Prince Philip and Prince Charles have never shared a particularly close bond, but according to a royal biographer, there is one trait of Charles that so “incensed” his father the pair have never really gotten over it.
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The Duke of Edinburgh has a well-documented love for all things typically considered ‘manly’, which is why when Charles didn’t show any traits that could be attributed to machoism, Prince Philip could never get over it.
Royal biographer Penny Junor writes: “The trouble is that the Prince of Wales is fundamentally a weak man, and that is what has incensed the Duke of Edinburgh over the years.
“He wanted a son in his own image – a tough, abrasive, plain-talking, unemotional man’s man – but those qualities bypassed his first son and settled instead on his daughter.”
Ms Junor continued: “Charles has a generous heart, he cares hugely about the underdog, because, for all his partial living, he is one, he identifies.
“He wants passionately to make the world a better place, to stop people feeling hopeless and helpless, to stop modernisers from destroying our heritage, chemicals from destroying our environment, ignorance and greed from destroying our planet, red tape from destroying our lives.
“He is admirable in so many ways, but he has never been able to cope with confrontation.
“Blisteringly angry at times, certainly, demanding, yes, and on the sporting field no-one could question his courage, but he has never been brave when it comes to taking tough decisions.
“He gets others to do it for him.”
Unfortunately for Charles, his father seems to admire little brother Andrew for the very reason he doesn’t care for his eldest son.
Royal journalist Sue Arnold has claimed that Philip admires the Duke of York for his ‘action-man image’: “Prince Philip admires Andrew’s macho action-man image – it reminds him of his own youth”.
