Inside the touching bond between Princess Charlotte and King Charles, who ‘once wanted a daughter’
Princess Charlotte and King Charles are said to be very close, as the monarch ‘once wanted a daughter’
King Charles and Princess Charlotte share a special friendship that goes beyond the traditional ties of grandfather and granddaughter, according to royal experts– and their bond is becoming increasingly evident as Charlotte, who turned 10 earlier this month, grows up.
Now 76, the King has apparently been spending more and more time at Windsor Castle, where Prince William, the Princess of Wales and their children live at Adelaide Cottage. He has, therefore, had ample opportunity to get to know his granddaughter better. Princess Charlotte is, according to childrenswear designer Amaia Arrieta, who has dressed Charlotte since babyhood and has met her several times, ‘a caring and determined little girl… She is sweet but also has her own opinions.’ At home, the Princess of Wales has said that Charlotte ‘rules the roost’ with her two brothers. She appears, in many ways, to be similar to Charles, who is a charismatic leader and has been described by many as passionate yet thoughtful.
Both Charles and Charlotte, pictured during Trooping the Colour in 2023, share the same spirited personality
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
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There is, however, another reason why the King might have a particular soft spot for Princess Charlotte. ‘He once wanted a daughter,’ royal author Ingrid Seward told People magazine. ‘I would think he has a very nice relationship with his granddaughter.’ Indeed, Charles was spotted last year wearing a hand-made friendship bracelet, that many suspected might have been a present from Charlotte – who spent much of her school summer holidays making the woven bands.
In a sense, Charlotte is like the daughter that Charles never had – and Seward’s observation echoes a revelation made by the late Princess Diana made in Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton, in which she admitted that her husband had always longed for a baby girl. ‘I knew Harry was going to be a boy because I saw on the scan,’ she shared about the birth of Prince Harry, the couple’s second son. ‘Charles always wanted a girl. He wanted two children, and he wanted a girl.’
Princess Charlotte is, by all accounts, growing up into a confident and accomplished young royal. As a palace insider told People, ‘she’s a natural and has taken to royal events like a duck to water’. Nevertheless, there will be challenges ahead as the Wales family strive to navigate the complexities of Charlotte’s unique position, where she must always play second fiddle to her older brother.
‘The late Queen Elizabeth was always very conscious of that extraordinary and challenging role of the No. 2,’ royal biographer Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King, told People magazine. ‘That’s why she had a particular soft spot for Margaret, for Andrew and Harry. She understood being second place in a strictly hierarchical family and institution has its challenges,’ he continued. ‘Everyone is conscious of that.’
Being the ‘spare to the heir’ is a vulnerable position, fraught with potential pitfalls – that Charlotte’s uncle, Prince Harry, has expressed all too clearly. William and Kate will, no doubt, want to do everything in their power to prevent their daughter from following in Harry’s footsteps. Prince William, in particular, regards it as one of his most important duties to, in Hardman’s words, not just prepare ‘to be King himself, but to make the whole royal existence approachable and not at all scary for his children’.
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Already, the Waleses are raising their children to strike the right balance between private life and duty, and are well aware that Princess Charlotte will one day be a full-time working royal – with all the responsibility that entails. ‘Getting the family right is absolutely critical, particularly in terms of what the nation expects of them,’ a family friend told People. Thankfully, Princess Charlotte has plenty of family members to whom she can turn when she is in need of royal advice – including her devoted grandfather.
