She’s seen as the no-nonsense royal with an impeccable work ethic, while he went from being jovial Randy Andy to a disgraced ex-duke under police investigation.
Yet while Princess Anne and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor may seem a rather unlikely pairing, the princess seemingly holds a soft spot for her younger brother.
In fact, Anne appears to share the same sense of duty to Andrew as she does to her royal workload – with the Princess Royal choosing to stand by the former prince in the wake of the Epstein scandal.
In their youth, the pair shared a close bond – with Anne said to have taken on a loving ‘surrogate mother’ role for Andrew, according to royal author Ingrid Seward.
Writing in her 1995 book Royal Children, Ms Seward revealed that in his childhood, Andrew ‘quickly established himself as something of a character’, while Anne ‘enjoyed playing mother and helping with the baby’.
The Princess Royal, 75, is understood to still be in contact with Andrew and remains concerned for his welfare, according to The Daily Mail’s Editor-At-Large Richard Kay.
While the former duke of York has been shunned by the Firm following the revelations surrounding his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Anne has continued to hold sympathy for Andrew.
On Christmas Day, while the Royal Family enjoyed their usual Sandringham festivities, Anne made a point of telephoning an outcast Andrew at Royal Lodge, where he remained shielded from the public eye.
Meanwhile, the princess was also said to have been ‘vocal’ with both the King and Prince William about their ‘harsh treatment’ of Andrew.
One source told The Daily Mail: ‘There are several arguments going on between Andrew and the King and between the King and the wider family – some of whom are convinced the King has treated his brother too harshly.’
However, following a tranche of scandalous allegations surrounding Andrew’s conduct and numerous controversial images revealed within the Epstein files, Anne’s once sympathetic perspective is said to have shifted.
While the princess is reluctant to see her brother excluded from private family gatherings, she shares in the Royal Family’s view that the King was right to banish Andrew and strip him of his royal titles to avoid damage to the Firm.
Providing a rare insight into Anne and Andrew’s relationship, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail: ‘She was once reportedly quite close to Andrew, though they were very different and there was a ten-year age gap.’
Now, however, Anne is ‘reportedly aghast at what has been revealed about his behaviour’.
Mr Fitzwilliams further explained: ‘There were reports that Princess Anne felt a duty of care for Andrew as the scandal grew worse, was concerned for his mental health and even reportedly offered him the chance to stay at Gatcombe Park last December.
‘The offer was subsequently rescinded as further revelations made clear King Charles had no option but to strip him of his titles and evict him from Royal Lodge and that his conduct had led to a crisis for the monarchy.’
While Anne called Andrew during his Christmas in exile, Prince Edward is also said to have visited his brother over Easter due to fears for his mental state following the release of the Epstein files and Andrew’s arrest on his 66th birthday.
The overriding motivation behind Anne and Edward’s ‘welfare checks’ are, according to insiders, as a result of fears surrounding Andrew’s mental state following his isolation and the toll exacted by years of scandal, scrutiny, and now exile from public life in his Norfolk bolthole.
‘Edward and Anne are worried,’ one insider told the Daily Mail. ‘They’re family, first and foremost. They don’t want to see him completely cut off.’
Yet while Anne and Edward continue to harbour concerns for their brother, Charles, 77, is said to be taking a more pragmatic approach.
Following Andrew’s arrest, the King released an unprecedented statement in which he expressed his ‘deepest concerns’ over the unfolding scandal and declared that ‘the law must take its course’.
Yet while publicly he has maintained relatively silent on the matter, privately, it is speculated that the bond between the two siblings has suffered a fatal blow.
A source close to the Royal Family told the Daily Mail: ‘The hard reality is that the King may never speak to Andrew again.’
They added: ‘It would take an enormous shift in the King’s thinking for them even to be in the same room.
‘The fact that Edward has now visited Andrew and that Anne has spoken to him too might appear to suggest that Charles might be contemplating some kind of rapprochement – but that’s completely wrong.
‘They were never close as brothers in the first place, with tensions between them which long predate the Epstein scandal.
‘While in the context of the Epstein case the King feels that he was lied to and that’s not easy to forgive.
‘And Charles is not just a brother in this situation but also the King – and in that capacity he has to protect the Monarchy above all other considerations, even personal ones.’
Yet decades before the Epstein scandal emerged, poignant differences between Andrew and Charles were already apparent in their early years, according to royal author Nigel Cawthorne.
Writing in his book War of the Windsors, Andrew was said to have grown up ‘boisterous, self-willed, extroverted, confident and active – everything Charles was not’.
Mr Cawthorne said that while Charles dreaded being sent to Heatherdown Preparatory School in Ascot, it was a dream for the congenial Prince Andrew.
He added: ‘As he was not heir to the throne, Andrew got an easier time and took to it like a duck to water. An extrovert, competitive and sometimes aggressive, Andrew did not submit to bullying.
‘At Heatherdown he developed into a boisterous bruiser. Sharing a dormitory with six others, he complained the TV watching was restricted.’
Royal biographer Tom Quinn wrote in his book, Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, that one servant claimed Andrew would act ‘frustrated’ about not being the first born.
They recalled: ‘A bit like his aunt Margaret, Andrew always behaved as if he was frustrated about not being the first-born and therefore destined to become king.
‘This frustration made him a bit of a bully in private, I think.
‘If he liked a member of his staff, he could be very loyal and supportive, but he couldn’t resist being imperious and bossy and bad-tempered if anything went wrong or wasn’t done exactly to his liking.’
