Ex-Prince Andrew’s ‘creepy’ teddy bear obsession ‘inspired by his mother’
The former Prince Andrew’s lifelong obsession with teddy bears is back in the spotlight after newly opened royal apartments revealed the late Queen Elizabeth II maintained her own deeply personal attachment to a beloved stuffed animal known as Haddington Bear, insiders said RadarOnline.com “Inspired” her favorite son’s “creepy” fixation on hugs into adulthood.
Royal Collection Trust officials recently opened the late Queen and Prince Philip’s private apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to the public for the first time.
The rooms, which remain open to the public for 100 days outside of royal residence periods, offer an unusually intimate glimpse into the monarch’s domestic habits during her much-loved annual Royal Week stays in Scotland.
One of the personal items that draws particular attention is Haddington Bear, a tartan-clad teddy bear that is carefully placed on a pink sofa at the Queen’s request when she stays at the palace.
“The Queen was given it as a gift, and then she asked that whenever she arrived here, it would be placed in that specific position on the bench awaiting her arrival,” curator Emma Stead said.
But the discovery has revived fascination around Andrew Windsor, 66, whose own attachment to teddy bears has lasted from childhood until now.
Before he was stripped of his royal titles due to his long-standing friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, he kept a collection of about 80 bears in his former Royal Lodge home worth $40 million.
They were set up in precise formations in their own room, with the assistants given diagrams and detailed instructions to ensure each bear was returned to its exact position after Andy played with it.
Most of his collection has now been shipped to a storage container in London after his older brother, King Charles, removed him from the Lodge and moved him to a more modest house on the Sandringham estate.
A palace insider claimed the similarities between mother and son were now impossible to ignore when it came to their shared love of cuddly toys.
The source told us: “People have been making fun of Andrew’s fixation with teddy bears for years, but when you see how sentimental the Queen herself was about personal comfort objects, the whole thing suddenly takes on a very different context. She clearly loved familiar items that were very specifically placed around her, and that obsessive attention to routine and positioning seems to have rubbed off on Andrew in a big way.”
Another royal source added: ‘There has always been a perception that Andrew’s bear collection was eccentric or even creepy, but within royal households these highly controlled personal rituals were more common than outsiders realised.
‘The Queen was very particular about where objects belonged, and the staff went to great lengths to create rooms exactly as she wanted them. Andrew seems to have inherited that same need for order and emotional familiarity. He’s really a mama’s boy.’
The newly opened royal apartments in Scotland reveal a surprisingly modest domestic world behind the grandeur that comes with the monarchy.
Visitors can view the late Queen’s breakfast room, dressing room and sitting room, in addition to Prince Philip’s desk and personal art collection.
A simple television resting on a plastic stand next to a VHS player remains on display, along with the Roberts radio the queen listened to while she got dressed.
“These are not rooms with big chandeliers,” said curator Dr. Richard Williams. “These rooms are much more livable, homely and very comfortable for a modern couple.”
He added: “It gives us a whole new insight into this aspect of Queen Elizabeth II’s life. The contrast is really quite stark.”
Curators also explained that the late monarch maintained strict routines during his stay at Holyroodhouse.
She is said to have listened religiously to Radio 4 while changing clothes several times a day and eating breakfast between 9am and 9.15am while her piper performed outside in the gardens.
“The Queen always knew everything that was going on,” Williams added.
The exhibitions also include framed family photographs from Elizabeth and Philip’s 70-year marriage, plus artworks personally selected by the couple, many of which focus on landscapes and female artists.
Stead also revealed that the Queen was exceptionally meticulous about returning personal items to their exact positions in her chambers.
Another treasured item was a pincushion donated during the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
“All we can say is that the Queen was very special and would always have been there,” Williams added. “I know from staff colleagues in Windsor that if they were to redecorate her private rooms, they would take pictures of everything so they could put everything back in its exact place.”
