LONDON (CU)_The death of the Duke of Edinburgh has left the Royal Family with the immediate question of who should support the sovereign in the most high-profile roles and how and if the hundreds of patronages retained by His Royal Highness should be redistributed.
On the other hand, with the one-year “review period” of the withdrawal of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from royal duties having expired last month, The Firm has been forced to determine who will absorb the workload left behind by the couple as well as the Duke of York, who retired last year as a result of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Therefore, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge are set to hold a summit in order to decide the future of the monarchy, in consultation with the Queen. It is reported that Prince Charles, who will take a leading role in the discussions, has made it clear that Prince William should be involved in every stage of the discussions since any major decisions made are expected to last into his elder son’s reign.
In the days leading up to the Duke’s funeral, the Earl and Countess of Wessex appeared to be more prominent than most other royals, and are in fact expected to take over some of the duties left behind by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. However, the Queen’s youngest child and his wife are already carrying out a significant number of royal duties, which means they will not be able to absorb the full workload left behind by the Sussexes and the Duke of York.
On the other hand, Prince Charles and his elder son must also decide what to do about the military titles and several hundred patronages held by the Duke of Edinburgh before his passing. Therefore, with the help of the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge would now have to decide if the monarchy should continue with its thousands of engagements each year, which would have to be spread out between as many royals as possible, or if they should cut down the number of engagements and patronages, which could be held by fewer members of the family.
“The question is whether you start off by deciding how many patronages and engagements there should be, and then work out how many people are needed to achieve them, or whether you decide how many people there should be, which will dictate how many engagements and patronages they can take on,” one source said.
So far, the Prince of Wales has preferred the traditional model, carrying out over 500 engagements each year. On the other hand, the Duke of Cambridge carried out only 220 engagements in 2019, as he believes that he can make a more meaningful contribution by restricting the number of organisations he supports.
Nevertheless, sources say that the Royal Family follows the trusted method of evolution rather than revolution, and therefore, any changes that would take place would happen gradually, instead of a “step change”.
