claims – ensuring the rumours remain nothing more than gossip.
