Royal Siblings, Scandals and Crises

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew (who denies any wrongdoing and is innocent until proven guilty), has encouraged news outlets to look at the precedent of royals falling foul of the law. Many have referred to the trial and execution of Charles I over 350 years ago as the last British royal to be arrested, but that isn't technically the case...in this bonus episode, Dan gives a potted history of the many times royals - princes in particular - have found themselves in trouble with the law and with their monarch siblings. From the rivalries of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman kings to the scandals of the Plantagenets and the Georgians, this is a tumultuous account of Britain's monarchy through the ages.

Written by Dan Snow, produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There's a long history of royal siblings. Well, I say siblings, usually brothers, who end up in
0:11.5	serious trouble. It's just fascinating how often our royal history, brothers have ended up in
0:15.9	court, in cells, in exile, with their heads on the block, and in shallow graves.
0:24.1	The news this week that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew,
0:27.4	formerly the Duke of York, who was arrested and released under investigation,
0:30.9	has prompted, yes, I'm afraid to say, this emergency episode,
0:34.4	like all the other ones who've been bombarded with this week, so apologies to that,
0:41.3	but this one is great, you're going to love it. We do, of course, have to say that Andrew is innocent until proven guilty. He strenuously denies any wrongdoing. But it did make me
0:49.9	think of the many times in history that particularly the youngest sons of monarchs have gotten themselves
0:56.2	into astonishing trouble and how that trouble has shaken the monarchy to the core. I want to explore
1:04.8	some of those in this episode. We've got Odo of Bayer, younger brother of King William, the first King, well, William the Conqueror.
1:14.0	He rode on his big brother's coattails.
1:17.3	He liked to swagger on the international diplomatic scene.
1:20.1	He dreamt of important and powerful jobs that never quite seemed to happen for him.
1:24.3	He pushed his luck and eventually pushed his brother to the point of washing his hands of him. He pushed his luck and eventually pushed his brother to the point of washing his hands of him.
1:32.1	He ended up losing his possessions. He ended up a prisoner.
1:35.5	Or you've got William's sons who spent most of their waking hours plotting against each other
1:39.8	and the hope that they could secure the throne for themselves.
1:44.0	In the past, brothers have often been
1:46.2	bitter rivals. It is baked into the system, sadly. Is that the terrible closeness of that power?
1:54.8	It must be very difficult to be so near and yet so far from the throne. And that proximity can impel those men towards
2:04.6	usurpation, towards defiance. They often try and make themselves players. They want to sample
	...

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