During one of their excursions, Charles came down with tonsillitis, but neither of his parents returned to London to nurse their son.
The Queen Mother, then Prince Charles and Princess Margaret watch the Queen being CrownedThe Queen and Prince Philip were rarely there to advise or encourage. Charles hoped his parents would stay in London for his birthday. Instead they took off to Sandringham, returning for a flying visit before setting off on a seven-month tour of the Commonwealth.
When the Queen put Charles on horseback at the age of four, he was terrified and begged to be taken down. At the same age, Anne tried to grapple the reins from the stable hand and take off on her own. The Queen Mother encouraged Charles's interest in the arts – particularly music and ballet – things that his father considered soft.While Mabel Anderson was not above administering a spanking, she took the time to comfort and reassure Charles.
As it was deemed inappropriate for the heir to the throne to use a public swimming pool, two black cabs were hired to ferry Charles and his classmates to the pool in Buckingham Palace. However, he did travel on a bus with the other children to play football at the school's games field. But Charles was no sportsman – he was not physically robust and was prone to colds, flu and tonsillitis.
On his first day, he arrived in a Jaguar with his ma and pa. Their duty done, they then sped off. Charles did not take his abandonment well. The first few nights in the dorm he shared with seven others, he apparently stifled his tears in the pillow. It was noted that he did not mix easily with the other boys.
Foreseeing that his son might have trouble at school, Prince Philip got two of his military aides to give Charles some guidance in self-defence. During his five-year stay at Cheam, he twice had a fight in the dorm, only to be thrashed afterwards by members of staff who seemed to enjoy meting out the punishment. But conflicts were rare. Charles was completely unsuited to the unruly life of a boys' boarding school and kept as low a profile as possible.
'All the other boys turned around and looked at me,' Charles recalled. Charles now saw the awful truth. He had been dropped in it. There was no way out. Charles rose to become head boy, no doubt on merit. When asked whether he had enjoyed his five years at Cheam, he said: 'I loathed it.' But there was one high spot. He was cast as understudy to play the Duke of Gloucester – the future Richard III – in the school play. At the last minute, the principal was unavailable, so Charles got to play the role. The Queen and Prince Philip were, as usual, unable to attend.
At lunchtime, the Queen would head up to the nursery. Afternoon engagements were kept to a minimum so she could wheel him out into the garden. Queen Elizabeth II holding Prince Andrew during an outing in the grounds at Balmoral, Scotland. He was the first child to be born to a reigning monarch for 103 years
Andrew spent long hours in the garden every day, warm or cold, wet or fine. If it was raining, the pram would be parked with its hood up in the shelter of the canopy of the Palace garden entrance. Policemen patrolling would act as stand-in nannies. If he cried for any reason, a telephone call would bring Mabel Anderson hurrying down from the nursery.
Royal aides would see him playing with his toys on the floor next to the desk where the Queen was dealing with state papers. While the Queen was away on a tour of Australia and New Zealand on his third birthday, she did not forget to phone to wish him many happy returns. There were responsibilities, too. The Queen put him in charge of feeding the dogs and making sure they always had drinking water – it was a job, as a dog lover, she had always done herself.
Most evenings, Andrew, Edward and their parents would spend time together. Before a state banquet, the Queen would visit the nursery in her evening gown and tiara, and sit on the piano stool reading to Prince Edward, while the Duke of Edinburgh, in white tie, would chat to Andrew about the day's events.
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