The Queen raised her children with defined roles
If her own entry into public life as Monarch in Waiting had been unplanned, the roles of the Queen’s own children were defined very early on.
Who will forget that picture of Her Majesty gravely shaking hands with a toddler Prince Charles when she returned after many weeks away.
Did she not want to sweep him into her arms and hug him even if it led to the tears she was always careful not to show the world? Very likely.
But that was an age away, the little boy was heir to the throne, inheritor of a kingdom. In public, even in his little white socks, he had position.
Anne, meanwhile, knew she was highly unlikely to ever succeed to the throne, three brothers and eventually several nieces and nephews came before her.
Though ironically, many have said that the present Princess Royal would actually have made a very good Monarch. But it was not to be.
She grew up devoted to her horses, like her mother, and became an Olympic-level horsewoman. She also followed in generations of royal footsteps by being a dutiful and hardworking ambassador for the royal institution, which delighted both the Queen and the Duke – a very fond father to his daughter!
Interestingly, Anne always declared one of her proudest moments to be winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year at the height of her equestrian career. And it’s said that her mother was inordinately proud of that as well.
While the eldest son was prepared in what was thought to be every possible way for the role destiny had decreed him.
At a splendid ceremony in a grand yet intensely moving and personal moment, the Queen dubbed him Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle. Charles dutifully went on to learn Welsh, study at a Welsh University and made sure the principality figured highly in his life.
The second son, Andrew saw service during the Falklands War and piloted his helicopter into danger day after day.
Prince Edward was very much a second family.
And as he coped with the challenge of not really being a toughie, not hacking the Marines, choosing the more arty life of theatre and film, he met an increasingly sceptical public.
But he always had the support and listening ear of his mother. In the manner of mums everywhere, she was, after all, only protecting her youngest.
