King Charles' Counsellors of State 'under review' says host

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King Charles spared his second son Prince Harry and brother Prince Andrew a major embarrassment by planning to increase the number of people who can deputise for him as Counsellors of State without also excluding from the role all those who aren’t working members of the Firm, an expert has claimed. The Counsellors of State Bill has passed to the House of Commons for consideration after three readings in the House of Lords, during which peers debated the possibility of adding Prince Edward and Princess Anne as potential stand-ins for the King whenever he is absent from the country or ill. This move would modify the Regency Act 1937, which states the monarch’s spouse and the first four people aged over 21 in the line of succession to the throne, no matter their status, are automatically eligible to be chosen as Counsellors.

Commenting on the fact that, while this new bill practically excludes the Dukes of York and Sussex – who haven’t carried out public duties in years – from ever being chosen to deputise for the monarch without pushing them out of the role, the Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers said on True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat: The fact is, they didn’t want to remove them completely, because that would have been terribly embarrassing, and Charles is all about unity within the family. [But] he does understand that there is public feeling towards those two in particular… I think some people are aggrieved at how Harry had gone about treating his family. There was obviously an awful lot of support for the way he did leave the family and chose his own destiny, but I don’t think people agree with the fact that if you leave, you should then be able to deputise for the monarch.”

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Prince Andrew and Prince Harry spared from ’embarrassment’

One royal commentator believes the Counsellors of State Bill to be debated in the House of Commons spares Prince Andrew and Prince Harry from the embarrassment of being stripped of a role they have retained for years – despite they will from now on unlikely to ever fulfil it.

This is because the Bill aims to add two working royals, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, to the pool of people that can be chosen to deputise for King Charles whenever he is abroad or ill, lowering the chances there will ever be the need to ask non-working members of the Firm such as Andrew, Harry or Princess Beatrice – who in accordance with the Regency Act 1937 are Counsellors of State – to stand in for the monarch.

The Daily Mirror Royal Editor Russell Myers told The Royal Beat programme on True Royalty TV: “The fact is, they didn’t want to remove them completely, because that would have been terribly embarrassing, and Charles is all about unity within the family.

“[But] he does understand that there is public feeling towards those two in particular… I think some people are aggrieved at how Harry had gone about treating his family.

“There was obviously an awful lot of support for the way he did leave the family and chose his own destiny, but I don’t think people agree with the fact that if you leave, you should then be able to deputise for the monarch!”

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