When Prince Charles accedes
to the throne, he will no doubt wish to continue many royal traditions, but
he’s expected to make some changes to the monarchy as well.
One of the differences between
himself and his mother the Queen will be the number of senior royal
family members he can call on to represent him at official events.
Partly, this will be
intentional: the Prince has long been rumoured to favour a ‘slimmed down’
monarchy. Part of the change, however, will be circumstantial, with fewer
people likely to be available to carry out royal duties.
In the past, the Queen could
not only rely on her eldest son and husband, the late Prince Philip but
also Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who have all
since stood back as senior working royals.
Charles’ main representatives
are expected to be his wife Camilla, who will receive the title Queen
Consort, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Anne, and the Earl and
Countess of Wessex.
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Charles and Camilla represented the Queen on Maundy Thursday |
While Prince George will
of course one day become a senior working royal, he won’t turn 18 until 2031.
During the Queen’s illness
last November, she missed some public engagements and was represented
instead by her cousins the Duke of Kent and his sister Princess Alexandra
and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who aren’t senior royals but
kindly stepped in to support Her Majesty.
However, as they are older
than Charles, they may be less able to represent him in the future.
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The Prince stood in for the Queen at this week’s State Opening of Parliament
The heir to the throne was
joined by Prince William earlier on Tuesday at the State Opening of
Parliament, representing the Queen at the important occasion for the
first time.
Charles delivered his mother’s
speech to the nation, outlining the government’s legislative programme for the
forthcoming parliamentary session after the Queen reluctantly pulled out
of her appearance on Monday evening.
