Being a royal author is hard. For the past few months it has been feeling like a royal book is coming out every few weeks. In this plethora of books and revelations, finding new things to reveal would seem almost impossible. Well, we stand corrected.
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Ingrid Seward, an author and columnist for Daily Mail, is coming out with a new book: My Mother and I. In anticipation, Seward and the Mail are serialising the book with its first instalment on Sunday 4 February.
In this first part, a revelation took royal watchers by surprise: supposedly Queen Elizabeth II thought Princess Diana to be ‘better suited’ for Prince Andrew. We tell you everything you need to know and possibly more…
Ingrid Seward on Princess Diana and Prince Andrew
In her article published in the Daily Mail on Sunday 4 February, Ingrid Seward goes into detail about how Princess Diana supposedly worked hard to become the Princess of Wales. She talks about how the late Princess played her ‘sharpest card’ when she was in royal company. The royal author also divulges that the Princess almost called off her engagement after then-Prince Charles didn’t dance with her at Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday party.
That’s how Seward transitioned into her most unexpected revelation. She writes:
She (Queen Elizabeth II) couldn't help thinking that the Spencer girl would be far better suited to her younger son, Andrew.
As shocking as this statement is, Seward doesn’t expand on it in the article, a clever way to get people to buy her new book. But it might also have to do with the fact that this revelation about Diana and Andrew dates back to 2020. At the time, Seward had published Prince Philip Revealed: A Man of His Century. However, for what we have gathered, her 2020 comments didn’t mention Queen Elizabeth but merely talked of ‘discussions’.
In her recent article in the Mail, the royal author also explains how the engagement between Charles and Diana continued to unfold as well as the demise of their wedding.
Who is Ingrid Seward?
So far, it is unclear on what Ingrid Seward bases her claims but the author is well-known and has written 20 books on the Royal Family. Her books focus on different members of the family including Sarah Ferguson, Prince Philip and the royal children.
According to her website biography, Seward is the editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine - a publication ‘covering all aspects of British, European and other royal families around the world.’ She also regularly writes for Daily Mail and is often welcomed on TV as a royal commentator.
Her biography suggests that Ingrid Seward knows ‘many members of the Royal Family personally’ and that her position at Majesty Magazine allows her to have ‘a special relationship with the Royal Household’.
Her newest book focuses on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles. The revelation about the King’s iconic first wife and his brother being brought back in the spotlight forces us to dig deeper into the relationship between the two.
Prince Andrew and Princess Diana
In August 2023, Sarah Ferguson said on her podcast that any rumours claiming that ‘Diana had the hots for Prince Andrew and had pictures of him up’ are a ‘load of rubbish.’ She continues:
Diana really always got on very well with him, and I say that he's certainly the best-looking prince.
However, on her podcast, she clearly dismisses any idea that the two fancied each other.
As explained above, in 2020, Seward herself spoke about the relationship between Diana and Andrew. She explained to People that ‘some of Diana’s friends thought that Andrew would be more fun for her than Charles, because he was very much her age and he was full of fun and everything else’. However, Seward quickly said that Diana had no interest in the younger Prince.
Finally, according to Richard Kay, another royal commentator and author, Prince Andrew simply was Princess Diana’s favourite royal sibling. In the 2019 docu-series Paxman on the Queen's Children he said:
Diana had a much warmer relationship with Prince Andrew who she had known well since she was a child. They had played together as children on the Sandringham Estate
Indeed, it could be said that Princess Diana and Prince Andrew were childhood friends. Both of them were close in age and Diana was always around the Royal Family. It was reported by Seward in 2020 that sometimes Diana would ‘watch movies and things with [Prince] Edward and Andrew’ while at Sandringham with her father.
Read more:
⋙ Royal Family: Diana’s ex-butler Paul Burrell makes new wild claims about the future of the monarchy
⋙ Princess Diana still haunts King Charles' reign: Expert says he killed the Queen’s ‘family monarchy’
⋙ Princess Diana: A look into the past tells us what the royal predicted for the reign of King Charles
Sources:
Daily Mail: Even when the public hated Camilla, the Queen privately thought marrying her would be the making of Charles. And anyway, she'd always believed Diana should have gone for Andrew instead, writes royal biographer INGRID SEWARD in her revelatory new book
People: Prince Charles Felt Dad Prince Philip ‘Pushed’ Him Into Marrying Princess Diana, Royal Biographer Says (Exclusive)
Hello: Sarah Ferguson lifts the lid on Princess Diana's friendship with Prince Andrew
The List: Inside Princess Diana's Relationship With Prince Andrew
