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Royal couples are held to an unfair amount of scrutiny. They must appear to be completely and totally in love at all times without ever packing on too much PDA. If not, news outlets all over the world start to speculate about whether or not they are on the brink of divorce.

Trying to maintain a relationship that seems perfect in public must be exhausting. Every marriage has its issues, even royal ones. And sometimes these unions end in divorce.

When it comes to the royal family, divorces are not as simple as they are for regular people. Depending on which member of the family decides to split from their significant other, there could be ramifications that affect the whole United Kingdom.

For instance, when Prince Charles split from his wife Princess Diana, it was a much bigger deal than when his brother, Prince Andrew, divorced his wife, Sarah Ferguson, that same year.

Now that Prince Harry and Prince William have taken the spotlight as the royal brothers to watch, it’s only natural to wonder what would happen if each of them got a divorce? Which split would be more traumatic?

Line for the throne

When it comes to the United Kingdom, William and Kate Middleton splitting would have much further reaching implications than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Prince William is directly in line for the throne and when he becomes king, Middleton will be crowned queen consort. A divorce between the two of them would mean a change in the future leadership of the region. And while there is no law that says that a single person cannot take the thrown, it would put William in a very strange predicament. Would he try to remarry before becoming king or would he rule alone?

The royal kids

If William and Middleton were to get a divorce, it would also affect their children more than it would Harry and Markle’s. At six and four, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are getting to the age where they would remember their parents splitting, especially when the divorce would probably be drawn out and definitely highly publicized. Prince Louis would be too young to remember anything, but with his older siblings around, he would eventually hear all about it.

Harry and Markle’s son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, wouldn’t really be affected if his parents got divorced soon. He’s barely a few months old. He would have no memory of his the Duke and Duchess being together at all.

Middleton or Markle?

Royal divorces follow a stringent protocol down to who gets what in the settlement. If they were to split from their husbands, both Middleton and Markle would probably get to retain their titles as Princess Diana did when she split from Prince Charles.

This is the only arena in which a Prince Harry and Markle divorce would be worse than William and Middleton’s. As divorce settlements are determined by the amount of time that the couple was married, Markle would receive considerably less money than her sister-in-law. Markle also gave up her career to marry Prince Harry, so she would be essentially left with nothing if they split.

Hopefully, none of these situations actually come to fruition and the couples are able to maintain long-lasting marriages.

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