Queen had to step in after Prince Andrew and Prince Charles fought over royal toilet

Multiple stories about Prince Andrew's temper tantrums have recently surfaced, one of which claims that he once started a row with his elder brother Prince Charles over a toilet. Janette McGowan, a former Buckingham Palace maid, revealed that the row got so intense that Queen Elizabeth II had to step in to resolve the dispute between her two sons.

The feud took place during the British royal family's annual Christmas celebrations at Sandringham in 1999 after the Duke of York took a bathroom that was reserved for his older brother. Andrew also refused to remove his toiletries from Charles's washroom and informed the household staff to not go against his wishes.

McGowan, who was a housemaid from 1999 to 2000 and had travelled to Sandringham with her family, said members of the royal family are allocated rooms and bathrooms when they visit the estate in Norfolk for Christmas. However, Andrew wanted to use the one intended for the Prince of Wales, even though it "wasn't the one opposite his room, which is what made it so bizarre."

McGowan told The Sun about the situation, "We were told not to move anything and not to touch anything in that bathroom because there was an 'ongoing situation.'" She recalled that the "bizarre stand-off" was "defused" only after the Queen herself "had words" with Andrew and told him to use another bathroom.

"The Prince of Wales just had to wait until the Queen intervened as Prince Andrew had just left his things in the bathroom and he wanted that bathroom. Charles was very grown-up about it, which is more than you can say for Andrew," she said.

McGowan said that there was "nothing special" about the bathroom but Andrew, who was 39 at the time, just wanted to indulge in a "good old sibling row."

McGowan said Andrew, who had started living at Buckingham Palace after getting divorced from Sarah Ferguson, constantly acted "spoilt" and did the same when he was at Sandringham. She said of his squabble with Charles, "I think it was very petulant. He's [Andrew] very spoiled with regards to his own rights. He didn't like the fact that his brother was superior to him with regards to things being allocated to him. Apparently he always had to have the first pick of everything."