Each generation of the House of Windsor is chased by a shadow: the good royal brother versus the mischievous royal brother.
Charles, the patient, against Andrew, the fool. William the cautious faced the reckless Harry. This extends even to the sisters-in-law – Diana, the demure, Fergie, the loud whore; Catherine, the demure, Meghan, the energetic.
As Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth’s younger and feisty sister, once said: “When there are two sisters and one is the queen who must be the source of all honor and all that is good, the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the bad sister. “
Sometimes Margaret lived up to that stereotype: the black sheep of the family who broke the rules of love and romance, as when she dated an unemployed gardener 17 years younger.
However, these stereotypes mask as much as they reveal, as I write in my new book, “Elizabeth and Margaret: the intimate world of the Windsor sisters”. Throughout their lives, Elizabeth and Margaret clashed head-on – the sensible older sister matched the mischievous, stubborn little sister. However, they were united by a primordial bond, a private world that only they could share. The heart of this bond was Margaret’s unwavering loyalty to her sister. She was Elizabeth’s ward, capable of saying things that a queen would avoid expressing.
The tragic death of Princess Diana, Elizabeth’s former daughter-in-law and mother of the future King William, in August 1997, reached the heart of the bonds between royal brothers and sisters. This was the royalty of salt and pepper in its most peppery state.
The way Margaret and the Queen handled the trauma of the funeral week highlighted their different temperaments and positions – as well as the ensuing conflict between Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and his younger brother, Prince Andrew.
Margaret was her sister’s alter ego, saying things that the queen could think of, but could not comment on as head of the House of Windsor and head of state.
Margaret’s opinion, which echoed her sister’s initial response, was that the family should have as little involvement as possible with the funeral. She complained bitterly about the “stir that the unfortunate girl who married my nephew caused”. A private funeral for a private citizen was her verdict, although she did not win.
At Kensington Palace, she grumbled about the smell of rotten flowers wrapped in cellophane – five feet deep in places – left by the mourners and huddling outside the gates near Margaret’s house.
Educated to never show feelings in public, the two sisters found the lament and the lament difficult to understand.
Margaret showed her discontent on the day of the funeral. While standing outside the gates of Buckingham Palace waiting for the weapons carriage that carried Diana’s body, somewhat bizarrely, Margaret was talking to her sister about how to improve the bathrooms at Kensington Palace. While the queen, who was with the rest of the family outside Buckingham Palace, respectfully bowed her head when the funeral procession passed, Margaret gave the slightest of nods. (She never forgave the late princess for granting a television interview about Diana and Charles’s failed marriage.)
Meanwhile, that same week, Charles contradicted his mother by allying himself with then Prime Minister Tony Blair in defense of a funeral worthy of a woman who held a special place in the hearts of millions.
Symbolically, the final battle between tradition and political convenience was fought in the queen’s living room on the second floor, a royal retreat that has hardly changed since Queen Victoria’s day. During the back and forth discussion of whether the queen should return to London from her holiday home at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and give a speech to the nation, Andrew entered.
Hearing the raised voices, he said angrily to the assembled courtiers: “The queen is the queen. You can’t talk to her like that! “
Although politically naive and misjudged, Andrew is intensely loyal to his mother. She reciprocates. It has long been said that he, and not the future King Carlos, is his favorite son. Bumptious, noisy and charming when he wants to be, Andrew has some of the characteristics of his father, Prince Philip. Like his father, he fought in the war, flying a Navy helicopter during the 1982 Falklands conflict.
He was a marked man: the Argentine high command believed that if they could kill or capture the then second in line for the throne, the war would end. Andrew’s courage at the front gave him the description of a war hero, a status that angered Charles, his completely opposite brother who was jealous of his younger brother’s involvement.
What a difference a generation makes. Andrew’s association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ruined his reputation inside and outside the House of Windsor. Following a car accident in a TV interview in November 2019 in which Andrew showed no empathy for the victims of his pedophile friend and offered ridiculous defenses for his alleged relationship with a teenager, Charles took action against his brother.
Charles, who was in New Zealand on an official visit when the interview aired, called the queen and coerced her into depriving her favorite son of his royal duties. After days of headlines, including reports on the rapid exodus from his charities and sponsors, Andrew finally issued a statement saying that the queen had given him permission to depart from public obligations in the foreseeable future.
It was a brutal and quick end to his real career, orchestrated by his brother. As Charles made it clear that he wants a lean monarchy when he is king, it suited his purposes to see Andrew’s head on a pike stick.
Prince William may well feel the same way about his younger brother after Harry recently broke the sibling bond, letting out allegations of racism within the family and accusations that William and his father were imprisoned in an institution that restricts their lives. members.
It was a brutal and quick end to his real career, orchestrated by his brother.
Andrew Morton on Prince Andrew’s duties being taken by Prince Charles
Despite all her shortcomings, Margaret would never have spoken publicly in this way about her sister. Loyalty was what mattered most. The closest she came was when she confessed that the royal family had “very good fights” – some between her and her sister – but never disagreements.
In many ways, the queen’s treatment of her grandchildren reflects the lessons she learned from watching her sister’s growth. Margaret was, for years, intensely resentful of being the last Charlie – the number two perennial, whether at ceremonial events or receiving second-hand clothes from her older sister.
While Elizabeth, as an older sister, had a career mapped out for her, Margaret needed to find her own way. As annoying as that, she felt she was the glamorous sister, the one who, by partying with the Rolling Stones and supposedly taking Warren Beatty as a lover, gave showbiz a special touch to the venerable institution – and its obedient sister.
In her own way, the Queen spent time and energy with Charles’ two sons, training William for royalty, but ensuring that Harry, unlike Margaret, was not left out. His appearance in a 2016 video with Harry to promote the Invictus games for wounded soldiers and women was a classic example. The clip showed the Obamas telling the British to “bring it up”.
When a member of the Obama team said, “Boom,” as if dropping the microphone, the queen looked at Harry curiously and said wryly, “Boom, really.” It was a fun video that showed that the queen wanted to encourage Harry in his efforts. Over the years, they developed a joyful relationship – at Christmas, he bought the queen silly gifts like a hairnet or a singing Billy the Fish.
In his notorious Oprah interview with his wife and his wife in March, he chose the queen to praise while disrespecting the institution she has represented since 1952.
The queen would have wholeheartedly agreed with Princess Diana, who always told me that she saw Harry as William’s support – but in the most pleasant way possible. With Harry now out of the picture, at least for the foreseeable future, the queen’s full focus is on William. He has been learning ropes from his grandmother since he was a student at the ostentatious Eton school, near Windsor Castle, and saw her almost every weekend.
The consequences of the interview with Oprah – and the subsequent revision of the allegations of racism and intimidation inside the palace – guarantee that the queen, 95 years old this month, will hold the reins of the monarchy even stronger.
At the end of her long reign, the queen seemed more relaxed and at ease now that she had made her social media commitments. Funny, too, his dry sense of humor often on display. She made it clear that she is not going anywhere. But it will be Charles and William who will take on the heavy lifting of royal duties while she enjoys chats by the fireplace at Zoom.
The first item on the agenda: fixing the relationships. All eyes will be on Harry and William this summer, when they will jointly present their mother’s sculpture that they have ordered. This is possibly the final irony – the spirit of Diana, who plunged the monarchy into crisis, may be the balm that heals a damaged institution.
Andrew Morton’s latest book, “Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters” (Grand Central Publishing), has already been released.