Prince William and Princess Kate have been warned that Prince Andrew and Prince Harry “should stand as a warning” for how they should parent their own three children, a royal commentator said.
The heir to the throne and his wife share three children – Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and seven-year-old Prince Louis. George is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps when he takes the UK throne.
But royal experts at the Daily Mail said William and Kate are ensuring his younger siblings don’t follow the paths trodden by Andrew and Harry in being problematic ‘spares’.
The paper’s Diary Editor told the Palace Confidential podcast: “I think Andrew and Harry should both stand as a warning to Prince William and Catherine that how you treat that ‘spare’ is very difficult.
“We’ve seen in both cases I would say they’ve grown up with the wrong attitudes, with that bitterness, resentment from Harry, then in Andrew’s case that sort of weird entitlement.
“From everything we’ve heard, William and Catherine are making real efforts to avoid that but it is hard in that sense when winner takes all type of thing.”
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle sensationally quit as working royals in 2020 to forge their own path in the United States. Harry has since repeatedly criticised his family through forums such as his tell-all memoir Spare and the explosive interview he and his wife conducted with Oprah Winfrey.
Relations with his dad King Charles, brother William and the rest of the family remain strained.
Andrew on the other hand stood down from his royal duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019. He was attempting to clear his name as rumours grew over his link to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In more recent years he has caused controversy over his tenancy of Royal Lodge, with Charles having been seemingly keen to evict his brother, and his links to an alleged Chinese spy.
Palace Confidential went on to compare the attitudes of Prince Andrew and the Queen’s youngest child, Prince Edward, with Richard Eden suggesting their different personas are down to “character” as “they’re different people and married different people”.
Friends of Edward reportedly said “he never changed that much, he’s not arrogant and always behaved in a positive way”. Richard also said his marriage to Sophie has proved an asset.
The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English added: “There’s an element of where you come in the pecking order. As a younger child, so moved away from the line of succession, unless there was a major disaster there was no chance he would ever become king.
“He’s growing up with different pressures, and as Richard says it does come down to personalities and the people around you.”
