After 70 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace has announced that Queen Elizabeth will be doing less.
Her Majesty has dedicated her life to serving the British nation. At the age of 96, she will be significantly reducing the number of official duties she performs annually — and that decision might not be great news for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. They rely on her as their strongest ally in The Palace.
This week, the annual Sovereign Grant report was released to the public.
The report, signed off by Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Michael Stevens, who is responsible for the financial management of the Royal household, revealed the significant changes.
The Palace has been forced to “edit or amend the Queen’s duties for the first time in over a decade.”
The report says that while the Queen remains the Head of State and Head of Nation, she is now on light duties and will not attend events that were once considered crucial to the Monarchy.
The Queen’s new duties and role are vaguely defined as “unity and national identity and continuity and stability.”
Queen Elizabeth had a complicated few months that began with the passing of her husband, and she was later hospitalized for an undisclosed health issue.
Earlier this year, the aging Monarch was hit with COVID-19, leaving her struggling with mobility issues.
The Queen will now depend more on Prince Charles to perform many of her “specific duties in the formal constitutional concept,” including the State Opening of Parliament.
It is expected that other royal family members, including Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Camilla Parker Bowles, will continue to replace Her Majesty at key events.
Because of her advanced age and health issues, The Queen is not expected to travel again. Therefore, Prince William and Prince Charles will represent her abroad.
Prince William recently did so in the Caribbean, and Prince Charles went to Canada — both tours were hit with protests from people of color.
Despite her best efforts, the Queen skipped many events at the Platinum Jubilee, including the Thanksgiving Service held in her honor.
Prince Harry and Markle were supposed to attend the religious event with the Queen.
The revelation that the Queen has agreed to reduce or remove some of the duties puts the spotlight on comments made by a royal expert about Prince Harry losing his main person in London.
Royal expert Andrew Morton explained that Prince Harry is set to lose his “chief ally” within the Firm when Elizabeth II is no longer Queen.
He went on to say that because of the rifts that exist in the royal family, there is a possibility that the Duke of Sussex might be sidelined by the future Kings — Prince William and Prince Charles.
The author told Express: “Harry’s chief ally inside the Royal Family is the woman that Diana used to call ‘Chief Lady,’ the Queen. When she goes, he will have brought out his book, which will contain a fairly strong attack on his father.”
He went on to talk about the potential chaos that Prince Harry’s upcoming tell-all book will create in the midst of the royal family.
Morton shared: “He is not speaking to his brother, who will be the next Prince of Wales, so he will be vanishing in the shadows. He will be on the sidelines – which may be the way he wants it.”
The divide between the two brothers was on full display during Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee as they took part in well-choreographed actions and decisions to avoid each other privately and publicly.
