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Queen Elizabeth And

Her Children’s
Complicated
Relationships,
Explained
Harry and Meghan aren’t the only ones to
have a tension with the head of The Firm.

BY GEORGIA DAVIS AND KORIN MILLER

MAR 4, 2021

ANWAR HUSSEIN COLLECTION/ROTA / GETTY IMAGES

Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated

interview with Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle is happening this Sunday, and it’s
raising all kinds of questions about
Queen Elizabeth’s family.

As of this second, it seems like things

between Queen Elizabeth and the Duke
and Duchess of Sussex are strained. In an
early clip from the interview that was
released, Oprah asks Meghan how she
feels about the palace hearing her “speak
your truth.”

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Meghan’s response was pretty telling: "I

don't know how they could expect that,
after all of this time, we would still just
be silent if there is an active role that The
Firm is playing in perpetuating
falsehoods about us."

(ICYMI: ‘The Firm’ is a term that the

royal family uses to describe itself.
According to Kitty Kelley, author of The
Royals, Prince Philip coined the term
ages ago.)

Meghan also implied that she’s not afraid

to get into some intense stuff in the
interview. "If that comes with risk of
losing things, I mean... there is a lot that
has been lost already,” she said.

In a previous clip released from the

interview, Oprah says that what the
couple went through while they were
working members of the working family
was "almost unsurvivable.” She also
asked at one point, “were you silent or
were you silenced?"

The clips came around the same time as

royal aides told The Times that Meghan
faced a bullying complaint when she was
at Kensington Palace. According to the
report, Meghan drove two staffers to
quit, while another was terri_ed of her.

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Buckingham Palace released a statement

after the report, saying that it was
“clearly very concerned about allegations
in the Times" and that its human
resources team would investigate. "The
Royal Household has had a Dignity at
Work policy in place for a number of
years and does not and will not tolerate
bullying or harassment in the
workplace,” the statement said.

Meghan and Harry have denied the

claims, with a spokesperson for the
couple telling People that Meghan is
“saddened by this latest attack on her
character, particularly as someone who
has been the target of bullying herself
and is deeply committed to supporting
those who have experienced pain and
trauma.”

Apparently Meghan and Harry aren’t the

only members of the royal family who
have less-than-ideal relationships with
the queen.

Take the strained mother-son dynamics

of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles,
which is front and center in season four
of The Crown as the show portrays
Charles' marriage to Princess Diana.

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Since The Crown premiered on Netdix in

2016, non-royal viewers have been given
a peek into all the strategizing and
negotiations that go on inside the walls
of Buckingham Palace. In 2019, the third
season of the drama went deep into the
relationships between Queen Elizabeth
and her four children.

Here's everything you need to know

about Queen Elizabeth's children and her
relationship with them IRL:

Queen Elizabeth’s
first son: Charles,
Prince of Wales

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles at Windsor

Castle in 1969
FOX PHOTOS / GETTY IMAGES

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The Queen was just 22 when she gave

birth to husband Prince Philip’s _rst son
and heir to the throne, Charles. He was
born on November 14, 1948, which
meant he was only 3 years old when his
mother ascended the throne, according
to the BBC.

Prince Charles became the longest-

serving heir apparent in 2011
(surpassing the previous record of 59
years, two months and 13 days, set by
his great-great-grandfather, King Edward
VII). For those keeping track at home,
Queen Elizabeth has reigned for more
than six decades—and she’s still got it.
(Sorry, Charlie.)

While most kids were practicing

multiplication at age 9, Prince Charles
was busy becoming Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester. Charles didn’t attend
Eton College (a boys’ boarding school
founded by King Henry VI) like most
British royals. Instead, he went to Prince
Philip’s alma mater, Gordonstoun, in
Scotland, after transferring from Cheam
School. He didn’t have the easiest time at
boarding school, especially with his royal
blood, per Vanity Fair.

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After secondary school, Charles went to

Trinity College, where he became the
_rst royal heir apparent to get a degree,
according to Times Higher Education. He
studied anthropology, archaeology, and
history and even spent time studying at
archaeological sites in France.

Charles served in the Royal Air Force,

where he trained as a jet pilot, according
to his official bio. He also served in Royal
Navy, just like his father, grandfather, and
both of his great-grandfathers.

Charles had a slew of girlfriends,

including his now-wife, Camilla Parker
Bowles and Davina Sheffield, a woman
who was reportedly his "soulmate" but
was deemed unsuitable for a future with
the prince because she wasn’t a virgin,
per Marie Claire UK.

Take a rare look inside the Queen's

complicated relationship with her four
children:

A Rare Look at Queen Elizabeth's …

by Good Housekeeping US

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Once he was done living the bachelor

life, Prince Charles married Lady Diana
Spencer, who was 13 years his junior.
(You can expect to see their courtship
and grand nuptials on The Crown season
4.) The wedding came with much media
attention, but Queen Elizabeth
reportedly wasn’t particularly fond of the
famous princess, per numerous accounts.
Princess Di and Prince Charles divorced
in 1996, just a year before her death in
1997. Charles felt pressured by his family
into marrying Diana, even though he was
in love with Camilla at the time,
according to Kitty Kelley’s book, The
Royals.

Charles remarried in 2005 to Camilla,

who is now Duchess of Cornwall.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall,

attend VJ Day National Remembrance event in
2020.
WPA POOL / GETTY IMAGES

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Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles

allegedly weren’t close while he was
growing up. The Queen left most of her
parenting to the nannies, according to
Prince Charles. In his 1994 authorized
biography by Jonathan Dimbleby, Charles
said that it was "inevitably the nursery
staff" who watched the young royal take
his _rst steps and taught him life lessons,
per Town & Country.

But the heir apparent was close with

Queen Elizabeth’s mother, aptly titled
The Queen Mother, until she died in
2002. Speaking at her funeral, Prince
Charles said that his grandmother "meant
everything" to him and that he had
"adored her" since childhood.

Queen Elizabeth’s
only daughter: Anne,
Princess Royal
Less than two years
after Prince Charles
was born, Queen
Elizabeth gave birth to
Anne, Princess Royal.
She was born on
Princess Anne and August 15, 1950, when
Queen Elizabeth II QE II was 24. Anne is
in Austria in 1969 the only daughter of
FOX PHOTOS / GETTY
IMAGES
Queen Elizabeth and
Prince Philip. She is
currently 14th in line to the throne (due
to the patriarchal ascension
system...ugh), behind her three brothers
plus their children and grandchildren.

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Are you binge-watching 'The Crown'?

Of course, I can't Nah, I need a break

stop!! between episodes.

Unlike Prince Charles, Princess Anne

rejects the notion that Queen Elizabeth
was an uncaring mother. Sure, the
nursery staff did some of the heavy
lifting, but according to her, the Queen
made sure to spend quality time with her
children. "I simply don’t believe there is
any evidence whatsoever to suggest that
she wasn’t caring. It’s just beggars belief,"
Princess Anne told the BBC in 2002.
Anne and Queen Elizabeth bonded over
their love for horses, and Anne became
the _rst royal to participate in the
Olympics, according to the organization's
website. Keep an eye out for her
competing on horseback in season four.

Anne also doesn’t shy away from her

duties as Princess Royal. She "has one of
the busiest working schedules of any
member of the royal family," her official
bio says. Odds are pretty high that wins
her some props from her mom.

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But, while Anne is busy, she’s made it

clear she doesn’t love the custom of royal
walkabouts, and she’s been pretty blunt
about that. "I mean it gets easier but, can
you imagine? I mean, how many people
enjoy walking into a room full of people
that you've never met before?" she said
during BBC's 2018 program The Queen:
Her Commonwealth Story. "And then try a
street. I don't think many youngsters
would actually volunteer to do that."

There’s reason to believe Queen

Elizabeth didn’t fully approve of her
daughter’s actions, especially her divorce
from Captain Mark Phillips, with whom
she shared two children, Zara and Peter,
per The Telegraph. The divorce was
_nalized in 1992 after it was revealed
Phillips fathered a child outside their
marriage. (His paternity was con_rmed
in 1991.)

RELATED STORY

Why Queen Elizabeth II Kept

Her Real Name

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That gave the Princess Royal an out, so

she married once-rumored love Royal
Navy Commanding Officer Timothy
Laurence, per E! News. Now, Princess
Anne works with more than 300
charities, according to the Royal Family's
official website, and makes roughly 500
appearances a year, Woman magazine
reported.

In 2019, Princess Anne made headlines

for apparently refusing to greet President
Donald Trump and then shrugging in
response to a slight scolding from the
Queen during a Buckingham Palace
reception held as part of a NATO summit
in London in December 2019. Some U.S.
politicians viewed the incident as public
slight of the president, as reported by
ABC News, but that doesn't appear to be
the whole story.

According to CNN, the interaction

between royal mother and daughter had
nothing to do with Trump. Instead, the
Queen was looking to see who was next
in line to be greeted and the Princess'
gesture and remark should have been
read as a humorous response of, "It's just
me..and this lot." Not a part of the official
welcoming party, Princess Anne was
actually just standing to the side and
waiting for visiting dignitaries to _nish
entering the reception _rst. So, there you
have it.

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Princess Anne turned 70 in 2020, and to

mark the milestone ITV released a
documentary about her life, per Tatler.