Buckingham Palace has insisted that the health crisis gripping the British royal family will not require Prince Andrew or Prince Harry to take up roles they still retain as “counsellors of state”—family members who can stand in for the king.
Courtiers have insisted that it will not be necessary to nominate constitutional deputies, despite the fact that procedures on an enlarged prostate gland are often carried out under general anesthetic, and that King Charles will continue to perform his constitutional duties over the coming weeks.
Even if it was necessary to appoint counsellors of state, Princess Anne and Prince Edward could be called on before needing to summon Andrew or Harry.
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Nonetheless, the double health scare has exposed the risks inherent in the king’s grand strategic plan to “slim down” the royal family by reducing the numbers of working royals, and will likely lead to renewed calls for Andrew’s children, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, to be given constitutional roles.
With Kate and Charles receiving hospital treatment, and William taking time off to support his wife, there are now just four working royals on call: Camilla, 76, Edward, 59, Sophie, 58, and Anne, 73.
The irony of there now not being enough royal bodies to man the pumps will not be lost on critics of Charles, for although the number of aunts and uncles on the BP balcony had perhaps gotten out of hand in the 2000s and 2010s, it was quite clear that numbers were going to decline naturally anyway.
Princess Anne’s children—Zara and Peter—were never given HRH titles and have never expressed a wish to become public servants. Edward and Sophie’s children—Louise, 20, and James, 16—are much younger and have been kept out of the public eye, in part because Louise had a childhood affected by her own medical issues.
Indeed, “slimming down” was originally understood by many observers to be code for getting rid of the Yorks—Andrew, Fergie, and their children—from royal life. Observers often attributed this wish to sibling enmity between the brothers, and a nervousness on the part of Charles about Andrew’s lifestyle.
In the end, Charles didn’t actually have to do anything to achieve Andrew’s defenestration, as Andrew removed himself over his sex abuse scandal.
When the plans to reduce numbers first began to emerge around the turn of the century, it was never imagined that Harry would abandon his royal duties.
But Harry’s departure from the working family left it in something of a personnel bind, which the double royal hospitalization graphically illustrates.
Lady Colin Campbell, the royal author, YouTuber, and friend of the late Princess Diana, told The Daily Beast: “I have often warned that it was a grievous mistake to reduce the numbers of working royals as enormously as Charles has done. So much of their work is never reported on in the media, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, and now there are simply not enough people available to fulfill its functions.
“Many people in the family agree with me, although Princess Anne is the only one who has said so publicly.”
Campbell says the answer to the problem is staring the king in the face: reinstate Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice as working royals.
“I would like them brought back in. They are dutiful girls, they are good at public duties, down to earth and natural, and Queen Elizabeth adored them. I think it’s a great shame that the sins of their parents have been visited on their heads.”
