From ‘world’s sexiest princess’ to Big Brother’s Gary Goldsmith & Meghan Markle’s nephew… royal star turns on reality TV
During one reality TV stint a royal favourite confessed to an embarrassing encounter with his mother-in-law
HAVING royal connections usually means having to deal with being in the spotlight from time to time – but some choose to revel in their newfound fame more than others.
Enter Princess Kate‘s uncle Gary Goldsmith, who made his grand entrance into the Celebrity Big Brother house on Monday.
The 58-year-old millionaire, who made his money in recruitment, told hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best he was ready to shed his “bad boy” image.
While his sister Carole Middleton is said to be “furious” with his decision to do the ITV show, Gary has so far had nothing but praise for her “beautiful” daughter.
He has, on the other hand, not held back when it comes to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – who filmed a tell-all, fly-on-the-wall reality show in 2022 as part of their £112m Netflix deal.
As we wait with baited breath to see what further family secrets Uncle Gary will let slip, we reveal other ‘royals’ who enjoyed a stint on reality TV.
Mike Tindall
In 2022 Mike Tindall was a star signing for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here.
The former English rugby ace, 45, just fell short of the grand finale and was the eighth star to be eliminated.
Royal fans were thrilled when his wife Zara, 42, the late Queen‘s granddaughter and niece of King Charles, made a trip to the camp in Queensland, Australia to greet her hubby with open arms when he left the jungle.
Mike proved worthy of his signing fee by revealing amusing royal anecdotes, including the embarrassing moment he ripped his trousers in front of his mother-in-law Princess Anne at wife Zara‘s 30th birthday.
He recalled: “It happened to be that my boxers I had on at the time said, ‘Nibble my nuts’,” to which the Princess Royal apparently quipped: “I’d rather not.”
Despite Mike going down a storm with viewers, some royal pundits accused him of “betraying” the Firm, with royal biographer Angela Levin branding his cheeky pants revelation “absolutely appalling”.
The late Queen and entire royal family
It may surprise some to hear that the Royal Family dipped its toes in the world of reality TV way back in the 1960s.
The BBC documented their daily lives in 1968 to make seem them more accessible to the public – producing a 110-minute programme, called The Royal Family.
Filming began at the Trooping the Colour and ended with the family holidaying at The Queen’s Scottish residence Balmoral.
In total there was more than 43 hours worth of footage – which included clips of Elizabeth II buying sweets for her son Prince Edward, then four years old.
It was watched by almost 31 million people, but the late Queen reportedly banned it from ever being shown in full again.
After the documentary was featured in Netflix drama The Crown, royal expert told ABC News that the Queen was wary the family appearing in reality TV shows would “cheapen” the Firm and “let the magic seep out”.
Freddy Knatchbull
Last year it was announced aristocrat Freddy Knatchbull was joining the cast of Made In Chelsea – and the model wasted no time in dropping in that he’s the great-grandson of Lord Mountbatten, the late Prince Philip‘s uncle.
Mountbatten, known as ‘Uncle Dickie’, was seen as a father figure by a young King Charles, before he was tragically killed by an IRA bomb on a boat in 1979.
Freddy joined MIC after his close pal Joel Mignott, who dates Robbie Mullett on the show, introduced him to producers.
He told OK! Magazine he hopes the show will open the door to a career on TV, adding of his royal heritage: “I’ve grown up in a generation that isn’t close with the monarchy any more.
“My great-granddad, Lord Mountbatten, was very ‘in’ with the Royal Family. When I talk to my friends at uni about him, no one knows who he is.
“But when I talk to my parents’ friends, they know everything about him.”
Tyler Dooley
In 2018, Meghan Markle’s cannabis farmer nephew Tyler Dooley landed a spot on the MTV show The Royal World.
The six-episode series, which saw him holed up in a posh countryside mansion in the UK with other aristocratic descendants, was branded a ‘posh version of Big Brother’.
Tyler, who has a licence to legally grow the drug, is the youngest son of Thomas Markle Jr, 51, the Duchess of Sussex’s half-brother.
The Oregon resident previously boasted of being “a pioneer” and named his cannabis firm Royally Grown – which has a strain of marijuana called Markle’s Sparkle.
At the time of his casting, Tyler said: “I think I represent more of the average person that could be watching this show.
“I would say we had kind of humble beginnings… more of a trial and error, that includes Meghan.”
The Royal World only lasted one season.
Princess Xenia of Saxony
Dubbed ‘the world’s hottest princess’, Xenia Florence Gabriela Sophie Iris of Saxony is the great, great-granddaughter of the last King of Saxony.
Her stardom is believed to have come from her countless reality TV appearances, which has seen her star on the German version of I’m A Celebrity, a pop singer contest, and a BBC3 programme called Undercover Princesses.
The latter saw her pose as ‘Gaby’, where she didn’t let on to potential suitors that she was a princess, and chose to date Essex stylist Elliot Rowley.
In 2016 Xenia was on Summer House of the Stars – Battle of the Celebrity Couples, and in the same year she also appeared on a dance show called Germany Dances.
Princess Olga Romanoff
In 2022 the late Queen’s cousin and great niece of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Princess Olga Romanoff, appeared on E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox.
The London-born royal joined other celebrities in a range of weird therapies on the show — including some cast members drinking their own urine.
A TV insider said: “Princess Olga was a huge signing for The Big Celebrity Detox and certainly brought a regal air to proceedings.”
It wasn’t the first time Olga had appeared on reality TV – in 2005 she featured on Australian Princess, training ordinary Aussie women to become noblewomen.
She also starred in the ITV programme Keeping Up With The Aristocrats, where she talked about the possibility of finding love again.
She said on the show: “The type of man I’ve always liked is a trained killer, ex-SAS, ex-Special Forces… I’ve always liked the idea of a perfect relationship and romance but I have a knack for picking the wrong people.”
Olga’s mother once supplied magazine Harpers and Queen with a photograph and a list of her daughter’s accomplishments so that she could feature in a list of European royal princesses suitable as brides for then bachelor Prince Charles.
While on Keeping Up With The Aristocrats, Olga reflected: “I would have been a terrible, terrible wife for poor old Charles, a narrow escape… I hate tiaras.”
Dara Huang
Glamorous Harvard-educated Dara Huang was once engaged to Prince Beatrice’s husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and the couple share a son, Wolfie.
She has since launched a reality TV career, making her debut on Channel 4’s The Big Interiors Battle last year.
The architect was chosen to be a judge on the show that pitches eight creatives against each other to win a mortgage-free apartment.
She told Channel 4: “I’ll be holding contestants to an extremely high standard as there’s a lot at stake here – they’ll need to employ genuinely innovative design hacks to create something original and impressive.”
Dara started dating Edoardo in 2015 and they got engaged two years later, but it didn’t last.
She told Lifestyle Asia: “He was the father of my child, and he left as quickly as he came, so I would say unfortunately it’s not an instinct you can trust.”
Edoardo began dating Princess Beatrice in 2018 and after almost three years together they tied the knot in July 2020 and welcomed their daughter Sienna in September 2021.