Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana Were Both ‘Lonely,’ ‘Starved For Companionship’ As Children

Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana couldn’t be more different from one another. But the two royals also shared one heartbreaking similarity.

According to royal author Ingrid Seward, the Queen and the Princess of Wales both had lonely childhoods and they also starved for companionship. When Princess Diana was still very young, the late royal played with 20 stuffed animals and called them her family.

As a kid, Princess Diana blamed herself for the divorce of her parents. She was convinced that her mom, Frances Shand Kydd, left her and her siblings because she was supposed to be a boy. The mom of two carried the weight of her sad thoughts throughout her marriage to Prince Charles.

Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, had everything she could have ever wanted at a young age. But she still felt that her childhood was quite lonely. Her Majesty made friends with a collection of 30-foot high horse models on wheels.

Even though the monarch had a younger sister that she could play with, the two of them both craved the love and attention of their parents. Queen Mother and King George VI left the Queen and Princess Margaret under the care of their nannies because they were busy with their royal tours and engagements.

When the Queen had her own children, she simply followed in her mom’s footsteps by leaving Prince Charles and Princess Anne under the care of their nannies. Growing up, Prince Charles was also reportedly lonely and distant from his parents.

But according to Seward, it is unfair to judge one generation by the standards of another or by the criteria of her own era.

“Elizabeth’s childhood was repressed, regimented and desperately lonely. The Queen is the product of her childhood, just as Diana was of hers… In one it created the appearance of coldness while the other is remembered as warm and open-hearted… Behind the disparate facades, however, there was a common bond,” she said.