PEOPLE Celebrates 50 Years of the Biggest Royal Stories in New Special Issue

Mar. 15, 2025

PEOPLE’s new special issue, 50 Years of the Royal Family, published on Aug. 16, 2024.

PEOPLE has been covering royal history as it unfolds for the past five decades, and now the main players are getting the royal treatment in a special anniversary issue.

InPEOPLE50 Years of the Royal Family, on newsstands Aug. 16 and now available to pre-order, the magazine looks back at the moments that changed the monarchy since PEOPLE’s first issue was published in 1974.

The commemorative edition recaps exclusive interviews with Wallis Simpson, who changedQueen Elizabeth’s fate when her uncle Prince Edwardabdicated the throneto marry the American socialite in 1936, andPrincess Graceof Monaco, conducted months before she died in a 1982 car accident.

The keepsake also includes past interviews withSarah FergusonandPrince Harry, whoopened up about howthe example of his late mother,Princess Diana, drives his work today.

Princess Diana, Prince Harry and Prince William at the VJ Day 50th anniversary celebrations in London in August 1995.Antony Jones/Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images

The 96-page issue is loaded with historic photos and features some of the best excerpts of PEOPLE’s reporting on the royals over the last half-century, including a 1974 cover story on then-eligible bachelor and futureKing Charlesto the challenges he’d face in the first year of his reign.

(From left) Prince George, Prince William, Prince Louis, Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte and King Charles on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at Trooping the Colour on June 15, 2024.James Manning/PA Images via Getty

James Manning/PA Images via Getty

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“It’s a massive balancing act,” one palace insidertold PEOPLEaround Prince George’s 10th birthday last year. “William and Kate are doing the right thing, protecting him so he can have as normal a childhood as possible, but he’s also dipping into duties as a future monarch. He’s getting firsthand experience of what it’s like to be a royal and a monarch and firsthand experience of being a normal boy.”

“A lot of it is the stabilizing normality Kate brings — and that’s how she grew up,” another palace insider added about Prince George’s upbringing with his siblings,Princess CharlotteandPrince Louis. “William absolutely loves it. Long may it continue. They are the future of the monarchy.”

Pre-orderPEOPLE50 Years of the Royal Familynow or check it out when it hits newsstands on Aug. 16.

source: people.com