Prince Harry raised eyebrows last week when he discussed his "special relationship" with the Queen - but one royal insider says another grandchild is Her Majesty's favourite.
The Duke of Sussex, 37, opened up about missing his family during an interview with US journalist Hoda Kotb while at the Invictus Games which was broadcast on NBC News morning show on Wednesday.
Harry also managed to snub the Queen when he refused to say if he plans to return home for the Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The duke also made a number of bold claims during the show as he discussed his "special relationship" with the monarch and claimed he's "protecting" his grandmother from the people around her.
But one royal insider says Harry is mistaken and Her Majesty's favourite is actually another of her eight grandchildren.
The source told the Daily Mail : "No longer content to claim a special status with his mother, he now seems to be mythologising his relationship with his grandmother.
"Would she recognise this description? I very much doubt it."
The source goes on to suggest that the monarch is closest with Peter Phillips, 44, the son of Princess Anne.
Peter is her "special one" because she "admires" how he and sister Zara have managed to be related to royals, but without the titles.
Another insider said: "Like William and Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Peter and Zara were children of broken homes, but were somehow more exposed because of Anne's decision that they should not have titles.
"She thinks Peter especially has inherited the resilience that is so characteristic of Anne. She sees him as dependable."
The Duke's controversial comments came after he and Meghan Markle made a rare secret visit to the UK.
He told Kotb: "I haven't had a chance to go back to the UK for a couple a years apart from those times, once for my grandfather's funeral and once for unveiling a statue of my mum.
"Being with her, it was great.
"It was great, it was really nice to see her in some element of privacy, which was nice.
"It was just so nice to see her … She’s on great form. She's always got a great sense of humour with me and I'm just making sure she's protected and got the right people around her.
"We have a really special relationship, we talk about things that she can't talk about with anybody else."
His comments about ensuring she's protected have raised eyebrows, with the Mirror's royal editor claiming the comments were "insulting" and could have been a dig at his family.
He said: " Prince Harry ’s comments about ensuring the Queen is ‘protected’ are deeply damaging and insulting to his grandmother and senior royals around her.
"Prince Charles and Prince William, as senior members of the family, are doing all they can to make sure the Queen and the Monarchy are in good hands.
"Harry chose to abandon his duty in favour of earning millions of dollars as a private citizen, and yet he feels it’s his business to interfere in family matters while living on the other side of the world - and then broadcasting it to American media."
He added: "Senior royals and aides will have their heads in their hands over Harry’s willingness to once again discuss private family conversations in yet another TV interview."
