Queen Elizabeth Was a Doting Grandparent With Prince Philip: Meet Their 8 Grandkids

Everyone knows Prince William and Prince Harry are Queen Elizabeth‘s grandchildren, but did you know the royal monarch shared eight total grandkids with her beloved late husband, Prince Philip? Her Majesty was the doting grandma of her other grandchildren, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

Long before they became a grandma and grandpa, Elizabeth — who died in September 2022 — and the late Duke of Edinburgh — who died at age 99 in April 2021 — tied the knot in 1947. Together, they experienced parenthood when they welcomed Prince Charles in 1948, followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.

Once they grew up, Elizabeth and Philip’s kids started creating families of their own, and before they knew it, the royal couple became the proud grandparents of eight grandkids. Charles shares his two children, William and Harry, with late wife Princess Diana, while Anne is the mom of Peter and Zara with Mark Phillips. Andrew, on the other hand, shares Beatrice and Eugenie with former wife Sarah Ferguson, and Edward is the dad of Louise and James with spouse Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

As the queen and duke’s grandchildren have aged, they’ve embraced their roles in the royal family. Though the British monarchy is in their blood, Edward’s wife, Sophie, once revealed their daughter was “shocked” to learn her own grandma was actually the Queen of England.

“For Louise, actually, it was much more of a shock to the system. She was coming home from school and saying, ‘Mummy, people keep on telling me that grandma is the queen,'” Sophie recalled to the BBC in 2016. “[Louise said she] ‘didn’t understand.’ I don’t think she had grasped that perhaps there was only one queen.”

For the most part, the couple’s grandchildren live near Buckingham Palace in London. Harry, however, resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their kids, Archie and Lilibet. The couple settled down in California not long after they stepped back from their royal duties in January 2020.

Since then, Harry and Meghan have been establishing their lives in the U.S. In February 2021, the two announced they “will not be returning as working members of the royal family,” though they vowed to “remain committed to their duty and service to the U.K. and around the world and have offered their continued support to the organizations they have represented regardless of official role,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

Despite the royal relinquishment, Elizabeth had no hard feelings toward her grandson. “The last thing Elizabeth wants is for Harry to feel estranged from his family,” a source told Closer Weekly in March 2020. “She told him that he’s always welcome back if he ever changes his mind about living in North America.”

Keep scrolling to learn more about Elizabeth and Philip’s grandkids.