10 Royals Who Pushed The Boundaries And Got Tattoos

There are many rules and regulations that come with being a member of a royal family. Too many, some might say. Prince Harry revealed in his memoir Spare that he wasn’t allowed to get a tattoo of Botswana on his foot, and rumor has it that Prince William once really wanted a full back tattoo, but his wife said no. But some royals, even monarchs, have rocked some ink! Let’s take a look at them.

1. Lady Amelia Windsor

Lady Amelia Windsor is a bit of an unusual royal. She has tattoos and an Instagram account! But then again she’s not in the direct line to the throne. Rather, she’s the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent, so perhaps she’s allowed to have a little more freedom. She’s even got a tiny tattoo on her ribcage, which is apparently one of the most painful places to get inked!

Non-conforming

One of Amelia’s more visible tattoos, though, is the tiger on her back. Hello! magazine got talking to celebrity tattoo artist Claudio Traina in 2019, who said, “Tattoo meanings are down to the individual. However, tigers are meant to symbolize power and strength, freedom and independence. Perhaps this is in keeping with Lady Amelia not conforming to royal norms.” It’s hard to disagree with that!

2. Kate Middleton

The Princess of Wales seems like one of the least likely royals to ever go near a tattooist’s needle… but she did once get a henna tattoo. Same principle, but it’s not permanent. She got it while visiting a center for local artists in Sunderland, England, back in 2018. Kate was pregnant at the time, but natural henna is safe to use while expecting.

“Really pretty”

It was actually an 18-year-old who created the design for Kate. The teenage artist, Shajida Begum, told People magazine after Kate’s visit, “I said, ‘Would you like a design?’ and she was, like, ‘Yes, if you don’t mind.’ She was saying that it was really pretty. I was just telling her how it works. I was telling her when she can wash it off — I said, ‘When it becomes flaky.’”

3. King George V

Wait, King George V, the grandson of Queen Victoria, had tattoos? Yes he did! Though he did get them before he knew he’d become King. While serving in the Navy as a young man, the spare to his brother’s heir, he decided to do the traditional Navy thing and get tattoos on his arms. He stopped off in Japan and had a tiger and a dragon inked.

In the Navy

George wrote about it in his diaries, which were displayed at a Japanese-themed Buckingham Palace exhibition in 2019. The young prince’s entry read, “Nearly everybody on board has been tattooed. I have got a dragon on one arm done at Tokio [sic] and a tiger on the other arm done at Kioto [sic].” Sadly, though, there are no photographs of them!

4. Princess Sofia of Sweden

Princess Sofia is one of the most fascinating royals out there, because before she was a royal she was a model and a reality-TV star. During that period of her life she got tattoos, and she still has them. She even had one on display during her wedding to Prince Carl Philip of Sweden — she wasn’t ashamed of it and quite rightly, some would say.

Tattooed princess

Her wedding dress didn’t cover her back tattoo, which was a stylized Sun in between her shoulder blades, and so the whole world got to see it. Sofia’s also got a butterfly on her ribcage and writing on her ankle, plus she used to have a flower on her arm before she got it removed with laser surgery.

5. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

Crown Prince Frederik got two tattoos while he was serving in the Navy, and that’s rather surprising if you know the history of the Danish royal family. Frederik’s grandfather and namesake King Frederik IX passed a law back in 1966 banning face, hand, foot and neck tattoos — despite being tattooed himself! Prince Frederik’s tattoos are on “allowed” parts of the body though: his leg and arm.

Sharks and penguins

Frederik has the image of a shark on his leg, but it’s not just any shark, it’s the insignia for the Danish Navy’s frogmen with whom he served. And his arm tattoo is apparently a reference to the nickname he had in the Navy, “Pingo” meaning penguin. Plus, maybe one day he or his descendants will be able to get face or neck tattoos, because politicians in Denmark want to change the law.

6. Meghan Markle

The Duchess of Sussex was always a rebellious royal; it makes sense that she would have a tattoo, right? But no, as far as anyone knows she’s never had one. Meghan did once joke with actress Melissa McCarthy about one day getting matching “bestie” tattoos though, and said to check back when she was 50. So who knows, maybe one day she will get one!

Traditional henna

But in the meantime, Meghan seems content with non-permanent henna tattoos. She got one in 2019 while visiting Morocco with Harry, as a celebration of her upcoming first child. Young artist Samira Ouaadi painted it on her and explained, “It is a traditional practice for pregnant women in… [Morocco]. It is to bring luck for the baby.”

7. Princess Stéphanie of Monaco

Princess Stéphanie, the younger daughter of Prince Rainier III and Hollywood actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly, is possibly one of the most tattooed royals in Europe. She got hers during a difficult time in her life. In 1982 her mother died in a car accident that Stéphanie survived, and she became a bit of a “wild child” as a result.

Girl with the dragon tattoo

People have spotted a delicate floral design on Stephanie’s wrist, plus two dolphins on her foot and a dragon on her back. She’s literally a girl with a dragon tattoo! And, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, back in 1990 she even had a tattoo of an ex-boyfriend’s name removed from a harder-to-see part of her body… her bottom.

8. Queen Consort Camilla

King Charles III’s wife found herself in a tricky situation after she got a henna tattoo in Tanzania on a royal engagement. It was a lovely design, but as time went on she, like so many others before her, regretted the tattoo. Especially since she was supposed to have a big state banquet coming up, and tattoos don’t always go with tiaras.

Not a fan

In November 2011 the future Queen Consort told British newspaper the Daily Mail, “I didn’t feel that I could refuse and it was rather beautiful but then, after I had it done, this lady put her hand on mine and splodged it everywhere. I just can’t get it off. I have tried scrubbing and everything… nailbrushes, you name it. I just don’t know what to do.” Don’t expect to see Camilla getting another henna tattoo any time soon!

9. Charlotte Casiraghi

If you don’t know who Charlotte Casiraghi is, she’s the daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, the granddaughter of Grace Kelly, and very much an It Girl. She’s worked as a model — no surprise there — a film producer, an editor, a journalist, an equestrian and more. And she has a tattoo on her stomach for everyone to admire.

Stars

Charlotte’s tattoo is a collection of stars on her abdomen. It’s not a big tattoo, but not a tiny one either, and it might well have been a no-no if she’d been closer in line to the throne of Monaco. But she’s all the way back in 11th place, never likely to get the throne, and clearly she’s got a lot of non-royal activities to occupy herself with anyway. 

10. Princess Eugenie

So far, the only high-ranking member of the British royal family to have a permanent tattoo is Princess Eugenie. It’s a teeny-tiny circle design behind her ear, where it can be easily hidden by her hair. It’s thought that Eugenie’s tattoo might be a tribute to her grandmother, since it’s in the shape of the Sovereign’s Orb and she first showed it off during the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. 

Paving the way

And the reception to it was quite positive. Traina told Hello! that Princess Eugenie and Lady Amelia “pave the way for other younger royals to get less discreet tattoos, which would send a powerful message to the population. Everyone should be free to do what they want with their body and it’s encouraging to see some of the younger royals embracing that.”

Selena Gomez

A fan of tattoos for a while, Selena Gomez added to her collection in 2017 with a very special memento. The former Disney star was also the producer of hit Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, a series that looked at the darker side of teen life. Having gone through some hellish times herself, the show, based on the book of the same name, was a passion project for Gomez – but one she didn’t want to risk appearing in herself. As the star told People magazine, “I know the cult following [the book] has, which is the reason why I didn’t want to be in it.”

Mental health awareness

To commemorate the show and the mental health awareness Gomez hopes it can raise, the star had a very dainty tattoo indeed. On her left wrist now lives a semicolon. Why the grammatically correct ink? Well, it symbolizes mental health awareness and support – something that both the star and the show are all about. And two of 13 Reasons Why’s cast followed suit – Tommy Dorfman and Alisha Boe both have the same tattoo.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki

Having spent 15 years on our screens fighting demons and starting the apocalypse in Supernatural, those Winchester boys made it official in 2019. Father and brothers trio John, Dean and Sam, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki, respectively, were always a tight family unit. Even after [spoiler alert] John died in Season Two, he was never far from the boys’ side. So, when their TV dad got married, they all did something to commemorate the occasion, as well as what brought them together.

Joined for life

Morgan married long-time partner Hilarie Burton in 2019. And while the ceremony was ostensibly for the couple, as the groom put it, “Me and Hilarien Burton weren’t the only ones joined for life.” Yup, the Winchester tattoos meant a lot. Morgan later took to Instagram to announce the inking, saying, “Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and myself will forever have a bond that is both special, and permanent. Love you both dearly.” And those tats? Well, the details were and remain a secret. That’s because, according to Padalecki, “The family who slays together, stays together.” Amen!

Emilia Clarke

Despite playing the dragon-owning, war-winning Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones for eight years, there’s a good chance Emilia Clarke isn’t quite so brave in real life. She also chose ink a memento of her time on the show, and the design is spot-on. But the star may possibly be stopping at just the one tattoo, thank you very much. Because, let’s say, the experience wasn’t 100 percent fun.

Her three babies

Showing off the three mini-dragons on her wrist via Instagram, the Mother of Dragons happily shared her experience under the needle, so to speak. “MOD 4 Life! Made sure this mamma ain’t NEVER forgetting her babies.” And while that all sounds fabulous, the hashtags, though, were a little worrying. One read #dontworryonlybrieflypassedout,indicating that unconsciousness played a part that day. Daenerys would be v. disappointed, we feel.

Shia Lebeouf

Shia Lebeouf’s total inkings to commemorate a film role actually add up to about a dozen. But they’re all from the same movie. Yes, 12 tattoos, one movie and, we imagine, a lot of very sore skin. While making 2016’s American Honey, it seems the shooting process was a little different. Essentially shot on a cross-country road trip with a bunch of fellow actors playing magazine vendors, the ink came about in a very, er, unusual way.

Tattoo reveal

Lebouf revealed all to Vanity Fair magazine in 2016. During the road trip-film shoot, the cast cheered each other on in the ink stakes. And it seems that when it comes to besting his castsmates’ tats, Lebouef takes some beating. His art includes not one, but two portraits of Missy Elliot. One on each knee. Explaining that decision, he said, “I don’t love Missy Elliott like I wanna get two Missy Elliott tattoos. But you’re in a tattoo parlor, and... [he shrugs] peer pressure.” Maybe that explains Transformers 2?

Bryan Cranston

Audience favorite and all-round Good Guy Bryan Cranston may not seem like the tattoo type. After all, can Hal from Malcolm in the Middle even have a tattoo? And not just because Lois wouldn’t allow it but… That hair… Anyhoo, believe it or not, even Cranston decided to eternally honor his most iconic role. And no, there’s not a pair of tighty-whities in sight.

A subtle tattoo

Cranston’s character in era-defining dramedy Breaking Bad, Walter White, is certainly infamous for his choice of undies. But thankfully, the actor went in a very different direction for his ink. The star is, in fact, the owner of a very tasteful, if almost invisible, replication of the show’s sciencey logo. On the side of his ring finger. At least the hair wouldn’t have got in the way there…

Tom Holland

Spiders, as you’re no doubt aware, are pretty quick on their feet. They use them for climbing, running, standing and staring you out, just everything that being an arachnid involves really. So you’d think that goes double for Spiderman. He also does a lot of climbing and staring you out. So when you find out exactly where Tom Holland put his spidey tattoo, you might think all that webbing has clogged his brain.

Difficult spot for a tatt

Yes, despite the absolute need for spidey feet, and let’s face it, human feet, Holland did something utterly inexplicable. He had a spider tattoo drawn – permanently – on the sole of his foot. No, the sole of his foot. Yes, right underneath. And yes, it was. As the star put it, “It hurt so much.” What makes it worse is that he’s actually had it done three times, because it wears away down there. Holland told website Back to the Movies, “The third time he really sort of had to drive it home.” Yikes.

Kaley Cuoco

Having made her mark starring in network sitcoms, Kaley Cuoco made a slight alteration to her career trajectory in 2021. Best known for her 12-year turn in The Big Bang Theory and 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter prior to that, the actor took on a more adult project after TBBT ended. The Flight Attendant, a slick comedy thriller, saw Cuoco playing a hard-partying air hostess with a regrettable habit of blacking out and encountering people who one way or another soon wind up dead.

Phenomenal performance

A smash-hit for network HBO, Cuoco’s performance was described by Entertainment Weekly magazine as “phenomenal.” As far as breaking away from old roles goes, the star totally smashed it. And to celebrate, she decided on a little ink to commemorate a job well done. Her choice? A tiny paper plane on her ankle, with a cartoon trail. Cuoco took to Instagram to announce her “special little tribute to our wonderful little show.”

Lady Gaga

Pop-culture phenomenon Lady Gaga was never one to shy away from bold fashion decisions. Who can forget the meat dress? Or arriving at the Grammys in an egg? But when the singer decided to permanently commemorate her Oscar-winning role in A Star is Born, the end result was a joy to behold. Only thing is, she won’t be seeing very much of it herself. She’s also not one for the easy road, which means the ink is in a place everyone struggles to see. And no, it’s not there.

La vie en rose

In perhaps one of Gaga’s most tasteful fashion statements, her tattoo is, essentially, a work of art. A line-drawn rose, stretching from the back of her neck to the base of her spine, encompasses the words, “La Vie En Rose.” The whole thing refers to the song of the same name sung by Ally, Gaga’s character in the movie. And it’s breathtaking. This is how you do tattoos, Amanda Seyfried.

Margot Robbie

As we’ve seen, lots of celebs made the sober decision to permanently commemorate roles that were special to them. In the case of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and the rest of the Suicide Squad, though, things went down a little differently. The group decided, like many before them, to each get the same ink. The anti-Avengers also tattooed each other, but they added one crucial ingredient: bad spelling.

Big oops

Despite Robbie’s reputation as a terrible tattoo artist, plenty of cast and crew queued up at Harley’s Tattoo Parlour. One man, though, may have regretted it. Where everyone else has the word SKWAD, he ended up with SWAD. Robbie forgot the K. To paraphrase Tina Fey, that’s a great time to be dressed as Harley Quinn. No, it’s fine. SWAD is exactly what I wanted. No, really, you don’t have to pay for it to be removed. Honest.

Will Smith

Now, Will Smith is clearly a man of many talents. Multi-million album sales? Check. Box-office-topping leading man/romantic lead/comedy genius? Check, check, check. But it seems that art perhaps isn’t something he excels at. Or at least, that’s what Suicide Squad co-star Joel Kinnaman said. And it’s not because Smith chose a terrible tattoo. It’s because he drew a terrible tattoo on Kinnaman.

Should have had your wife do it

Perhaps Kinnaman thought he was making a smart decision, bypassing Margot Robbie’s horrible spelling and having Smith permanently mark his skin instead. But that’s not quite how it ended up. As the actor put it on Instagram, Smith’s attempt to write SKWAD “was like watching a drunk baby fly a helicopter.” And to make things much, much worse, Kinnaman’s wife is actually a world-class tattoo artist.

Aaron Paul

Bryan Cranston wasn’t the only Breaking Bad cast member to get a commemorative tattoo once the show had ended. Co-star Aaron Paul also joined the ink club, but went in a slightly more artsy direction than Cranston. Revealing all in a set of classy black-and-white shots, Paul’s tattoo took a more direct approach to memorializing Jesse Pinkman, his character in the show.

Not bad at all

Posted to the socials, the images show a moody-looking Paul, with outstretched arm. His Breaking Bad tattoo resides on the inside of his upper arm, and consists of just three words. It reads, “No half measures,” in curly script, referencing both an episode title and one of the show’s most revealing lines of dialogue. Not bad, Aaron Paul.

The Pretty Little Liars cast

We have to admit, this particular inking is one of our faves. Funny, subtle and really quite smart, these tats embody everything this list is about. Sported by Lucy Hale and her co-stars from smash-hit mystery thriller Pretty Little Liars, we would love to have been in on the conversation that ended in these beauties. After seven years playing a group of best frenemies, the cast decided to pay proper homage to their characters and the show. And the result is… Excellent.

"Sssshh!"

After starring in a show about the dangers of keeping secrets, Hale took to Instagram to reveal the group enterprise. We’ll let her tell you the rest. “We couldn’t not get tattoos to commemorate the show! And obviously on our ‘Shh’ finger.” Yup, that’s right. The cast each has their character’s first initial on their fingers. These tattoos are so good, it would be a crime to keep them secret.

Amanda Seyfried

So, Amanda Seyfried definitely wins big in the “What the what?” stakes with this particular tattoo. As you probably know, Seyfried starred in global jukebox smash Mama Mia!, featuring a ton of Abba tunes and some fab cameos. And when it came to commemorate the career-changing role of lifetime, the star’s choice came way out of left field. Like, way, way out of left field. So far from left field, in fact, that the field was a dot to her. Trust us, there is no way you’re guessing this.

Questions...

Having decided on a commemorative tattoo, Seyfried chose her foot as the location. Not as bad as Tom Holland’s torture sessions, but not far off. Anyhoo, it’s not the tat’s location that’s odd. It’s the content. In beautifully written script, atop her very elegant foot is a single word: Minge. Now, if you’re from the U.K., this word has, to put it delicately, certain female body part connotations. But in America… Well, here’s how the star put it to the TV host on Late Night with Seth Meyers, “In the U.S., which is where I spend most of my time, it just doesn’t mean anything.” Which begs the question… Why?

Sophie Turner

Actor Sophie Turner has starred in not one, but two, huge movie and TV franchises, namely Game of Thrones and the X-Men series. Which means she’s got a fabulous array of commemorative tattoos. Firstly, there’s the date she was cast as Sansa Stark, a tat she shares with GoT co-star Maisie Raine. The star also has a small flame inked on her index finger in reference to Jean Grey, aka Phoenix, her character in X-Men. But we’ve saved the best ink for last.

The pack survives

Perhaps one of the coolest tats on the list, Turner went for the wolf-like symbol of House Stark, Sansa’s GoT family. But underneath is one of her own quotes from the show. It reads: The Pack Survives. And despite its inherent cool-factor, the star was told it wasn’t a good idea. As she explained on TV’s The Late Late Show With James Corden, “While I was getting it done, people advised me not to, because it looked like I was giving everything away, but I wasn’t. It’s just a moral that I like to live by.”

The Avengers cast

One of the most successful ensembles in all of movie history, the Avengers cast rightly celebrated their involvement in some fantastic movies. And while choosing tattoos isn’t unusual in itself, the group definitely added their own twist. In a pact that only comic book superheroes could possibly make, the gang decided that they should also, in fact, tattoo the tattoo artist. Because, apparently, their superpowers also extend to art and needle craft, among other things.

Artist's Gift

Those powers, though, don’t appear to extend to all of the Avengers. According to Robert Downey Jr., one of the heroes refused the ink. As he told Entertainment Weekly, “Five of the original six Avengers got a tattoo. The one who opted out being Mark Ruffalo.” Yup, no tattoo for the Hulk. But here’s where it gets… Committed. “Each one of us drew a line on the artist with his own tattoo gun and it was a total massacre. Each of us contributed to giving the tattoo artist the tattoo that he designed for us.”

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has been designing his skin for decades now. He’s got so many tattoos that we wouldn’t blame you for not having spotted one very particular picture. But it’s more subtle than you might think. So which of Depp’s iconic characters made it onto his arm? Edward Scissorhands? Nope. Willy Wonka. Absolutely not. No, despite having played a myriad of memorable characters, just one was good enough to turn into ink form, and even then, it might take a while to work it out.

That's deep

Yes, from the simple image of a bird hovering over the ocean, you might not even realize that it’s a film reference. That is until you look just below the image, where the word “Jack” is written in curly script. Then you realize that the bird is a sparrow and suddenly, it all makes sense. Captain Jack, in cryptic form on Depp’s arm. He doesn’t make it easy, does he?

Lea Michele

Glee star Lea Michele is no stranger to tattoos, particularly those related to the mega-hit show in which she starred. According to the actor, she has several inked in conjunction with fellow Glee cast members. The all-singing extravaganza that was Glee followed the ups and downs of McKinley High’s vocal group and captured the imagination of frustrated musical theater stars everywhere. But not everyone enjoyed its success.

Small and simple

Following the sudden death of co-star Cory Monteith in 2013 Michele wanted to pay tribute to the man who had been her colleague and, at the time, partner. She settled on not one, but two, small inked reminders of her lost love. First, the number five represents the football shirt Monteith’s character wore during the show. And the second simply reads “Finn,” the first name of his persona.

The Lord of the Rings cast

Are these the OG role commemoration tattoos? Cast your mind back to the ’90s, dear reader, and remember a time when Lord of the Rings was quite literally everywhere. You couldn’t turn around without treading on a Hobbit at one point. But it’s not just audiences that took those movies to heart. The cast themselves, having spent years on the grueling set in New Zealand, made that bond permanent with matching tats.

Remembering Middle Earth

Inking the Elvish word for ‘Nine’ onto themselves, almost the entire fellowship went through the rite of passage. Only Gimli, aka John Rhys-Davies declined, sending his stunt double instead. Explaining the group experience, Elijah Wood declared at one of the movie’s U.K. premiere, “We felt the experience was both wonderful enough and profound enough to have ourselves branded, so we went ahead and did that about a week before we finished.”

Neil Patrick Harris

Many of our inked celebs got their tats to commemorate the end of an era, once a series had ended, or a shoot wrapped. Neil Patrick Harris, though, got his for a slightly different reason. Yes, when he heard that Netflix hit A Series of Unfortunate Events has been renewed for a second season, the actor headed straight to the tattoo parlor to celebrate with his first-ever tattoo.

Token of memory

Harris, who dons prosthetics for the series that sees his dastardly Count Olaf lie, cheat and generally sell kids for money, clearly loves the role. And given that his tattoo depicts the logo of shadowy organization VFD, he intends to take it everywhere with him. Harris even told magazine Variety that Olaf was the part he was “born to play.” And despite the show coming to an end after its third season, a small part of his ankle will always be dedicated to the VFD.

Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd

Of all the Star Wars-related legacies, and there are a lot of them, perhaps none sums up the entire journey better than this tale about Carrie Fisher and her daughter, Billie Lourd. For better or worse, the billion-dollar franchise changed Fisher’s life, just as in a smaller way Princess Leia influenced so many kids’ lives. The star herself always seemed fond of her time on set, and to celebrate, even had a tattoo of a very familiar-looking galaxy on her ankle. Lourd even went to the inking parlour with her mom the day she got it.

Mom and daughter forever

How fitting, then, that mom and daughter were able to work together on the movies that meant so much to Fisher. Lourd joined her mother in the most recent movies and the pair even got to share screen time. But they both also share a galaxy tattoo. Lourd inked her own take on Fisher’s design, but called hers “a classier version.” We have to admit, it’s a frickin’ great tattoo.