Family life of Queen Elizabeth II was rather unconventional

• Elizabeth II had a very unconventional family life while she was Queen.
• Young children remained at home with their governesses and nannies.
• Relations were further hindered by strict royal protocol, which required the children to bow or curtsy in front of her when they saw each other in private.

Queen Elizabeth II had a very unconventional family life while she was Queen; she regularly had to travel for extended periods of time, was always busy working, and occasionally had difficult relations with her four children.

When her eldest son and heir apparent, Charles, was born, she was 22 and still a princess. She was 24 when Princess Anne was born.

She would, however, occasionally leave them for weeks at a time to travel with her husband Prince Philip, a naval commander stationed in Malta.

Just as she had done as a child in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the young children remained at home with their governesses and nannies.

According to royal novelist Penny Junor, who wrote a biography of the future king, Charles’ nanny was  “very authoritarian.”

According to AFP, “Elizabeth was a young, new mother and this very experienced nanny took over… she waited for the nanny to bring Charles to her for half an hour at tea time or whatever it was,”

“I´m sure she loved her family. But I don´t think she was demonstrative in her affection.”

Elizabeth can be seen grinning in old family photographs and movies, either with Charles in his stroller or with the rest of the family shaking a rattle at Prince Andrew, who was born when Charles was 11 years old.

But there isn’t much to cover up what seems like stilted formality.

“Detached” rather than “indifferent”

She extended her hand to Charles, five, when they met for the first time in months after their return from a lengthy tour of the Commonwealth.

Charles would later write that his mother was “not indifferent so much as detached” in an authorised biography.

Junor continued, “If he´d been a horse or a dog they would have been a lot closer,” Charles was regarded as a sensitive and clumsy youngster.

While Anne grew up to be a great horsewoman, Elizabeth, who was known for her love of horses and corgis, was closer to Anne, allowing the two to share their passion.

Closer relationships were further hindered by strict royal protocol, which required the queen’s children and grandchildren to bow or curtsy in front of her even when they were together in private.

Charles’ lifelong status as the heir complicated matters even more because it placed his destiny wholly contingent on his mother’s passing.

“Charles has always adored his mother and put her on a bit of a pedestal. It´s not a mother-son relationship. It´s more monarch-subject,” according to Junor.

The queen had a more laid-back connection with her sons Andrew and Edward, who were born when she was 33 and 37, respectively.

Early on, all four of the children were enrolled in boarding schools.

Divorces and second marriages

The biggest surprises during her record-breaking reign came from family life.

Anne filed for divorce from Mark Phillips in 1992, Charles divorced Diana, and Andrew split from Sarah Ferguson.

The queen referred to the year as her “annus horribilis” because of a catastrophic fire that occurred at her favourite Windsor Castle residence west of London.

The queen initially disapproved of Charles marrying his longtime mistress Camilla Parker Bowles after Diana’s passing in 1997.

She planned a celebration at the castle even though she was unable to make it to their 2005 civil wedding in Windsor.

When asked about Charles’ criticism of their mother, Anne responded, “I don´t believe any of us for a second thought that she didn´t care for us in exactly the same way as any other mother did.”

She told the BBC, “I just think it extraordinary that anybody could construe that that might not be true.”

Great-grandmother and grandmother

The family conflict did not cease with separation and divorce.

Because of his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew—reportedly her favourite—was obliged to withdraw from front-row royal responsibilities in 2019.

The family received criticism after grandson Harry and his wife Meghan left the royal life and relocated to the United States, where they also accused certain family members of prejudice.

Lilibet, the couple’s child, was the first person Elizabeth ever met. She was given her childhood moniker after she was born in June 2021.

The queen, who was eight times a grandmother and had 12 great-grandchildren, cherished family feasts and hosted gatherings at her Sandringham home every Christmas.

After a health scare in October 2021, she slowed down, but she still made it to Windsor for the christening of two of her great-grandchildren.

In a recent book, her grandson William, with whom she had become close following Diana’s passing, praised her eloquently.

“I personally encounter the queen’s warmth and sense of humour, her intuitive sense of calm and perspective, and her love of family and home,” the author said.

“I am honoured to have the queen as a role model for a life of public service,” the speaker said.

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