By Marisa Laudadio
9:37am PST, Feb 18, 2026
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Stories of entitled behavior, late-night demands and even tantrums have followed
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for years, leaving some royal watchers wondering what the former Duke of York's upbringing looked like — and how it might have influenced the man he became.
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While the late
Queen Elizabeth II's oldest and youngest children — King
Charles III, 77, and
Prince Edward, 61 — were born more than 15 years apart, they've always been close,
The Mirror reports. While Edward and brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, 65, are just four years apart, their relationship has been far more strained. The former Prince Andrew has been described as a "bruiser" who "bullied" his little brother, accounts from the nursery reveal.
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According to royal author
Robert Jobson, Prince Edward often gravitated toward sensitive older brother King Charles III, finding comfort in their quieter shared interests. The king would read to his youngest sibling and make up stories when Edward was a boy. "Andrew, meanwhile, was loud and robust. He would constantly swipe his younger brother. If he saw Edward going for a particular piece of cake, Andrew would try to grab it first. Edward learned to yield to him," Jobson recently wrote in the
Daily Mail. Perhaps, Jobson added, that's because the late Queen Elizabeth II "indulged Andrew, which boosted his sense of self-assurance. It also meant no boundaries were set and he became an accident waiting to happen."
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Biographers have argued that differences in Queen Elizabeth II's parenting circumstances may have played a significant role in shaping the personalities of her children. The early years of her reign were marked by intense royal duties as she learned to be queen following her ascension in 1952 — when her two older children, King Charles III and Princess Anne, 75, were still young. The current king's nanny during that time "was such a terrifying woman that the queen kept out of the nursery while she was in charge," royal biographer Penny Junor wrote in her 2005 book, The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor.
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By the time Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Prince Edward were born, Queen Elizabeth II had settled into her royal responsibilities. Palace routines and childcare arrangements had shifted and the nursery environment had softened. "By the time the queen had the two younger children, Helen Lightbody [their first nanny] had gone and Mabel Anderson, her deputy and a much easier character, was in charge," royal biographer Penny Junor wrote in 2005's The Firm. "She and the queen were good friends and brought the [younger] children up together."
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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's public standing has changed dramatically in recent years, resulting in the loss of his royal titles and his move from his long-time Crown Estate residence, Royal Lodge, to one of King Charles III's privately owned Sandringham estate properties amid renewed scrutiny over the former Duke of York's ties to convicted predator
Jeffrey Epstein. "The poor late [Queen Elizabeth II] would be absolutely heartbroken to see what's happened to the son who was often referred to as her favorite," royal author
Phil Dampier recently told
HELLO!.
