Royal family members that have remarried: From Meghan Markle to Prince Charles

It wasn’t until 2002 that the Church of England began permitting royal divorcees to remarry while their former spouses were alive. According to the BBC, this was only allowed in “exceptional circumstances” which would be determined by the individual priest performing the marriage ceremony, and even then Queen Elizabeth must still be consulted before people within the line of succession remarry. Despite this, several royals have remarried after a divorce. Here’s who.

Princess Anne, The Princess Royal

Princess Anne, the Queen’s second child and only daughter, divorced from her husband Captain Mark Phillips in 1992. The divorce came after being split for three years, and Princess Anne remarried to her current husband Timothy Laurence (pictured above) later the same year. This was the first time a child of the British monarch had remarried after divorce and defied the Church of England since the 2002 law had not yet come to fruition. Anne sidestepped this by marrying Timothy in Scotland.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles

Prince Charles was the first heir to be granted a divorce back in 1996, when he split from Lady Diana Spencer. This followed a four-year separation before the couple reached a final agreement. A year later in 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris. This meant that the Church of England’s restrictions within remarriage did not apply to Prince Charles, though he received an official marriage blessing to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005- after the law had passed in 2002.

SEE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding: All the photos

Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall

Andrew Parker Bowles and Camilla Parker Bowles

Camilla Parker Bowles was also a divorcee at the time of her marriage to Prince Charles. She previously married British Army captain Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, who she went on to have two children with, son Tom in 1974 and daughter Laura in 1978. The pair split in 1995, the year after Prince Charles admitted to committing adultery with Mrs Parker Bowles while still married to Diana.

Caroline, Princess of Hanover

Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst of Hanover

Caroline, Princess of Hanover, the former Princess Caroline of Monaco has had three marriages. She first wed banker Phillippe Junot in 1978 at the Royal Place of Monaco, whom she later separated from in 1982. In 1983, Caroline had a second wedding with Italian socialite and businessman Stefano Casiraghi. At this point, her first marriage had not yet been annulled and so the couple had a civil service in the Chamber of Mirrors room of the Prince’s Palace. This wedding came to an end when Stefano was tragically killed in 1990 after flipping his speedboat in a word championship race. She tied the knot with current husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover in 1999, though they’re currently separated.

SEE: The shortest royal marriages: From Princess Caroline of Monaco to Peter and Autumn Phillips

Princess Stephanie of Monaco

Princess Stephanie and Adans Lopez Peres

Princess Stephanie of Monaco married her first husband, former bodyguard and father of two of her children, Daniel Ducreut in 1995. The pair divorced a year later after paparazzi published videos of her then husband committing adultery. Princess Stephanie later had a secret marriage with circus acrobat Adans Lopez Peres, who is 10 years her junior in 2003. This marriage also came to an end in 2004.

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex

Meghan Markle and Trevor Engelson

Though not a royal of her own descent, Meghan Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 was also not her first. The American actress had previously been in a two-year marriage with producer Trevor Engelson which ended in 2013. The nuptials dissolved in a no-fault divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

WATCH: Royal wedding highlights

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