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For years there has been speculation that the relationship between Prince Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, hasn’t exactly been a great one. At times, it’s been described as “prickly” and the rumblings that Her Majesty would rather her grandson, Prince William, take the throne over Charles have never really died down.

Here’s what we know about the relationship between the queen of England and the Prince of Wales and how it got to this point.

They never formed a mother-son bond

An archived photo of Queen Elizabeth and prince Charles smiling together.
Their mother-son relationship was never an intimate one. | Central Press/Getty Images

The prince and his mother’s lack of closeness could stem from her reportedly not being present during his childhood. Because the queen had many royal duties to tend to in the years after Charles was born, he was reportedly cared for by nannies and other palace staffers more than his mother.

According to Robert Lacy, the childcare situation was not unusual or foreign to the queen. “She had been brought up in that style herself, after all, with her parents leaving her at home and entrusting her entire schooling to a governess and home tutors,” he told Town & Country.

Biographer Jonathan Dimbleby agreed and quoted Charles as saying that it was “inevitably the nursery staff” who raised him.

Next: The Camilla factor

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