When news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death broke on September 8, social media was flooded with tributes to the late monarch, with politicians, celebrities, influencers , and members of the public sharing heartfelt messages of gratitude and grief. As the days went on, online discourse around the royal family began to widen, focusing more on other family members and the institution of the monarchy. Many have expressed criticism of the Crown’s racist and colonial past , offering a critical eye on the institution.
But others are using social platforms like TikTok and Instagram to share old footage and images of the royal family, expressing renewed interest in their history and lives. The royal family is an explosive topic on TikTok, with the hashtag #royals amassing 3. 1 billion views .
However, it appears a whole new audience of Gen Z royal watchers is discovering old news, rumors, and scandals about the institution for the first time. Several TikToks showing old photos of Prince Harry’s “party boy” days are recirculating. The images are primarily from the early 2000s, and feature Harry smoking cigarettes and socializing.
One image from 2004 shows a 20-year-old Harry being held back by bodyguards during an argument with a photographer outside Pangaea nightclub in London. Prince Charles’ media team later released a statement confirming that Harry had hit the man in the face. It said he had acted in “self defense.
” Two years earlier, Harry had made headlines that helped trigger his reputation as a teenage “wild child. ” The now-defunct British Sunday newspaper The News of the World reported that Prince Charles had sent Harry to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for the day to meet people in treatment after Harry admitted to drinking heavily and smoking cannabis. Prince Harry told Oprah in a 2021 docuseries about mental health that he’d used substances to help cope with the aftermath of the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
Other photos that have been widely circulated include one that shows him kissing his then-girlfriend, Chelsey Davy , who he dated on and off between 2000 and 2010, and one that shows him partying with Kanye West during a 2007 concert honoring Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. West later made light of their conversation, saying that Harry had teased him about wearing “bling. ” Some commenters on TikTok have described Harry’s past as “iconic,” saying they had no idea these images existed, suggesting they made the prince seem more relatable to them.
“He’s just like me,” one person wrote, with others saying, “Why didn’t I know about this,” and “Wait, what that really happened. ” Multiple TikTokers shared photo montages of Kate Middleton from before she married Prince William in 2011. One such video , titled “Before Kate was royal,” has 8 million views.
Kate and William met in 2001 when they were 19 and studying at the University of St. Andrews together. In the mid-2000s, she was often photographed out in the early morning hours alongside Harry and William climbing into cars with their bodyguards.
“I’m glad she lived her life to the fullest before marrying into the Royal family,” one person wrote in response. In April 2007, outlets reported that the couple had broken things off. The temporary split — which William confirmed during the pair’s engagement interview with ITV News — lasted four months.
In the November 2010 broadcast, William said they needed “space” apart before getting engaged. “We were both so young,” he explained. William is now second in line to the throne, but in the late ’90s he was just a floppy-haired private school kid.
In recent weeks, TikTokers have resurfaced photos of William from his high school and early college years — many of them swooning over the young prince. Throughout his teenage years, Prince William was perceived as something of a heartthrob. A 1996 cover of People magazine features a photo of the then 14-year-old prince along with the headline, “Look who’s a teen idol,” declaring he had “plenty of ladies-in-waiting.
” In 2000, when he turned 18, the same outlet labeled him a “magnet for girls. ” Many TikTokers said they were surprised to discover footage of a younger Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest son, one of the more private members of the royal family. One TikTok featuring images of Edward from the ’80s and ’90s has 17.
5 million views. “I didn’t realize how cool Prince Edward was when he was younger, looks like he could have been James Bond,” one commenter wrote. The video portrays the prince riding a horse, cycling, and playing rugby.
He was known as an active person and met his wife, Sophie Rhys Jones, at a tennis match in 1993. But he raised eyebrows when he quit the Royal Marines in 1987 while training to become an officer. Queen Elizabeth was reportedly angered by his decision to leave.
Edward went on to work as a production assistant for a company run by the musical-theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. He then established his own television production company and made documentaries, some of which covered the lives of his royal ancestors. Edward later became a full-time working member of the royal family.
His public duties increased after the late Prince Philip retired in 2017 at the age of 96. One of the most popular clips about the Windsors on TikTok is a video from 1993 showing Princess Diana running barefoot and competing in a race at her son Harry’s elementary school in London. The clip shows her taking off her shoes and sprinting with a determined expression on her face before laughing at the finish line.
The video goes on to show Diana waiting for her then six-year-old son once the event was over, and scooping him up into her arms and cuddling him. Some viewers have noted the similarity of this moment to 1991 footage of the princess greeting Princes William and Harry, then small children. It happened on the deck of the Royal Yacht Britannia after a prolonged absence when their parents were on a foreign tour.
While the clip of Diana at Harry’s school had been circulating on TikTok since last year , versions reposted in recent days have garnered millions of views each. Users have also edited the clip with a video from 2017 that shows William and Harry racing each other on a sports track in London in support of Heads Together, the mental health charity that the brothers headed with Kate at the time. Princess Diana has captured the adoration of Gen-Z social media users for several years now, with many young people saying they view her as one of the most down-to-earth and relatable royals.
Commenters under these new viral posts of the running footage have echoed similar sentiments. “Diana had life in her soul. she wanted to really live,” wrote one person, with another saying, “The fact she broke the royal code to run for her son’s sports day is why I love her so much, she always put her boys first.
” Following the Queen’s death, many TikTok users were quick to question whether Diana might have become queen if she had lived. She would never have landed the title because the couple got divorced in 1996, although she would have retained the title Diana, Princess of Wales, as long as she didn’t remarry, TikTokers have also been sharing snippets from Diana’s explosive 1995 interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir, with a particular focus on a quote from Diana saying, “I don’t think many people would want me to be Queen. ” She added, “Actually when I say many people, I mean the establishment that I married into.
” It appears that some TikTokers are only learning about this interview now, with commenters expressing skepticism and shock at her remarks. The broadcast was a huge scandal at the time, especially given that Diana seemed to acknowledge Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles publicly. When asked about her relationship, she said, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
” One of the most shocking parts of the Bashir interview was her claim that the royals and their associates had “waged war” on her. She said she thought they wanted her to “go quietly. ” Last year, Bashir and the BBC were criticized by a public inquiry.
Lord Dyson, the head of the investigation, wrote in the panel’s verdict that Bashir’s successful attempt to secure the exclusive interview involved “deceitful behavior. ” The now-disgraced journalist admitted showing Diana faked documents before she agreed to proceed. They included mocked-up copies of bank accounts that appeared to prove that people she knew were being paid by the establishment to spy on her.
Bashir’s BBC interview with Diana is set to be dramatized in the upcoming season of “The Crown,” which will return to Netflix in November. While Camilla has never had a young TikTok fanbase of the same proportion as Diana, her new role as queen consort appears to have sparked interest in her life. Many users have recently shared pictures of her as a young woman.
Some videos about the Queen consort portray her in a positive and flattering light, with one photo montage captioned “Iconic Queen” receiving 500,000 views and 36,000 likes. Other videos appear to have been posted by fans of Diana, who have compared photos of a younger Camilla and Diana. Many seem to cast the queen consort in a negative light.
Camilla started dating Prince Charles in 1970 when they were 24 and 22, respectively, but they broke off the romance soon after he left Britain to serve in the British Navy. By the time he returned, his former girlfriend was engaged to their mutual friend, Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she married in 1973. In a BBC TV interview in 1994, Charles admitted he was unfaithful to Diana after their marriage had “irretrievably” broken down.
He didn’t specify who he was cheating with but said they were “a great friend of mine” and someone who “will continue to be a friend for a very long time,” leading to widespread speculation that he was referring to Camilla. The pair took their relationship public after being photographed leaving Camilla’s sister’s birthday party at the Ritz Hotel in 1999. They married in 2005 at a relatively low-key wedding in Windsor.
At the time, Harry described Camilla as a “wonderful woman. ” Camilla became queen consort as soon as her mother-in-law died. Queen Elizabeth II sanctioned the title in February this year.
Many TikTokers have reminisced about the Queen as a “grandmother” figure in the days following the Queen’s death. Vintage footage from before her coronation and the early years of her reign are going viral on the platform as people continue to learn about her past. Some users shared photos and videos from the Queen’s wedding day, while others reposted grainy, black-and-white clips of her coronation in 1952 at Westminster Abbey.
Many videos include more casual photographs of the Queen playing with her children, Charles and Anne, as toddlers. The family is shown sitting on the lawn on a picnic blanket in one image. One montage shows photos taken during World War II, when, before becoming Queen, she served as an auto mechanic and truck driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a women’s voluntary service within the British Army.
The video has been viewed 255,000 times, with viewers expressing fondness for the deceased monarch in the comments. “An incredibly beautiful amazing woman, she will be so incredibly missed,” one TikTok user wrote under the video. Another said, “She will forever be known as the best monarch this country had in its history.
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From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/tiktok-footage-royal-family-resurfaced-viral-2022-9
