Their first marriages, each eventually unhappy in their own way, saw them and their wives pitted against one another in the press.
As the Royal family’s news cycle moved on to a younger generation, the four siblings settled into their own lives: living and working separately, speaking on the phone and via private secretaries, and getting together for the usual high days and holidays each year.
There is a shared love of horses: polo for the younger Prince Charles, eventing for Anne, riding for Andrew. Edward has encouraged his daughter, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, to follow Prince Philip’s hobby of carriage driving.
In later times, there was a period of joint endeavour from Charles and Andrew, who moved to make staff changes at Buckingham Palace while the late Queen was still alive, ousting her private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt in what has been described as a “pincer movement”.
The King, who friends say is “not an unsympathetic man”, allowed Andrew to make a comeback for family events several times, bringing ex-wife Sarah Ferguson back from the cold and into Sandringham after decades.
But post Epstein files, everything has changed.
Nowadays, there is little love lost between Andrew, whose campaign to stay in his former home was so briefly successful that it gained the nickname, “the siege of Royal Lodge”, and the King, who has to live with the consequences of Andrew’s actions for the monarchy.
Publicly, at least, the four children, now in their 60s and 70s, are unlikely to be in the same place again for the foreseeable future. But their history, and the ties of their unique upbringing, cannot be undone.
Ahead of the King’s Coronation in 2023, there was one moment that stood out.
The Princess Royal, in ceremonial military uniform as Gold Stick-in-Waiting, greeted her brother with a cheerful: “Hello, Old Bean”.
“You made it,” exclaimed the King, surrounded by aides and being dressed in his robe.
He laughed, kissed her hand, and looked for a brief moment like the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
For both in their most formal and informal moments, no one knows the realities of the lives of Elizabeth II’s four children better than each other.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
