THE WINDSOR SPARES

Both are Mommy's boys who failed to shine at school, fell for American actresses, went to war - then embarrassed the Firm. A new book highlights the uncanny parallels between Prince Harry and his uncle, Prince Andrew, who are more alike than they'd admit

IT’S hard to imagine now, but Prince Andrew was once a favourite with his rascally young nephew Prince Harry. No longer. These days, just about the only thing that unites them is their status as royal outcasts.

The depth of the British public’s disapproval of the two “spares” to the throne was recently revealed with a poll showing that only 22% had a “favourable” view of Harry, while just seven percent could bear to favour Andrew.

The survey ranked the two princes among the three least popular royals (Harry’s wife, Meghan, had an 18% rating).

But there was a time when Harry and Andrew were both liked by the public and were close to each other.

When Harry was a boy, they bonded over their mutual interest in military feats. Time and again, he’d get Andrew to talk about his heroics as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands war – which his uncle, of course, was only too willing to do.

Doubtless those stories made a great impression on the young prince, who’d later have his own tales to recount about shooting Afghan insurgents from a helicopter.

But that’s not all Harry and Andrew have had in common. Significantly, both ended up spending a large chunk of their lives as “spares” – the royals destined to inherit the crown should their elder brothers die before having children.

Growing up as third in line to the throne, as Harry made plain in his autobiography, Spare, is a peculiar position. Never mind that he’s now been pushed down to fifth in succession, and Andrew to eighth, both men have been indelibly marked by their experience as heirs-inwaiting.