Queen Elizabeth II was almost six months pregnant with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor when she wrote to her midwife. "The children were very excited at the news of the baby," she told Sister Helen Rowe, whom she knew affectionately as Rowie. "Especially Charles, who loves small children."
In hindsight, this was one of the high points of a brotherly relationship that reached its nadir last month when the King offered his "wholehearted support and co-operation" to the authorities investigating Andrew's alleged misconduct in public office.
Andrew's friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had already led the King to strip his brother of the last of his titles in October and move him from his home at Royal Lodge in Windsor to a cottage on the Sandringham Estate.
"These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him," Buckingham Palace said in a statement that did not even refer to Andrew as the King's brother. "Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse."
An associate of Andrew tells HELLO! that people are correct to assume that the brothers' relationship is at its lowest ever ebb.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work that out," the source says. "A lot of people got badly hurt by a person whom [Andrew] should never have associated himself with, under any circumstances. That is one part of this. The other part is how and what has happened [between Andrew and the King]. Would you treat your brother like this in the circumstances? They are people, just like us."
Irreparable relationship
Royal biographers agree that the brothers are furious with one another and that their relationship is irreparable. Charles and Andrew are unlikely ever to be seen together in public again, even at family Christmases at Sandringham, they claim.
Andrew Lownie, the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, suggests that these feelings run so deep that "I don't think we'll see Andrew at Charles's funeral".
© Getty ImagesRobert Jobson, whose book The Windsor Legacy: A Royal Dynasty of Secrets, Scandal and Survival was published in November, tells HELLO! that the King feels personally betrayed by the allegations emerging about Andrew from the so-called "Epstein files" released by the US authorities.
"In around 2013 or 2014, Charles and Andrew had a massive conversation about Epstein and Andrew gave him his complete and utter assurance that he had done nothing wrong," Robert says, citing a source close to the King. "He gave unequivocal reassurances."
The monarch has been vindicated in his long-held doubts about Andrew's suitability for the role of the UK's special representative for international trade and investment, a position that led newspapers to nickname his brother "Air Miles Andy", thanks to his fondness for international travel.
"Charles always had doubts about Andrew becoming an envoy," Robert adds. "Andrew took over the Duke of Kent's role when he retired in 2001 – no one called him Air Miles Eddie. Charles thought that [Andrew] had just retired from the navy and didn't have experience of diplomacy. The Queen insisted.
"So now, Charles is thinking: 'I told you so.'"
Senior royals including the Prince and Princess of Wales gathered at Westminster Abbey last week for the Commonwealth Day service, their first joint public engagement since Andrew's arrest last month.
Although biographers believe that the brothers were never especially close, there was affection between them in childhood. Robert says that the age difference and time away at school made Charles "more avuncular than a big brother".
© AlamyHeir and spare curse
He adds that successive generations have struggled with the imbalance of the two roles.
"It's a bit like the heir-and-spare relationship between William and Harry. William and Harry were like two rutting stags, but one's got horns and the other doesn't. Only one is going to get the full attention and the money and the prestige."
Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and a biographer of Sarah Ferguson, says that the brothers' personalities always provided a contrast.
"They were never close, because Charles was studious and Andrew is not. Their interests are so different," Ingrid says, although she thinks that Charles was reluctant to act against him. "Charles is a very soft-centred chap and I'm sure he didn't enjoy rooting him out of Royal Lodge."
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