King Charles and Camilla burst in tears as doctors reveal Catherine might not make it through
The recent unusually candid health updates have been welcomed by some as a signal of a slightly evolving and more transparent monarchy.
Yet with three of the most senior individuals from the family sidelined, a troublesome reality has been revealed. The family is unquestionably extended. The quantity of public-facing working royals has dwindled as of late as the Firm looked to brand in sync with the times. Only working royals do engagements on behalf of the monarch, dividing the 2,710 visits and events undertaken last year between them.
That gathering should consist of 14 relatives: King Charles, Queen Camilla, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Waleses, Sussexes, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
That is, until Prince Harry and Meghan decided to step down and Andrew had to in the culmination of his relationship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Presently, we have 11, the greater part of whom are beyond 70 years old.
The monarchy, throughout the long-term, has been feeling the pressure to reduce expenditure and mirror a nation now going through a cost-of-living crisis. Charles’s promotion came amid another period of fewer royals doing more engagements.
We have a much smaller royal family going into 2024, many fewer royals to do the engagements since we have an aging monarch. CNN student of history Kate Williams says it is actually all falling on William and Kate, Edward and Sophie, and Anne. Furthermore, when at least one of them is down and out, that is a significant impact on the royal family.
In Charles’s and William’s return, Camilla will be the most senior public face of the British monarchy, with only seven others backing her up. The Princess has, over the course of recent weeks, significantly increased the number of engagements she is undertaking. However, there are only so many hours in a day.
Some have wondered whether it would be useful to fold Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie into the core group. After all, they did occasionally support the late Queen Elizabeth II at engagements.
What this period has shown is that while Britain’s royals are an institution, they are also a normal family, vulnerable to ordinary human frailties. And that could be something the King might need to address in the future.
Earlier, Catherine, the Princess of Wales, left central London hospital just about two weeks after undergoing abdominal surgery. The Princess was driven to her home in Windsor with no public appearance and will spend months in recovery.
Buckingham Palace said the King would need to defer his public engagements to allow for a period of private recovery. It is not known how long the King will pause his official visits or where he will spend his recovery time.
The medical treatment has not been significant enough to require any constitutional changes for the King’s role as Head of State. There has been no requirement for Counsellors of State, who can step in when a monarch is physically unwell.
Urological specialist Rick Popert said patients who have had a procedure for an enlarged prostate can expect to have some mild discomfort. “Any surgery is a trauma, and wounds require four to six weeks to mend,” explained Mr. Popert, a specialist at the London Clinic, Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust in London Bridge Hospital.
