King Charles' 3 Siblings: All About Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward

King Charles remains close with his brothers and sister after their years of serving the monarchy

In addition to being the British monarch, King Charles has another role: as an older brother to his three siblings, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

King Charles is the eldest of the siblings born to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, followed by Princess Anne, the Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, the Duke of York; and Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The brothers and sister were often by their mother’s side during her historic rule, devoting much of their lives to the monarchy and carrying out royal engagements for charitable causes. As they got older, their duties in the family became much more prominent.

Now that King Charles acceded to the throne, and especially after his cancer diagnosis, Princess Anne and Prince Edward have become a massive source of support for their oldest brother and have stood by his side as they did with their mother.

Related: All About Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's 4 Children

In turn, he has also shown up for them, including after Princess Anne suffered "minor injuries and concussion" during an "incident" at her country home in June 2024, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.

It added that King Charles has been "kept closely informed and joins the whole royal family in sending his fondest love and well-wishes to the Princess for a speedy recovery."

Here’s everything to know about King Charles’ siblings: Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

King Charles is the oldest sibling

King Charles is the eldest child born to the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Therefore, he was first in line to inherit the throne from his mother.

King Charles, born on Nov. 14, 1948, was closely followed by his only sister, Princess Anne, who arrived on Aug. 15, 1950. They were the only siblings welcomed before their mother acceded to the throne in February 1952.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip later announced the birth of Prince Andrew on Feb. 19, 1960, and Prince Edward was born on March 10, 1964. King Charles is about 12 years older than Prince Andrew and around 15 years older than Prince Edward.

King Charles and his siblings each have two kids

While Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had a large family, their kids decided to keep their households smaller. King Charles, who is father to Prince William and Prince Harry, and his siblings welcomed two kids each, giving Queen Elizabeth eight grandchildren.

Princess Anne was the first to marry in 1973 when she wed Olympic gold medalist Captain Mark Phillips. (They later divorced in 1992.) The two welcomed son Peter in 1977 and daughter Zara in 1981, and they opted not to give their children official royal titles.

"I think it was probably easier for them, and I think most people would argue that there are downsides to having titles," Princess Anne told Vanity Fair in 2020. "So I think that was probably the right thing to do."

Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, in 1986 after they were set up by her close childhood friend Princess Diana, who married then-Prince Charles in 1981. Prince Andrew and Ferguson welcomed two daughters together — Princess Beatrice in 1988 and Princess Eugenie in 1990 — before they separated in 1992 and officially divorced in 1996.

Prince Edward married public relations executive Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, and they share a daughter Lady Louise Windsor, born in 2003, and a son James, Earl of Wessex, born in 2007.

Related: Meet the British Royal Family: A Complete Guide to the Modern Monarchy

Princess Anne and Prince Edward were recently named Counsellors of State for King Charles

Princess Anne and Prince Edward support their oldest brother by serving as Counsellors of State, which officially enables them to stand in for King Charles and carry out constitutional duties should he be abroad or unwell.

Typically, the Counsellors of State are made up of the monarch’s spouse, Queen Camilla in this case, and the first four people in the line of succession over the age of 21: Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice. The age cutoff means William’s kids — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis — are too young to serve in the role despite their place in the line of succession behind their father.

However, since Prince Andrew and Prince Harry are no longer senior working royals, a law was amended in 2022 to expand the group, allowing Princess Anne and Prince Edward to rejoin. The two previously held this role for their mother, Queen Elizabeth, before King Charles and Prince Andrew’s children were old enough to take on the roles.

Princess Anne often earns the title of the hardest-working royal

In many years, Princess Anne has earned the right to call herself the hardest-working royal, attending more events than anyone else in the family.

Princess Anne conducted 457 engagements in 2023, more than King Charles’ 425, and equally beat out her older brother in 2022 and 2021. Anne started attending royal engagements when she turned 18 and hasn't slowed down, remaining an important figure in the family as King Charles and Kate Middleton focus on their well-being amid their cancer treatments.

Outside of her royal duties, Princess Anne is an avid and passionate horsewoman, prompting her late father Prince Philip to once say, "If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she isn't interested."

She competed professionally as an equestrian in her twenties and became the first British royal Olympian when she competed at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal riding Goodwill, one of Queen Elizabeth’s horses.

Related: A Complete Timeline of King Charles' Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal and military titles in 2022

Prince Andrew took a step back from his royal duties after his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

In a Florida civil suit filed in 2015 against Epstein, a woman, later identified as Virginia Giuffre, alleged that the disgraced billionaire forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions, per court papers obtained by PEOPLE. According to the lawsuit, Giuffre was 17 at the time, though Prince Andrew denies the claims.

Andrew continued to face scrutiny over the allegation, and in 2019 — after a “no holds barred” interview with the BBC, where he expressed regret over his friendship with Epstein and continued to deny Giuffre’s claims — he stepped back from public duty.

In August 2021, Giuffre filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew. Six months later, in January 2022, Andrew was stripped of all his military titles and royal patronages “with The Queen's approval and agreement."

Prince Andrew settled out of court with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed amount. According to a joint statement from the attorneys, "Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others. He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”

In January 2024, court documents related to a lawsuit involving Epstein were unsealed, and Prince Andrew was among those named. Still, despite calls for an investigation into Prince Andrew's part in the allegations, British police have said they have no plans to look further into the situation at this time.

Prince Edward didn’t follow the family tradition of going into the military

Though Prince Edward enlisted in the military like other royal family members did before him, it ultimately wasn't his passion.

Prince Edward joined the Royal Marines in 1986, but four months into the start of training, he resigned. The news was made public in January 1987 after Edward didn’t return to training following Christmas break.

Prince Edward became the first in his immediate family not to make the military his career — King Charles and Prince Andrew both served in the Navy like their father. At the time of Prince Edward's enlistment, Prince Philip was serving as the Marines’ Honorary Captain General.

After leaving the Marines, Prince Edward worked for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber before launching his film production company Ardent Productions in 1993. He later stepped down from his place in the company in 2002, and it eventually shuttered in 2009, according to Vanity Fair.

Years later, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh are now central figures in the family, taking on duties on behalf of the monarchy.

Princess Anne once fought off a kidnapping

In 1974, Princess Anne was returning to Buckingham Palace with then-husband Mark Phillips when she was the target of a kidnapping attempt after Ian Ball blocked the car she was riding in and began firing shots at her chauffeur, Alex Callender, and her private detective, James Beaton.

Ball then climbed into the front seat and ordered the 23-year-old royal to get out, to which she reportedly replied, "Not bloody likely." Ball was eventually stopped by a passerby, amateur boxer Ronnie Russell, and later caught by police and sentenced to life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital.

Anne recalled in a 1980 interview how she refused to cooperate when Ball tried to get her out of the car, but she saw no point in being rude during the attack, which she thinks lasted at least 10 minutes.

"I was scrupulously polite because I thought it was silly to be too rude at that stage," she said, though her attitude eventually changed when he ripped the back of her dress. "That was his most dangerous moment. I lost my rag at that stage."

Prince Andrew attended Easter service with King Charles

Though Prince Andrew doesn’t attend official royal engagements, he has been seen at King Charles’ side at family events, including the Easter church service in March 2024.

Prince Andrew was spotted joining King Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, at the Easter Mattins Service at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The Duke of York has continued to make appearances at similar family events since he was stripped of his titles and patronages by his mother, including his brother’s coronation in 2023.

Prince Edward received their late dad's title

When Prince Philip married then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947, he was named the Duke of Edinburgh title by his father-in-law, King George VI, and held it until he died in 2021. While the title initially reverted to the crown, King Charles conferred it on Prince Edward on his 59th birthday in 2023.

Edward first learned he’d be the future Duke of Edinburgh shortly before his 1999 wedding to Sophie when Prince Philip promised them the title, the palace announced in a statement at the time.

The new title made Sophie the Duchess of Edinburgh, while their son James became the new Earl of Wessex, inheriting the earldom given to Edward on his wedding day.

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