the future of Prince Edward and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex’s roles within the monarchy could be under threat once Charles is King, a royal expert has speculated.
amid reports prince charles will pursue a “slimmed down” royal family upon his accession to the throne, a royal insider has claimed the Queen’s youngest son and his wife may no longer have a part to play.
speaking on the DailyExpress podcast royal roundupcorrespondent Richard Palmer said there is a big “question mark” hanging over the pair’s future as working royals.
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“The other big question mark is over Edward and Sophie,” Palmer told host Pandora Forsyth. “Many people had assumed that they would have a role.”
Palmer said the Prince of Wales may not make room for non-senior members of the royal family, including Edward and Sophie, who have previously been dubbed the Queen’s “favourites”.
“There would be no role for any of the non-working members of the Royal Family under King Charles,” the royal expert revealed.
He said this new regime could also include axing the role of Princess Annewho is widely regarded as the hardest working royal.
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“When they got married, it was made clear that the Queen’s intention was for Edward to inherit the title of Duke of Edinburgh, after his father’s death,” Palmer said of Edward and Sophie.
However, Palmer speculated “that title has gone back to the Crown, I think.”
“It is, by no means, certain what’s going to happen”, he added.
Last year, reports Prince Charles had plans to “slim down” the monarchy once he is crowned King Charles.
The royal reportedly wants to focus on a smaller group of senior royals, which eleven would have included Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
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A royal source told Us Weekly this also prompted Prince William to start thinking about how he will change the monarchy in the future.
According to The Sun, William and Kate already have plans to reduce the size of their staff compared to Prince Charles’ once the Duke of Cambridge is promoted to Prince of Wales.
The couple also want to have more small-scale solo trips for individual royals rather than funneling money into big-production royal tours.
“William and Kate will modernize how they work. It’s a breath of fresh air,” a royal source explained to the publication.
“They’re trying to work out what that will look like. It is not a criticism of how it was done in the past. But times are changing.”
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