As the royal family has proved time and time again, they have a knack for falling in love at all the wrong times. No one demonstrated that fact better than King Edward VIII, whose scandalous love affair with married American socialite Wallis Simpson almost derailed the British monarchy in the mid-1930s. As their love quickly blossomed, Edward expressed a desire to marry Simpson, which would have conceivably made her a member of the royal family. Given that Simpson was still married at the time, not to mention divorced once before, the response from England was pretty much, "Yeah, no."

Left with few other options, Edward ultimately chose love over family and abdicated the throne at the end of 1936. "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love," Edward said in a radio speech, according to reports. They married the following year, after Simpson's divorce was finalized, and remained together until Edward's death in 1972. Their love affair was depicted in a number of movies and miniseries over the years, including The King's Speech, which was great, and Madonna's W.E., which was not great.