Being part of The Firm meant that other conventions had to continue in their timeless way. Philip may have attended Edward’s birth, but this was no New Man in the making, and two days later and without thinking too much about it, if he thought about it at all, he flew to Athens to attend the funeral of his cousin, King Paul of the Hellenes. He saw it as his royal duty to be there, and that putting on the public display of mourning was more important than remaining at the bedside of his wife, doing his private duty. As so often in the royal marriage, the competing demands of the public and private roles were on display, and the public role won out. The Queen, the doctors assured him, was doing well and she was comfortable in her room. She had a television set and a view of her gardens to keep her interest and she was well looked after by the palace staff, as was his young son.

The moment Edward was born, the royal child-rearing machinery had clicked into gear. The Queen would indeed spend more time with Edward than she did with her elder children, and his childhood was marked by an informality which would have been out of place in Charles and Anne’s day. When it came to his formal education, the Queen, Prince Philip and Sir Martin Charteris, the Provost of Eton at the time, discussed what would be best for their youngest son’s future. They called in James Edwards, headmaster of Heatherdown School, where Andrew was already a pupil, to get his opinion. They had decided on this school for him, rather than Cheam as before, because it was closer to Windsor Castle and many of the Queen’s family and friends had sent their children there.

Edwards was not in favour of the idea of Gordonstoun and told the Queen so. She listened, but in the end Prince Philip won through again and the Queen agreed he should go to Gordonstoun, but not before first joining his brother at Heatherdown. Philip may have been an affectionate father, but he did not agree with indulging children. He remained a devout disciple of Kurt Hahn’s guiding principle: character first, intelligence second, knowledge third. For Andrew, who was not intellectual, perhaps that order was correct. He was not timid like his elder brother and perhaps Eton would have polished off Andrew’s rough corners and given him a better scholastic education, which would certainly have helped him. Instead, he appeared uncertain if he wanted to be a prince or one of the lads, and his inability to solve that dilemma would become something of a handicap. He never became head boy or guardian as his father and elder and younger brothers did.