After the shock announcement of Charles III’s cancer, the British monarchy, particularly tight in the absence of Harry and Andrew, rests on the shoulders of Prince William.
Inaugurations, sponsorships, receptions… Like a foretaste of its royal destiny? Prince William will increase his public engagements, appearances and speaking engagements, in the absence of his father Charles, who revealed on February 5 that he had cancer. Because if the king announced that he would continue to “take care of state affairs”, he will no longer carry out his public activities while he is being treated.
Charles will continue to receive the red boxes allowing him to stay up to date with the affairs of the kingdom and the Commonwealth. The king will also still meet every week with the Prime Minister, but he has postponed his commitments or delegates them to his wife Queen Camilla or his son William.
To support him in this new role, Prince William has hired a former diplomat, Ian Patrick, who worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as announced on Telegraphon February 9.
This is not a completely new role for Prince William, who already represents the King in the United Kingdom and abroad and himself supports causes that are close to his heart, such as the environment, through Earthshot environmental prize. President of the Bafta, the British Césars, he will be present at the ceremony which is being held on Sunday February 18 in London, with all the elite of British cinema.
William “caught in a vice”
But the king’s illness comes at a bad time. Charles’ cancer was announced two days before Prince William returned to duty. He had in fact withdrawn for three weeks, to be at the side of his wife Kate, after his mysterious operation in mid-January, and to take care of their three young children, George, Charlotte and Louis. He resumed his activities on January 7, while Kate is still recovering.
The Prince of Wales presented decorations to Windsor Castle on February 7. He also attended a charity gala in London in the evening for the benefit of the London Air Ambulance, alongside actor Tom Cruise, with whom he shares a taste for piloting ‘helicopters.
“That William is present is a certainty,” analyzes Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre, director of the magazine’s editorial department. Point of view, in the Royal Podcast. “Will he be able to be much more, and will he really be able to take up the torch? It’s not sure, since he himself is caught in a vice with his difficult family situation at the moment.”
The public needs to see them
Prince William is indeed torn between his wish to be with his family, while his wife Kate underwent abdominal surgery in mid-January – a serious procedure judging by the length of his convalescence – and his sense of duty, increased since the announcement of his father’s cancer.
“He was impacted in this family project by the announcement of King Charles III’s cancer,” underlines Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre.
The king’s illness also highlights the very limited organizational chart of the royal family to date. It was King Charles who wanted a tighter monarchy, to save money, while the country was in the midst of an economic crisis.
For Robert Hazell, constitutional specialist cited by the Guardian, the reduction in the size of the royal family is “potentially a quite serious problem” in view of the king’s illness. Because, according to him, the public needs to see the sovereign and his loved ones.
“It is the ceremonial aspect and the social aspect of the monarchy that matter to the public,” he summarizes. “Queen Elizabeth II said you had to be seen to be believed. She understood perfectly well that they needed to get out of their homes.”
Especially since without Harry and Meghan, who left their functions within the royal family in 2020, without Andrew, definitively sidelined since his legal affairs, and in the absence of Kate, William finds himself very alone.
No “abdication” or “regency”
“It’s a difficult situation, especially so early in the reign,” said in the Guardian a columnist for Majesty Magazine, a specialized monthly magazine. “The fact that the Prince of Wales is also more or less out of the equation at the moment shows very clearly the fragility of the monarchy.”
Behind the scenes, says Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre, we are thinking of bringing in Beatrice and Eugenie, Andrew’s daughters, or even Louise, Edouard’s daughter. Princess Anne and Queen Camilla also take over a large part of Charles’ commitments, but are both in their seventies.
However, “we are not in the idea of any abdication, of a regency, of anything of that order”, insists Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre. The specialist on crowned heads recalls that it would in any case be a fairly complex and long process: “There would have to be a proven incapacity of the king to exercise his functions. ” That’s not the case today.
