Queen ElizabethandPrince Philipwelcomed four children together over the course of their 73-year marriage:King Charles III,Princess Anne,Prince AndrewandPrince Edward.
The Queen rarely spoke publicly about her family, though in her1972 wedding anniversary speech, she said, “If I am asked what I think about family life after 25 years of marriage, I can answer with equal simplicity and conviction, I am for it.”
On Sept. 8, 2022,Queen Elizabeth’s four children, along with other royal family members,traveled to Balmoral Castlein Scotland amid doctors' “concerns” for her health. Shortly after, Buckingham Palace announced in an official statement thatQueen Elizabethdied at the age of 96. “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the statement read.
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Nearly eight months afterQueen Elizabeth’s death,King Charles was crownedalongside his wife,Queen Camilla, during a joint coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. His three younger siblings — Anne, Andrew and Edward — were all in attendance.
In February 2024, Buckingham Palace released a statement that revealed Charles was diagnosed with cancer that was found when he was hospitalized for a procedure totreat an enlarged prostate.
From duty-focused Charles to hard-working Anne, “sensitive” Edward and scandal-ridden Andrew, here’s everything to knowQueen ElizabethandPrince Philip’s children.
King Charles
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Born in Buckingham Palace on Nov. 14, 1948, King Charles is the Queen and Prince Philip’s eldest son and was named heir to the British throne upon his birth. When he was 9 years old, he was named Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.
King Charles studied archaeology, anthropology and history atTrinity College, University of Cambridge, becoming the first royal heir to earn a university degree. He then served in the British Royal Navy in his 20s, like his father before him, and later became a helicopter pilot. He retired from military service in 1976 as commander of theH.M.S. Broningtonand later founded the charityThe Prince’s Trust.
He began his relationship withDiana Spencerin the summer of 1980, and in February 1981, the pair became engaged. They wed on July 29, 1981, and welcomed their first son,Prince William, the following year. In 1984, the couple welcomed their second son,Prince Harry.
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Both Charles and Diana admitted to infidelity in their marriage and the couple announced their separation in 1992 andfinalized their divorcein August 1996. Diana tragically died in a car crash just one year later.
The royal then quietly datedCamilla Parker Bowles, whom he dated prior to marrying Diana, and they eventually wed on April 9, 2005.
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On May 10, 2022, Charlesdelivered the speech at the State Opening of Parliamentfor the first time on behalf of his mother, who could not attend. He also acknowledged his then-position as future king in jest,telling an audiencethat when he visited a T.K. Maxx, “I remember there were an enormous number of people who were trying to get in, as they were waiting for me to get out! Story of my life.”
Charles became King Charles III after the death of Queen Elizabeth, and immediately inherited the responsibilities and privileges of a consecrated king. He was crowned on May 6, 2023, during his coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London.
At the time, it was understood that Charles personallyshared the news with his siblings(and sons Harry and William) before it was made public.
Princess Anne
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Princess Anne was born on Aug. 15, 1950, in London. Prince Philip once famously said of his only daughter, anavid equestrian, “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.” That lack of frivolity also extends to her fashion sense: Princess Anne is alsoknown for recycling her wardrobe, sometimes wearing the same outfits more than 30 years apart.
As a display of just how small the royal circles are, Princess Anne datedAndrew Parker Bowlesin 1970 before he married his first wife, Camilla. In 1973, Princess Anne married Olympic gold medalist CaptainMark Phillips— just four months after her split from Parker Bowles, with whom she remains friends today.
On March 20, 1974, Princess Anne wasthe target of a kidnapping plot. Would-be kidnapper Ian Ball swerved in front of Princess Anne’s chauffeured Rolls Royce and fired six shots, injuring four people. Ball tried to get the princess to get out of the car, to which witnesses said she replied, “Not bloody likely!”
In 1978, Princess Annerecalled the events in a televised interviewand downplayed her own bravery with wry humor. “He opened the door, and we had a sort of ‘discussion’ about where or where not we were going to go,” she said of Ball. “I said I didn’t think I wanted to go. I was scrupulously polite because I thought it was silly to be too rude at that stage.”
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Anne and her first husband welcomed sonPeterin 1977 — making her the first royal to give birth in a hospital — and daughterZarain 1981 and opted not to give her children royal titles. The princess and Phillipsseparated in 1989anddivorced in April 1992following infidelity on both sides. In December of that year, Princess Anne marriedSir Timothy Laurence, with whom she’d had an affair during her first marriage.
The Queen’s daughter remains one of thebusiest royals, having attended over 500 events in 2018 alone. Anne has joked that she is the “boring old fuddy-duddy at the back saying, ‘Don’t forget the basics,’ " to the next generation of royals.
On Dec. 7, 2022, Princess Anne officially became aCounsellor of Statefor King Charles III, meaning can carry out constitutional duties for their oldest brother if he is unavailable. The legislation was “fast-tracked” to avoid “an awkward constitutional problem” involving former working royals: Prince Andrew and Prince Harry.
She also held a special role at King Charles' May 2023 coronation:She served as the “Gold-Stick-in-Waiting"during the Coronation Procession. She rode on horseback behind King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Gold State Coach, leading 6,000 armed services personnel through the streets of London.
Prince Andrew
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In 1986, Prince Andrew marriedSarah “Fergie” Fergusonand the Queen named him Duke of York. They welcomed daughtersPrincess BeatriceandPrincess Eugeniebefore separating in 1992 and divorcing in 1996, though they remain close friends andstill live together.
Andrew is now infamous for his friendship with the late convicted sex traffickerJeffrey Epstein. In 2011, Prince Andrewstepped downafter a decade as U.K. Special Representative for International Trade and Investment due to his dealings with Epstein.
In 2019, a survivor of Epstein’s trafficking ring,Virginia Giuffre, accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse andfiled a civil lawsuit against him, alleging that she was forced to have sex with him three times between 1999 and 2002.
Prince Andrewconsistently denied any wrongdoing, most famously in aBBC interviewthat November. The palacestripped Andrew of his military titles and royal patronagesin January 2022, and he and Giuffrereached an undisclosed settlementone month later.
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Though Prince Andrew canno longer usethe “His Royal Highness” title or attend any public events as a royal, hedoes still attend family events.
Prince Edward
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Prince Edward is Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s youngest child, born on March 10, 1964, in Buckingham Palace.
Though the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s “most charming and sensitive son” largely flies under the radar, he made waves in 1987 when heresigned from the Royal Marinesduring early training — reportedly to his father’s great chagrin.
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Prince Edward was close friends with model Romy Adlington at the time, who told reporters, “Edward has been put through a terrible ordeal and has no one to speak for him. As one of his closest friends, I want the public to know he is a normal human being who has to make an important decision. He doesn’t have the same responsibility as his brothers [they are closer in the line of succession], yet he still can’t go off and do what he wants. He has often asked me: ‘What’s it like to go for a walk alone in the park? How does it feel to be able to walk into a shop without everyone staring at you?’ That’s all he wants to be able to do.”
After leaving the Marines, Prince Edward worked for composerAndrew Lloyd Webberbefore launching his since-shuttered film production companyArdent Productions.
Whilerelatively far down the line of royal succession, Prince Edward actually had a shot to become king — of Estonia. When the country became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union, Estonia’s Royalist partyreportedly approached himin 1994 about leading the nation. He politely declined.
On June 19, 1999, Prince Edward married public relations executiveSophie Rhys-Jonesin what was described as a"casual” royal wedding, and the couple became the Earl and Countess of Wessex. They share daughterLady Louiseand sonJames, Viscount Severn. The couple elected not to give their childrenHRH titles. Since thedeath of Prince Philip, Prince Edward has taken on many of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s patronages and responsibilities.
Like his sister, Prince Edward was also named aCounsellor of Statefor his older brother, a position he will hold for life.
On March 10, 2023, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles hadconferred the title of Duke of Edinburgh onto Edward. The new appellation makes Sophie the Duchess of Edinburgh, while their sonJames becomes the new Earl of Wessexafter inheriting the earldom from Edward.
source: people.com
