Born into the isolated, royal world of the late 1940s, little Prince Charles was left completely in the care of the royal nannies, who underpinned the entire system.
Over the centuries, royal children have been raised not by their parents, but by the unmarried daughters of working-class families.
Until recently, it was these invaluable nannies and governesses – not the royal mothers – who took on the responsibility for what child psychologists call the “caring and loving” that is so essential to a child’s emotional development.
Their influence was significant and long-lasting. On the night he proposed to Lady Diana Spencer, he chose to do it in the nursery at Windsor Castle.
Bonnie Prince Charles, still under one, is carried by Helen Lightbody at Ballater Station, Balmoral
Prince Charles, now two, is with nurse Mabel Anderson in 1958
A month after Charles was born in November 1948, Scottish nanny Helen Lightbody was hired to care for the young prince.
Recommended to Princess Elizabeth by Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent, Helen and the nanny Mabel Anderson, who was the same age as the 22-year-old princess, formed the Buckingham Palace nursery together with two nannies and a maid.
The two nannies, along with governess Miss Katherine Peebles, who was hired five years later, formed the foundation of the princes’ young lives.
It was Nanny Lightbody – Charles called her Nana – who got him up in the morning and dressed him, just as Nanny Alah had once dressed Princess Elizabeth.
Nanny also slept in the same room as him and comforted him when he woke up during the night.
As the eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth was forced to take on more public duties by her ailing father and therefore had less time for her son.
The situation only became worse when she ascended the throne and the education of Charles and his younger sister Anne was left to the nursery.
Of course, Charles adored his nanny. So much so that she was asked to leave some eight years later after several to many disagreements with Prince Philip, who felt she favored Charles too much over his sister Anne.
Prince Charles, standing, with nanny Helen Lightbody at his side and cousin Prince Richard of Gloucester with his nanny. They stand outside Clarence House in 1951
The Queen holds Charles tightly by the hand as Helen Lightbody carries Princess Anne
Helen Lightbody with Charles, left, Princess Anne on their way to Buckingham Palace in 1951
Queen Elizabeth II with Princess Anne, Prince Charles and nanny Helen Lightbody, at a stall during a Sale of Work event at Abergeldie Castle, near Balmoral
Charles was at school at the time and was heartbroken when he discovered she was gone. But he kept in touch with her throughout her life, writing to her and inviting her to his own historical events.
He loved Mabel Anderson the same way and did everything he could throughout her life to include her in his – and still does in her old age.
Charles said he doesn’t remember his mother kissing him after he was eight, and wistfully told a friend that his two nannies meant more to him emotionally than his mother ever did.
Just before the Queen and Philip began their six-month tour, Catherine Peebles, another accomplished Scottish woman, was appointed governess. Charles, she recalled, was a reserved, reflective child.
“If you yelled at him, he would retreat into his shell and you couldn’t do anything with him,” she said.
When Charles was sent to Cheam School, Princess Anne recalled that he would write to ‘Mipsy’ because he mispronounced ‘Miss P’ every day. Anne described how he would cry in his letters and say, “I miss you.” The governess was equally saddened by the absence of the little boy she had grown to love, and they corresponded regularly for the rest of her life.
Sadly, she died alone in her Buckingham Palace chambers. Charles, his family recalled, was “inconsolable” when he was told the news.
A Picture Post portrait of Catherine Peebles who became King Charles’ governess in 1953, just before the Queen and Philip began their six-month tour
Prince Charles, starting his first day at Cheam School, wrote and cried every day in his letters to ‘Mipsy’, his governess
Prince Charles and Princess Anne with their nanny Mabel Anderson at Euston Station, August 1963
Prince Charles proposed to Diana in the nursery of Windsor Castle
From that day he was born until the day he married Lady Diana Spencer, Buckingham Place nursery was home to Prince Charles.
When he returned from school he always went to Mabel’s cozy nursery, because his mother was often too busy with the affairs of the monarchy to see him right away.
For Charles, the safe haven created by his beloved nannies and governess was always his home and to this day the place where he had some of his happiest childhood memories.
- Ingrid Seward is editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of Royal Children of the Twentieth Century