THE long-running royal “feud” between Prince Charles and Prince Andrew has been well-documented.
And experts believe the fierce rivalry stems from the fact that the Queen has a firm favourite son.
Despite Charles being the first-born and heir to the throne, it’s believed that she actually has a closer relationship with Andrew, who is 11 years younger.
The intense competition between the royal brothers is a focus of a new Channel 5 documentary, The Royal Family At War.
Royal author, Katie Nicholl told the documentary: “There is real tension between Charles and Andrew.
“Andrew has a very different relationship with his mother and the Queen was much more hands on.”
Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell added: “Andrew has always been the Queen’s favourite son and he has never done anything wrong in her eyes.”
Journalist Penny Junor said: “I think the Queen has always had a bit of a blindspot when it comes to Prince Andrew.”
The documentary also suggested that Charles is trying to airbrush his “damaging” younger brother out of the future royal family.
Royal insiders said that the Prince of Wales sees his younger brother as a “liability” following a number of scandals.
This includes his friendship with disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his reputation as ‘Air Miles Andy’.
“There probably has been occasions where Prince Charles has considered Andrew to be a bit of a liability to the royal family,” CNN royal commentator Victoria Arbiter said.
“That image of Prince Andrew being the playboy at large rankles Prince Charles. He finds it embarrassing.
“Charles does not want to be responsible for ruining the queen’s legacy,” she says.
The royal doc has also claimed that Princess Margaret fell out with Diana because she felt she “usurped” her position in the family.
Paul Burrell revealed that the Queen’s sister had felt overshadowed by the late Princess of Wales.
Speaking on the documentary he explained: “Princess Margaret was not a fan of Princess Diana’s because Margaret was the film star, a Diana of her day, and then along comes Diana and usurps her.”
But despite their clashes the two princesses had to co-exist, both living at Kensington Palace at the time, where frictions continued to present themselves.
Speaking on the programme royal biographer Andrew Morton recalls: “Princess Margaret would turn over any magazine that had Diana on the cover. (She) told her staff not to talk to anybody from Diana’s department it was a cold war.”
The press’s fascination with Diana continued to grate on Margaret who, according to Victoria Arbiter, failed to grasp the idea that the Queen wasn’t coming first.
Victoria explains: “Margaret just didn’t understand it if Diana trumped the Queen’s picture on the front page because the Queen is the Queen and the Queen is expected to come first.
“Margaret was quite grand and I think she simply didn’t identify with Diana and she thought it should still be all about the Queen.”
As Diana and Charles’ marriage began to fall apart she began to invite men to her home of Kensington Palace, much to Princess Margaret’s disapproval.
Andrew Morton revealed on the show: “Ironically whenever Diana would have a boyfriend over, often in the trunk or the boot of her car, Margaret would be there behind the curtains watching.”
His claims were backed up by Paul Burrell who said that the late Princess of Wales was well aware of Margaret’s spying.
He said: “Whenever I had to deliver men to the princess I had to bring them into Clock Court which was immediately in front of Princess Margaret’s home.
“All the time the curtains would be twitching and Margaret would be watching, keeping an eye on what Diana was doing. Diana would wave, ‘Hi Margo, how are you?’”
It was after Diana’s iconic tell-all interview in 1995 that Margaret really lost patience with Prince Charles’ ex-wife.
Royal author Katie Nicholl explains: “She felt that Diana had gone too far, lifting the lid on the royal family and she wouldn’t speak to Diana after that interview.”
The Royal Family At War airs on Channel 5 on Saturday at 9:00pm.
In other royal news the Queen’s former aide has claimed that Prince Harry is ‘angry and upset’ about Meghan Markle’s palace nickname ‘Me-Gain.’
We also revealed hardworking Meghan Markle has already made plans to return from maternity leave after SIX MONTHS in October.
