Queen Elizabeth's parenting change lead her to 'indulge' Andrew

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew watch the racing at The Investec Derby Festival, 2013 — (Image credit: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)

Parenting is never easy, never mind parenting as part of one of the oldest and most scrutinised royal families. Reflecting on how Queen Elizabeth approached this with her four children, royal historian David Cannadine has claimed that "guilt" could have been a factor for her younger sons Andrew and Edward.

Writing in his book, Queen Elizabeth II: A Concise Biography of an Exceptional Sovereign, David claimed, "The Queen indulged her two younger sons [Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Prince Edward] too much". He also suggested that this could have been a result of King Charles’s "complaints that his parents had been too distant".

Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Edward and Prince Charles inside Buckingham Palace in 1972

It's not unexpected that Charles might have experienced a different style of parenting. He and Princess Anne were only two years apart, born in 1948 and 1950 respectively. Their younger siblings have a much wider gap, though. The King is 12 years older than Andrew, who was born in 1960, and 16 years older than Prince Edward, born in 1964.

Some of King Charles's reported issues with his parents included sending him off to Gordonstoun, a private school in Scotland, and they were explored in an authorised book. In The Prince of Wales: A Biography, author Jonathan Dimbleby had the co-operation of the now King, and The Independent reports that the book made claims that Charles’s parents were "emotionally distant".

King Charles and Prince Philip at the Epsom Derby in 1993

In Ingrid Seward’s book, My Mother and I, the royal author explored the relationship between the two monarchs, the late Queen Elizabeth and King Charles, and she revisited claims made in Dimbleby's authorised biography.

Speaking of how the Queen and Prince Philip reacted to their son’s claims at the time of the book’s release, Ingrid Seward appeared on A Right Royal Podcast and suggested the late Queen was "very upset" by them.

As reported by Good To Know, Ingrid said, "When that book came out, I think that the Queen and Prince were on a tour of Russia, which is really an important tour. And they were very upset. They were very upset about the way Charles described their parenting."

She added, "Even people that were onside with the Queen and Prince Philip said that they never hugged their children in public. And it was very distant, because the Queen was not brought up to be an emotional person."

Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend a Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

"I mean, inside I'm sure she was very emotional, but she never showed it. And that's how she was brought up. I think it would have been almost impossible for her to change," she added.

However, David Cannadine suggests that Her Majesty did try and change, at least with her younger children.

Referring to the alleged indulgence of her younger sons Cannadine added in his book, "The result was that Andrew acquired an excessive sense of entitlement and an exaggerated opinion of his own abilities, which would lead to serious misjudgements that would eventually compel him to withdraw from public life".

After years of headlines and scandal connected to his ties with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on February 19. Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has always vehemently denied any allegations of wrong-doing.

Describing the arrest as a "wake up call" to the Royal Family, woman&home's royal correspondent Emily Andrews suggests the late Queen would have been "devastated", and later touched on comments further alluding to a different sort of dynamic than with her other children.

Perhaps supporting Cannadine's claims that the Queen might have "indulged" Andrew more, Emily recalled a courtier once telling her Andrew was her "Achilles’s heel".

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Jack Slater is not the Last Action Hero, but that's what comes up first when you Google him. Preferring a much more sedentary life, Jack gets his thrills by covering news, entertainment, celebrity, film and culture for woman&home, and other digital publications.

Having written for various print and online publications—ranging from national syndicates to niche magazines—Jack has written about nearly everything there is to write about, covering LGBTQ+ news, celebrity features, TV and film scoops, reviewing the latest theatre shows lighting up London’s West End and the most pressing of SEO based stories.

With contributions from

Emma Shacklock

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