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When cancer pulled King Charles away from the most public side of his role, an immediate question arose: Who might stand in for him as he undergoes treatment?
But long before his diagnosis was made public in early February, there was a widespread belief he was eyeing a slimmed-down monarchy with fewer senior royals carrying out duties.
His illness, and that of Catherine, Princess of Wales, who announced her own cancer diagnosis last month, have brought the reality of a slimmed-down senior team of royals available for official duties into stark relief — at least temporarily.
It has also prompted some to ponder a question that has loomed for a while: What about the more junior royals of the generation following King Charles — might they carry out more royal duties?
“There has been speculation, especially now that Harry and Meghan have stepped back from royal duties, that we might see royal cousins coming to the fore,” said Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris in an interview.
So far, however, that seems unlikely, nor does there seem to be much likelihood any cousins might find themselves doing some official duties while continuing with whatever they might choose to do outside the royal purview.
“Harry and Meghan’s circumstances have made very clear that there’s no longer a place within the Royal Family for people who are part-time working members of the Royal Family,” Harris said.
Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 42, stepped back from official royal duties four years ago and ultimately relocated to California, where they live with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
(Word spread this past week that Harry had declared the United States as his official residence last June, something that garnered considerable media attention over the past couple of days.)
Among the royal cousins, attention often turns to Princess Beatrice, 35, and Princess Eugenie, 34, the daughters of Charles’s brother, Prince Andrew, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
But as much as there is curiosity about the potential of Beatrice and Eugenie to take on more official duties, that seems unlikely.
“Neither has so far shown much inclination, interest or aptitude for the kind of royal duties that would … make them useful,” said Chandrika Kaul, a modern British, imperial and media historian and professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, in an interview.
“It’s not enough to be a member of the Royal Family … there needs to be value added now…. You don’t have to just turn up, smile and be seen. You’ve actually got to be pulling your weight in actually doing things.”
Other factors could also limit any official royal role they might take on.
Beatrice and Eugenie “are quite unfortunately associated in the popular imagination with the scandals associated with their parents,” said Harris, who noted that at the time of Beatrice’s wedding, no photos were released of her with her mother and father.
“That would have prompted very negative comments about how the public feels about the Duke and Duchess of York.”
Andrew’s reputation in particular sank like a stone after his disastrous interview with the BBC in 2019 regarding his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Peter Phillips, 46, and Zara Tindall, 42, the son and daughter of Charles’s sister, Princess Anne, also seem unlikely to take on official duties — their mother deliberately ensured they wouldn’t have royal titles and they have established their own careers.
Zara does have public recognition, particularly for her equestrian pursuits. As an Olympian, she won silver with the British team in 2012.
“She does have a profile and she does have what I suspect Eugenie and Beatrice don’t, which is a kind of deep respect as a professional amongst the British public,” said Kaul.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean Zara’s in line for official royal duties.
“Princess Anne … always wanted her children to make their own way in the world rather than to be working members of the Royal Family,” Harris said.
While the son and daughter of Prince Charles’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, are much younger, they also don’t seem set on a track to carry out royal duties. Lady Louise, 20, is studying at university in Scotland, and James, Earl of Wessex, 16, lives at home with his parents.
“Both Louise and James are worth watching as they grow older to see if they will decide to undertake royal duties,” said Harris. “But at this time, it seems as though they will be pursuing their own careers.”
Other members of the extended Royal Family continue to carry some duties, perhaps unexpectedly.
“It was assumed that now that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip have passed away, that less would be seen of their generation within the Royal Family,” Harris said.
That hasn’t quite been the case, though, with Elizabeth’s cousins, the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent, carrying out some engagements. The Duchess of Gloucester has also accompanied Queen Camilla.
Still, those cousins are older, and the Duke of Kent, 88, himself stepped down on April 14 from his role as colonel of the Scots Guards. He had held the position for 50 years and is succeeded by Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh.
But when it comes back to the larger question of who will carry out official duties, given the illnesses and the current roster of active senior family members, it’s not clear how any further juggling will unfold. Queen Camilla, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Prince William are carrying out public engagements now, but beyond that, it’s uncertain any other members would take on more duties in the longer term.
“There is no quick fix,” said Kaul. “There aren’t enough high-powered younger members of the Royal Family … who could immediately step in.”
And that has had an impact, Kaul suggests, noting there’s been a reduction in the number of duties being carried out.
“I think what we are going to see in the next few months is much more of the Royals cutting down on their duties as opposed to more Royals coming on to undertake more roles.”
What could help them somewhat in the next little while, Kaul suggested, is that a general election is expected in the United Kingdom this fall.
“The personalities that the media will focus on will inevitably be more the political ones as opposed to the royal ones,” Kaul said. “[The Royals] might well be able to be allowed to, if you like, recede into the background in a … way that perhaps in a non-election year they might well not have been.”
Out and about again
Prince William returned to public duties Thursday for the first time since his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced she was undergoing treatment for cancer on March 22.
William helped out loading food and cooking at Surplus to Supper, a food distribution charity. And it’s hardly a surprise he would choose to make a destination such as that his first stop back after a month away from public duties.
“There is a strong focus on the causes most important to William, including addressing homelessness and poverty,” Harris said, noting the charity he visited delivers food to people struggling with food insecurity.
The location — in Surrey, west of London — was telling.
“We also see William remaining comparatively close to home,” said Harris.
The timing was also deliberate.
“William’s return to public duties is closely co-ordinated with his children’s school schedule. They returned to school the day before William’s visit to Surplus to Supper.”
Some of those William met while on the visit passed along their well wishes for his father and his wife. That is likely to continue on any engagement he undertakes in the next little while.
“Everywhere William goes, there is concern expressed for King Charles III and Catherine and he will likely receive more cards for them during subsequent public engagements,” Harris said.
No opting out of the oath to the King
J.P. Tasker, our friend in CBC’s politics bureau in Ottawa, had this report recently out of the House of Commons.
A cross-partisan group of MPs voted to kill a bill that would have allowed parliamentarians to opt out of swearing an oath of allegiance to King Charles — a victory for monarchists eager to preserve the Crown’s standing in Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet and most Liberal and Conservative MPs on hand voted down the private member’s bill, while Bloc Québécois and NDP MPs joined some members from the two largest parties — many of them Quebec-based — to vote in favour of legislation that would have diminished Charles’s role in Parliament. The final result was 113-197.
The vote keeps Canada’s Constitution as originally written. Section 128 requires that every newly elected or appointed parliamentarian swear they will be “faithful and bear true allegiance” to the reigning monarch.
Under Canada’s founding document, a member cannot legally assume his or her seat in Parliament until they’ve taken that oath.
C-347, introduced by New Brunswick Liberal MP René Arseneault, would have allowed MPs and senators to instead swear an “oath of office.”
After voting down a bill that would have allowed parliamentarians to opt out of swearing an oath of allegiance to King Charles, MPs began singing God Save the King in the House of Commons.
That stripped-down oath would have stated that an office-holder will carry out their duties “in the best interest of Canada while upholding its Constitution.”
The bill’s defeat was met by thunderous applause from Charles-supporting MPs who spontaneously started singing God Save the King after Speaker Greg Fergus announced the result.
“Order!” he said as MPs continued singing over his calls for quiet in the chamber.
Canadian monarchists have told CBC News the bill amounted to republicanism by stealth — part of a larger effort to slowly chip away at the Crown in Canada without actually scrapping the monarchy through a protracted constitutional fight with the provinces.
John Fraser, president of Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada and a prominent monarchist, has called the legislation “a stupid idea.”
He said republicans are “foolishly” trying to dismantle Canada’s Westminster system of government, a parliamentary structure that has served the country well for more than 150 years.
A private members bill introduced by New Brunswick Liberal MP René Arseneault proposes making the traditional oath of allegiance to the reigning monarch optional for MPs and senators.
He said Canada’s longstanding link to the Crown, an institution above the whims of partisan politics, is something to celebrate.
The Governor General, the King’s representative in Canada, is a check on political power — ensuring the prime minister commands the confidence of the House of Commons, Fraser said.
“We live in a constitutional Crown system and trying to break it up piecemeal is not a good way to run a country.”
Fraser said republicans have never presented a viable alternative to the current system.
“Look at how republics are faring right now. Look to the south, the U.S. Do we want that here?”
Canada’s republicans, meanwhile, welcomed the bill as a first step toward ridding the country of what they maintain is an outdated institution.
Pierre Vincent, a former federal public servant and a member of Citizens for a Canadian Republic, told CBC News that Arseneault’s bill would do away with an oath that he thinks is a violation of free speech.
“Why are we still doing this colonial, medieval stuff that does not coincide with our modern views of diversity and inclusion? I mean, it’s ridiculous. It makes no sense,” Vincent said.
“You know, sacrificing virgins used to be a tradition in Mexico. They’ve dumped that. A tradition itself is not a good reason to be doing things like this, to be violating free speech.”
Polls suggest the country is split down the middle on whether it’s time to cut ties with the Crown.
A Leger survey of 1,544 Canadians conducted last year just before Charles’s May coronation found 56 per cent of respondents agreed the country should “reconsider its ties” to the monarchy.
Plans for King Charles III’s first tour of Canada as head of state are on hold following his cancer diagnosis, CBC News has learned. Although the visit was never confirmed officially by Buckingham Palace, Canadian government sources told CBC News that King Charles III and Queen Camilla were set to visit in May. Read more: www.cbc.ca/1.7112434
That number was higher in Quebec, where 71 per cent of respondents said there should be some constitutional soul-searching about the Crown.
People in Ontario (53 per cent) and B.C. (52 per cent) were more likely than other regions to say King Charles and his heirs should maintain their current role in our system.
It’s unlikely Canada will cut ties with the Crown any time soon — if ever.
Canada’s Constitution demands unanimity on the question; the House of Commons and Senate and all 10 provinces would have to agree on a different system.
Trudeau has said there’s no appetite for that sort of protracted constitutional battle.
Whether he’s loved or not, Charles is likely here to stay.
Charles has shown an affinity for this country, having toured Canada on 18 official visits since 1970.
“Every time I come to Canada … a little more of Canada seeps into my bloodstream and from there, straight to my heart,” he told a crowd in Newfoundland in 2009.
During his 2022 tour to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee — his only trip to a Commonwealth realm to celebrate the occasion — Charles praised Canada as a “truly great country” populated by “outward-looking, big-hearted” people.
“As I get older, it is particularly heartwarming to see my children coming to know and love this great country, just as the Queen and my late father have, and I and my wife in turn,” he told a crowd in St. John’s.
Trudeau has in turn praised Charles as a man “deeply aligned” with Canadian values, such as the fight against climate change and the pursuit of Indigenous reconciliation.
Royally quotable
“‘I will do, I will.”
— Prince William, to a volunteer at the food distribution charity he visited this week, after she urged him to “take care” of Catherine.
Royal reads
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Royal courtiers privately put pressure on the Welsh government to ensure that King Charles could not be prosecuted for rural crimes under a new law that ministers had drawn up, documents reveal. [The Guardian]
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King Charles came face to face with his own face on the new Bank of England banknotes that will go into circulation in June. [BBC]
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Prince Harry plans to continue his legal fight over changes to his police protection when in the U.K., despite losing an initial attempt to appeal. [BBC]
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Meghan has officially launched her new lifestyle brand by sending jars of strawberry jam to influencers across the U.S. [The Independent]
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The French army took part in the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace for the first time to mark the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale. [ITV]
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