The Queen Has A Favorite Grandchild – And You’ll Be Surprised To Learn Who It Is. Think of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren and Prince William or Prince Harry will most likely come to mind. And although the monarch clearly loves those two very much, apparently she has a favorite grandchild – and it’s neither of them. The individual in question is actually less prominently in the public eye. There are many members of the royal family who prefer to live life outside of the spotlight, in fact. And the Queen has a particular liking for a younger member of that crowd. The Queen has more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than you might expect. She has eight of the former, in fact, and six of the latter. Among the grandchildren are William and Harry, of course. And there’s also Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall (who bear no titles), Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn. William and Harry are the sons of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, and their father is of course heir to the throne. This means that William, the eldest, will take the throne after him. The other grandchildren of the Queen are very unlikely to ever find themselves in the line of succession, especially since Prince William now has three children of his own. But even though they’re being bumped down the list, the daughters of the Queen’s second son, Prince Andrew, fare best in terms of royal succession. Indeed, Beatrice and Eugenie are eighth and ninth, respectively, in line to the throne. The youngest grandchildren, Louise and James, children of the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, are 12th and 11th. And Peter and Zara, the son and daughter of the Queen’s only daughter, Princess Anne, sit 14th and 17th in line. Still, it’s not unusual for royals to play favorites with their grandchildren. After all, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, reportedly adored Prince Charles more than any of his siblings. And the feeling was mutual; he seemingly got along with her better than he got along with his mother. When Charles divorced Princess Diana, it was said that the Queen Mother banned Diana’s name from being spoken in her presence. Thankfully, the royal family now seems to be free of such dramas. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the Queen’s relationships with her grandchildren. Much is made of her closeness to William and Harry, for instance. She’s taken on a mentor role with William, insiders have often claimed, as he’ll be king one day. In contrast, her relationship with Harry is said to be more casual and fun. And then there’s the Queen’s relationship with her oldest grandchild, Peter Phillips. He’s the one whom the media sometimes refers to as “the Queen’s favorite grandchild.” Peter was born in 1977, the first child of Princess Anne and her then-husband Mark Phillips. But neither he nor his sister Zara were given royal titles on birth. That purely follows tradition; as the children of a princess rather than a prince, they didn’t gain them automatically. And when the Queen offered “courtesy titles” to the family, they turned them down, preferring the children to grow up as “commoners.” Despite not having a title, Peter had an extremely happy childhood and enjoyed a very close relationship with his grandmother. “We had great fun growing up on our holidays, going to stay with her at Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor. And we were incredibly lucky to be able to share a lot of our childhood time with her,” he told Good Morning Britain in January 2016. "She’s such an inspiration, not only to the country but to us as a family,” Peter went on. “You know, her work ethic and her dedication is something that I think the whole family has always inspired to at least get somewhere near.” When one of the interviewers asked what he called the Queen, Peter responded that his name for her was “Granny,” like most people called their grandmother. Peter also revealed that the Queen let her grandchildren have fun when they were young. “There was a lot of space for kids to run around in, and it wasn’t just us, it was [William and Harry], Freddie and Ella Windsor and the Gloucesters,” he said, referring to other royal relatives. “So there was quite a gang of us growing up in that age, and it was a lot of fun. We caused quite a bit of mayhem and chaos but fortunately I don’t think we broke too much.” However, it’s likely the Queen would have forgiven any breakages because she forgave Peter for a major breach of protocol back in 2008. The scandal involved Peter’s wedding to Canadian consultant Autumn Kelly and a £500,000 deal with Hello! magazine that involved photos of both them and the Queen. Pictures of the wedding – including some of the Queen in attendance – were published in the magazine without her knowledge. She was reportedly cross about it, and politicians jumped to condemn the incident. “The British public would expect the Queen to rise above being pictured in the pages of Hello!,” Labour MP Ian Gibson told The Daily Telegraph. “She is the Queen, not a footballer’s wife.” Others went even further in expressing their outrage. “Peter Phillips’ Hello! wedding to Autumn was grasping, vulgar and so damaging to the Queen” a headline from the London Evening Standard announced. “It seems almost beyond belief that the Queen’s grandson should have sold the rights to his wedding in a manner we expect from Becks and Posh,” the article continued, referring to the British super-couple David and Victoria Beckham. Furthermore, William and Harry were reportedly angry. For William, the wedding had been the first chance that his girlfriend Kate Middleton had had to meet the Queen, and Peter had soured the occasion somewhat. Harry likewise had a girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, who had been photographed there without her knowledge. But despite all this initial anger, the controversy died down. Regardless of the Queen’s displeasure – and the media could never be sure of the real extent of it, after all – Peter was soon forgiven. And when Peter’s daughter – the Queen’s first great-grandchild – Savannah was born in 2010, the Palace released a statement saying that the Queen was “delighted with the news.” In March 2012 Peter and Autumn had another girl, Isla Elizabeth Phillips, very possibly given that middle name in honor of her great-grandmother. However, the whole Phillips family had begun to shun the spotlight by that point. Sometimes they were snapped in casual situations while out and about, but there were no more magazine deals. Nonetheless, in 2016 – the year of the Queen’s 90th birthday – Peter did write an article for The Daily Telegraph. The headline described him as “the Queen’s favorite grandson, Peter Phillips.” He would not have written that part, of course, although the rest was all in his own words. “In this landmark year for [the Queen], I thought it high time her lifetime’s unbroken service was acknowledged,” Peter wrote. Peter had organized an event called “the Patron’s Lunch” in honor of the Queen and her charity work. “I’ve always been very close to my grandmother, and we speak often. She has been an inspirational person throughout my life, so to be able to do something like this for her is an honor,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. But were William and Harry rivals to Peter for the Queen’s affections? Well, it seemed not. Peter had made his cousins joint presidents of the Patron’s Lunch as well. “It is important that the Queen’s charity work is not confined to a single generation. In the future the Princes will take on many of these patronages, just as the Queen inherited a great many of them from her mother, father and sister,” Peter continued. So there certainly doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between Peter and his more famous cousins. Even the Hello! scandal appears to be in the past for all of them – Prince William invited both Peter and Autumn to his wedding, after all. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what roles Peter takes on going forward, regardless of whether he truly is the Queen’s favorite. Who Is Queen Elizabeth II's Favorite Grandchild? England’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has several grandchildren and while she obviously loves them all she reportedly has a favorite. Playing favorites with grandchildren may sound a little odd, but it’s actually not that uncommon for the royals to do so. After all Her Majesty’s mom, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, was very close with and preferred Prince Charles over his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. In turn, Charles absolutely adored his grandmother and got along better with her than his own mother. So out of Queen Elizabeth’s eight grandchildren, who is her favorite? Is it Prince William? Prince Harry? Princess Eugenie? Or one who isn’t in the spotlight as much? Prince William and his grandmother have a tight bond as she has mentored him most of his life for the day when he will take the throne. But being prepped for such a huge responsibility makes the nature of their relationship much more serious than it is with her other grandkids. As E! News royal correspondent Melanie Bromley put it, William and the queen’s relationship is “half family and half business.” Prince Harry, on the other hand, has shown over the years that he has a more relaxed and fun relationship with her as they have been photographed laughing and joking with one another many times. Speculation about Harry being the favorite really hit a fever pitch in late 2017 when eagle-eyed royal watchers observed something they believe pointed to this during Her Majesty’s annual Christmas address. During Queen Elizabeth’s televised message, viewers took notice of the photos displayed in the background. They were of herself with Prince Philip, Charles with Camilla Parker-Bowles, her great-grandchildren Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and Prince Harry with Meghan Markle but no sign of William and Kate Middleton. Of course, she has quite a large family and there was only so much space for framed portraits on the end tables, however, that didn’t stop many from assuming since Harry was her only grandchild pictured, he’s surely her favorite. There’s also the fact that Queen Elizabeth broke royal tradition by allowing Markle to attend the royal family’s Christmas Day service and dinner at the Sandringham estate before they were married. Moreover, she was present for and supported Harry’s marriage to Markle even though the former actress is a divorcee. In 2005, when Prince Charles and Parker-Bowles married after they each had gotten divorced, the queen did not attend their ceremony. But wait, before we decide that Harry is the hands-down favorite, we have to consider her grandson, Peter Phillips, who the British media actually refers to as “the Queen’s favorite grandchild.” Phillips is the son of the queen’s only daughter, Princess Anne, and is the oldest of all her grandchildren. Therefore, it’s been thought that her very first grandchild, maybe her favorite as well. Because of a long-standing tradition, he was not born with a royal title but Queen Elizabeth offered to break that rule and give Phillips a “courtesy title” proving she had a soft spot for him. However, his parents ended up turning down that offer. In the past, Phillips has talked about the tight-knit relationship he’s always had with his grandmother. And, when he wrote a lengthy piece in The Telegraph about a special event he organized for her called “the Patron’s Lunch,” the press dubbed him her “favorite grandchild.” Moreover, in 2008, Her Majesty showed how forgiving she was of Phillips’ actions following a major breach in protocol. After marrying Canadian consultant Autumn Kelly, he sold their wedding photos to Hello! magazine for $500,000. The British public was outraged and couldn’t believe that Phillips actually sold pictures of the royal family to the press. Princes William and Harry were reportedly very angry about the incident as well since some of the pictures had been taken without their knowledge. But the queen reportedly forgave Phillips for it almost immediately. In 2010, Phillips’ wife gave birth to the queen’s first great-grandchild, Savannah.
