Fate deals a rough hand to royal clans as randomly as it does ordinary mortals. The difference is that the monarchy is a professional “firm” as well as a family. As both the King and the Princess of Wales deal with cancer, that has become brutally apparent. It also heralds an unforeseen shake-up in royal roles, duties and expectations.
The sympathetic outpouring of good wishes for Catherine, Princess of Wales, as she emerges from a gruelling period, will be a welcome boost to morale for the Windsors. The Princess has dealt with the aftermath of major abdominal surgery, an extended stay in hospital, a torrent of conspiracy theories about her absence from public life, and now the public airing of something which causes immense private anguish, especially so to those with small children.
A modern, digitally-savvy video broadcast put paid to the blip of some clumsy photo-editing and the nastier rumours that circulated. Nonetheless, the impact on the Royal Family’s public profile of this poly-crisis is immediate and intense.
Prince William has made clear that his duties lie close to home with his wife and three young children, and with the King also undergoing treatment, the flaw in the “slimmed down monarchy” has been exposed as too fragile a construct.
Having long laboured under the accusation that the monarchy had sprawled too large, it is now left with only a handful of formal “working royals” – Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and, in a return from the subs’ bench, the late Queen’s youngest and most reticent son, Edward, now Duke of Edinburgh, and his wife, Sophie.
This is barely ideal (which might give pause for thought as to whether it was such a good idea in the first place). Home-made troubles have affected royal sustainability.
Once the Duke of Sussex made clear that his anger with his brother, father and the institution meant that he did not see his future in an active role in the UK; and Prince Andrew’s foolish friendship with the sordid Jeffrey Epstein removed him perforce from the royal field of play; the monarch would inevitably suffer from a demographic trap.
King Charles was already a septuagenarian when he mounted the throne, and while Queen Camilla, at 76, is sturdy and committed in taking on a vast range of roles and visits, she also has physical limitations on what she can do and how far she can travel.
The subs’ bench idea is the right one in the short term. Plus, Anne, the royal warhorse – sturdy, at times chilly, but always reliable – will take on more duties of the formal or institutional variety. She is most comfortable around the Armed Services (crucially, at a time when Britain is closely involved in the Ukraine conflict) – and is honorary admiral and colonel-in-chief, with similar roles in Commonwealth countries of Canada and Australia.
A lot of what one aide calls the “international knitting” that accompanies the sovereign’s role has to be taken up by a senior royal at the core of the family. That points to enhanced roles for Anne, but also Edward.
It changes the profile of the “discreet royal” whose natural shyness and dislike of the limelight gave him a low profile for many years. But in the Sturm und Drang era surrounding Harry and Meghan’s departure, Edward and Sophie became more closely intertwined with the planning for the post-Elizabeth II period.
I have experienced Sophie as one of the more cheerful, unguarded royals; the slur of being a mere “PR woman” once directed at her by the snobbier parts of the country set now looks more like an asset in less formal times. She is, like Camilla, suited to dealing with the female-facing charities and visits, which sorely lack personnel now that the Princess of Wales is likely to be away from duties for some time.
It feels like a thin royal bench however. Anne, now 73, told a Canadian journalist that the “slimmed down” comment was “said in a day when there were a few more people to make that seem like a justifiable comment. It did not look good from where I am standing”.
The plain-speaking princess was on to something and the answer is plainly to bring back some of the more credible younger extended family who were cast out of the “working royals” role.
Prince Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, are not currently working royals, but both are commonsensical young women who might at least be lured back, at least for sabbatical periods. They too have seen the sudden impact of cancer as their mother, the Duchess of York, who had a mastectomy last year and treatment for melanoma.
The message of so many untoward developments is clear – the royals need more younger active or even part-time working figures to take on more of the slog of public appearances when others, by dint of age or illness, cannot. What started out as the recipe for a more efficient monarchy has morphed into a royal labour shortage. That needs to be fixed, as the senior players take time for rest and recovery.
Anne McElvoy is host of the Power Play podcast for Politico
A 'slimmed down monarchy' is no longer possible
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1
25.03.2024
Fate deals a rough hand to royal clans as randomly as it does ordinary mortals. The difference is that the monarchy is a professional “firm” as well as a family. As both the King and the Princess of Wales deal with cancer, that has become brutally apparent. It also heralds an unforeseen shake-up in royal roles, duties and expectations.
The sympathetic outpouring of good wishes for Catherine, Princess of Wales, as she emerges from a gruelling period, will be a welcome boost to morale for the Windsors. The Princess has dealt with the aftermath of major abdominal surgery, an extended stay in hospital, a torrent of conspiracy theories about her absence from public life, and now the public airing of something which causes immense private anguish, especially so to those with small children.
A modern, digitally-savvy video broadcast put paid to the blip of some clumsy photo-editing and the nastier rumours that circulated. Nonetheless, the impact on the Royal Family’s public profile of this poly-crisis is immediate and intense.
Prince William has made clear that his duties lie close to home with his wife and three young children, and with the King also undergoing treatment, the flaw in the “slimmed down monarchy” has been exposed as too........
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