Channel 4 documentary Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honor and Crown says monarch is ‘frustrated’ by Charles

The Queen is ‘constantly frustrated with Prince Charles’ who ‘will never live up to his sense of duty’, a royal expert said in a new documentary.

Clive Irving, author of the new biography The Last Queen, believes that no member of the Royal Family has “ lived up to ” Her Majesty’s enduring sense of duty.

During Channel 4 documentary Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honor and Crown, which airs tonight at 9 p.m., Irving argues that the Queen, 94, “ never really got ” her eldest son Charles, 72 , – heir to the throne – and is “ puzzled by him.

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Irving also claims Prince William is the only royal to fully appreciate the monarch’s’ very dedicated sense of duty ‘, saying:’ Everyone around the Queen is never up to this at any time. His own family did not live up to this. Charles is never up to the task.

The royal author also said the Queen was more attracted to Prince Andrew, 61, than her older brother, saying: ‘To this day she is more openly affectionate towards Andrew and more indulgent towards Andrew than she is. is not to Charles. ”

Also discussing the different characters of the siblings, Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, called Charles “the opposite of younger brother Andrew”.

She said, “ He’s [Andrew] loud, bumptuous, very charming, when he wants it. He can be arrogant and rude; he has some characteristics of his own father.

Seward added that Andrew’s active service in the Navy after Prince Philip, including piloting helicopters on missions during the Falklands War, ensured that he had returned “ as a war hero, his mother was proud ”.

She said that as the first and second to the throne during this time, Charles and Andrew represented “ all that the monarchy could be. ”

The documentary claims to be a “ deep examination of several dramatic conflicts between the Crown and family during the Queen’s long reign ” and begins by looking at the early romance of the Queen and Prince Philip in the mid-forties.

The couple’s wedding in 1947 was, it is suggested, meant to be a low-key affair, but was sidetracked by the need to provide post-war jubilation and turned into a much larger national celebration.

The program also suggests that Prince Philip, 99, who is recovering from a month-long stay in London hospitals after a recent period of poor health, played an important role in the modernization of the monarchy.

The documentary features now declassified documents, including one shedding light on Princess Margaret’s unfortunate engagement to group captain Peter Townsend, a divorcee who was King George VI’s squire.

The Queen could not offer her consent for a marriage to take place because she is the head of the Church, which did not allow divorced people to marry in church during this period of time. history – but some have claimed the monarch attempted to ‘thwart’ the marriage, which the documents now refute.

Documents obtained by Channel 4 show then Prime Minister Anthony Eden also had to give consent, and the Queen and Prime Minister made a deal for a wedding to take place. However, the couple failed to make it down the aisle as Princess Margaret ultimately called off their romance.

This week, a source close to the Royal Family claimed Prince William did not believe he was ‘trapped’ in the British monarchy system, which Prince Harry claimed during his interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this week. this month.

Instead, the Duke of Cambridge, who is second to the throne behind his father, has ‘accepted’ his role and ‘the path laid out for him’, according to royal sources.

“ He is truly his grandmother’s grandson when it comes to duty and service, ” the source, close to the two brothers, told The Sunday Times.

Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honor and Crown airs Sunday, March 21 at 9 p.m. on Channel 4