Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the great royal double act

We’ve seen that royal double act before… How George and Charlotte’s adorable reactions at Wimbledon echo King Charles’s lifelong bond with little sister and key aide Princess Anne

• With Prince George destined for the throne, he will need his sister by his side
• Like Anne was for Charles, Charlotte will provide support for the future King
• For all the latest Royal news, pictures and videos click here
• Latest Wimbledon 2023 news, including schedule, travel updates and results

They’re already a famous double as their latest command performance made clear, whether it was waving cheerily to the crowds or punching the air together in delight when Carlos Alcaraz overcame Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon men’s final.

George and Charlotte and not he only prince and princess double act of recent times, however.

Seasoned royal watchers have been very much reminded of their grandfather, King Charles III and his sister Anne, the Princess Royal, in their younger days.

Born 21 months apart, Charles was aged just three and Anne was not yet two when their late mother, then Princess Elizabeth, ascended to the throne in 1952.

The young royal siblings smiled and waved at royal fans as they took their seats in the front row of the Royal Box while watching the Men’s Singles Final on Sunday

Prince Charles and Princess Anne pictured waving to royal watchers during a family trip to Balmoral in May 1956

Prince George (right) and Princess Charlotte (left) stole the show as the pair punched the air in delight to celebrate the world number one’s maiden Wimbledon title in the five-set epic

Princess Charlotte and Prince George of Wales arriving at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon

Moving from their family home at Piccadilly to the vast spaces of Buckingham Palace when she became Queen, the two young royals appeared to lean on one another as they navigated their strange new life. 

One touching picture shows Charles helping his sister walk down the steps to greet Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as they arrived in Malta to greet their parents in 1954.

Charles and Anne are known to have enjoyed each other’s company, sharing a love of the countryside, affection for all things Scottish and to some extent a sense of humour.

It has been suggested they forged a special bond. 

The youngest of the three Wales children, Prince Louis, is left with a different path to negotiate as he is neither the heir nor the spare.

Being the junior in the set-up can be a tough role in its own way, as Prince Andrew and Edward have perhaps found.

Anne reportedly knew how to assert herself in any room from a young age, according to The Express, a quality many associate with Princess Charlotte today. 

A former royal nanny, Mabel Anderson, has said that Charles was ‘never as boisterous or noisy as Princess Anne’ who by far had the ‘much stronger, more extrovert personality.’

Princess Anne and her brother, Prince Charles walking hand in hand as they were taken out to Malta to meet their parents after a tour of the Commonwealth in 1954

Princess Anne, at three years old and Prince Charles at five standing side by side in the garden of Royal Lodge in Windsor  Great Park in 1954

Charlotte and George on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the annual Trooping the Colour Parade on June 17, 2017

The Queen, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, waving from the Buckingham Palace balcony for the Trooping the Color ceremony in 1963

The Queen with Prince William, Princess Kate and their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis on the balcony during the Platinum Pageant on June 5, 2022

Princess Charlotte has proved to be quite the royal leader alongside her two brothers.

The eight-year-old showed calm beyond her years at the Coronation of King Charles in May as she led her younger brother, Prince Louis, hand-in-hand, into Westminster Abbey.

Royal watchers have often commented on Charlotte’s sisterly authority over her brothers during royal engagements.

Body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL: ‘Charlotte does appear to be something of the little leader in the family dynamic, stepping to the front of the pose with her parents interestingly out of eye-line and instigating the clapping, using what looks like the most energy and excitement.

‘Charlotte has always been the one who seems the most enthusiastic about waving and clapping to the public, and her meet and greet with the crowds at Christmas suggested Kate and William might acknowledge the fact that she is currently the most confident of their children in social situations.’

Speaking to the Observer in 1980, Anne admitted she had ‘always accepted the role of being second in everything from quite an early age’ and that ‘you adopt that position as part of that experience’.

Like his grandfather and father, George is destined for the throne, which sets him aside from his younger siblings.

However, it is likely he will come to rely on a sister so close in age and experience when he eventually takes his place as King – as Charles has done with Anne.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Princess Royal has been right by her brother’s side. 

In a statement released in September 2022, she said: ‘I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch.’

The royal children of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, leaving the grounds of Abergeldie Castle near the Balmoral Estate in Scotland in August 1955

Prince William and Prince Harry during a holiday with the Spanish royal family at Marivent Palace in Palma, Majorca, Spain on August 13, 1988

The then Prince of Wales with his sister Princess Anne and his grandmother Princess Andrew of Greece on arrival at Portsmouth station 

George and Charlotte during the State Funeral of their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022

And the visible support has continued, through the King’s Coronation and beyond. 

There was a time when Prince William might have expected the same close support from his younger brother, Prince Harry, who were bound together by the death of their mother and growing up in the public eye. 

However, the unravelling of that relationship, for the moment at least, has turned into a personal problem for William and a problem for the Monarchy.

As royal expert Katie Nicholl told OK!, ‘The last couple of years have been challenging. We’ve had the brothers falling out and Megxit, and I think it has been difficult for William.

‘He’s lost his support act in Harry but he really recognises that he has an invaluable support act in Kate’.

Following his departure from Britain and as a working member of the Royal Family, the Duke of Sussex revealed in his memoir Spare how his role was made clear from the start – to provide a spare part to his brother, the future King, William.

Harry recounted the story of how his father, King Charles, supposedly told Princess Diana on the day of Harry’s birth: ‘Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare – my work is done.’

Charles and Anne share a love of horse riding, with Anne being an accomplished equestrian and Charles having played polo competitively until the age of 57.

Even during royal engagements, the royals always appeared to have fun and are frequently pictured laughing together.

Both Charles and Anne are known for their witty sense of humour and a clip from a Buckingham Palace event in 2018 showed the King sneaking up on his younger sister to give her a small fright.

If the Royal Box at Wimbledon was anything to go by last weekend, there is a great deal more of this to come.

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