duchess ‘offers £500,000 access’

[mrmod]

The Royal Family has not been up to it's famed reputation these few years. There has been a few scandals and some broken marriages.

throughout history kings have married commoners.

I wouldn't say so myself. There were certainly a lot of bastard relationships (generating off-spring) but marriage was generally kept in between royal houses (or powerful families) and not really commoners. It's a 21st century thing.

Before WWI, the monarchs of each country were basically all related (largely due to Queen Victoria).