When King Charles III took the throne, the world knew years ahead that he would be very different from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
King Charles had a major change that he was going to implement: slim down the monarchy to its skeleton. He was determined to cut spending: he went as far as pushing his staff to use less electricity at Buckingham Palace.
The senior royals are now receiving less money from the Duchy for clothes and traveling. And the famous balcony of Buckingham Palace now has fewer people on it.
However, life threw a major wrench at The King when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced in 2020 that they were stepping down as working royals.
And Prince Andrew lost his titles, jobs, and dignity after being found to have been involved in the major Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.
The weight of the monarchy fell on Prince William, Kate Middleton, and a handful of aging royals, including Queen Camilla, Princess Anne, and The King, himself.
Earlier this year, the situation went from bad to worse because both Kate Middleton and King Charles had been struck with cancer.
The crushing weight of the century-old institution lies on Prince William and Queen Camilla — and King Charles seems more than okay with the situation.
However, other royals, who believed that they could be of service and could have removed some pressure from Prince William, were baffled, and a bit upset, by The King’s decision.
Privately, several royals have voiced their concerns about King Charles’s mishandling of the situation; amongst them are Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The Daily Beast said: “Friends of Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have said they are “very upset” but “not surprised” to have not been asked to carry out any royal engagements, while the threadbare royal family grapples with a double health crisis that has seen King Charles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton all step back from royal duties.”
A friend of the princesses told The Daily Beast that they are furious about the situation for this reason: “It seems to mean that the girls aren’t being used at all when they have made it clear they want to be of service, especially when Prince Andrew has been accepted back into the fold. They have done nothing wrong, and they shouldn’t be visited with the sins of their father. They are very upset to have been ignored by the king as they feel they have a lot to offer, but, ultimately not surprised. Not only that, but they are sanguine about it.”
Another family pal shared: “Charles is very fond of the York girls, but everyone, including them, accepts there is no place for them to be full-time working royals. And as the late Queen Elizabeth made clear, being a part-time working royal isn’t an option.”
Many associated and royal relatives see King Charles’s shortsighted decision about royal staffing as a time bomb. The reality is that Kate Middleton and Prince William’s children will only become working royals in a decade; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will never come back.
Therefore, the best option is to have the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson be part-time royals.
