King Charles is trying to change a major royal rule ASAP, before Prince William and Kate’s upcoming visit to New York City–as of now planned for the start of December. As per the 1937 Regency Act, the King’s spouse (aka Queen Camilla) and the four adults next in line to the throne (aka Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Princess Beatrice) can serve as official stand-ins should the King ever be indisposed. But as Newsweek notes, Prince Harry or Prince Andrew stepping into the role would be a “crisis” for Charles considering Prince Harry lives in the United States and Prince Andrew has been fully disgraced.
So, Charles wants to take Harry and Andrew out and substitute them with Princess Anne and Prince Edward on the list of Counsellors of State—essentially sidelining not only Prince Harry and Prince Andrew but also Princess Beatrice.
“What was quite interesting was that the King chose his birthday to write to Parliament to ask for legislation to be brought forward as quickly as possible to make this legal change,” Richard Palmer of The Express, said. “I was intrigued by that – it was clearly sending a signal that this an important matter that he would like to be sorted out. He is acutely aware that he needed to put this through quite quickly which shows the urgency of it.”
“Clearly, one factor may be that William and Kate are going to the US at the end of this month,” Palmer continued. “That may have affected the decision-making because if [the King] suddenly fell ill or was indisposed in some way, then William would have to come straight back from the US and cut short his visit. Or, there have to be two Counsellors of State, as we know, so [William] would have had to ask someone else to stand in.”
Changing the order of the official stand-ins would mean that there would always be someone near at hand in such an unforeseen circumstance. Of course, rumor is that Charles just wants to take Harry and Andrew out for other reasons having to do with their recent and ongoing unroyal behavior.
Commenters on the article went straight to the heart of the matter, writing: “It makes sense. Since to have a Disgraced Andrew or a mentally fragile Harry step in in any capacity would just not be the best for the Monarchy. Better in every way to replace them with His younger Brother Edward and His sister Ann. Solid members of the family who care about the Monarchy and who would not do anything to harm or Disgrace it.”
