Queen: ’No way she’ll step down’ says Lorraine

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Prince Charles, who is next in the line of succession, and his eldest son, the Duke of Cambridge, will reportedly hold discussions with the Queen over the coming weeks. The summit is expected to decide whether the three most senior royals should carry on taking the lead with events or if the Queen, Charles, William should reduce their workload by giving other royals more responsibilities. The Firm has already lost three members over the last year after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US for a new life and the Queen’s second youngest son Prince Andrew also stepped back from duties after causing controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A source said: “The question is whether you start off by deciding how many patronages and engagements there should be, and then work out how many people are needed to achieve them, or whether you decide how many people there should be, which will dictate how many engagements and patronages they can take on.”

The Queen returned to public duties a few days after Philip died peacefully at Windsor on April 9, aged 99, proving she is still committed to her role and is unlikely to change her role any time soon.

But members of the Royal Family have still been rallying to the Queen’s side to support her and said they will continue to support her in the future.

Her Majesty is also expected to return to a full diary of official events after the period of royal mourning ends this week.

Her birthday will fall during the period of royal mourning tomorrow so any public events to mark it, such as the release of an official picture, are likely to be cancelled.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, said: “She will mark her first birthday as a widow, and 95 is quite a significant birthday.

“I don’t think there would have been a fuss made of it, but nevertheless 95 is quite something. This is going to be a private day for her and that’s how it should be.

“Royal mourning continues until Friday so that makes it even more of a sombre occasion.”

The Queen has been forced to adapt to new ways of carrying out her duties over the last year due to the Covid pandemic too.

She has been unable to visit travel abroad to Commonwealth countries due to travel restrictions, but she still has made an effort to hold duties virtually.

She also delivered two rare televised addresses just weeks apart last year as the pandemic escalated.

She reassured the country that the virus would be overcome, telling those in isolation: “We will meet again.”

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Mr Jobson also claimed Charles could take on a new role as patriarch of the family as part of the revamp following the death of his father.

Speaking to Omid Scobie on ABC’s podcast The Heir Pod, he added the 72-year-old prince could become king in all but name.

He said: “The Prince of Wales will step up, in a way he’s already been doing that for the past five years, but now he truly is the patriarch of the family because the Duke of Edinburgh is dead.”

Royal correspondent Mr Scobie added Charles is “almost between roles now”.

Charles may want to revamp the Firm as he has been said to support a slimmed-down monarchy, originally with only seven royals carrying out appearances and duties.

Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler, told Us Weekly: “Charles has made it quite clear that he intends to slim down the monarchy and reduce the number of full-time working members of the family to those in the immediate line of succession.”

Brittani Barger, deputy editor of Royal Central, added Charles may need to review his slimmed-down monarchy idea now that Meghan and Harry will not carry out duties.

She told the Daily Star: “I think Prince Charles is probably disappointed as he always had Harry and Meghan in his plan for a slimmed-down monarchy.

“Now, that slimmed down monarchy will have to be re-evaluated.”

Meanwhile, sources told The Sunday Telegraph that Prince William favours a more targeted approach to Royal Family duties and so could put forward this idea as part of the revamp.

The Duke is said to believe that working with fewer organisations could mean he can make a more meaningful contribution to each.

Insiders also said any changes to the monarchy would happen gradually rather than a “step change” under William’s rule.

The Duke also proved he is becoming a leading figure in the firm as he was the first royal to speak out following Meghan and Harry’s bombshell claims that an unnamed member of the royals questioned their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born.

William publicly responded by saying: “We’re very much not a racist family”.

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