Prince William’s Being Urged to Ask These 2 Royals to Take up Official Duties When He’s King — And It’s Not Beatrice and Eugenie
Prince William’s not king yet — he’s heir apparent to King Charles III — but he’s already got his work cut out for him. A royal commentator hopes the Prince of Wales, 41, will make two of his cousins working royals as king. Not Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are reportedly upset their uncle hasn’t issued a call to duty. Rather, his youngest cousins, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, children of Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
A commentator wants William to eventually make his cousins, Louise and James, working royals
According to commentator Richard Eden, Louise and James, who are 20 and 16, respectively, should become working royals when William takes the throne. William should ask them to serve, Eden wrote for the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential.
He argued the young royals’ parents, Sophie and Edward, are more prominent than ever, and as such, they could do a “great service” by encouraging Louise and James to become working royals “when the time is right.”
“When Prince William becomes King, I hope he will follow the example of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and ask his cousins, including Lady Louise and James, to share royal duties with him,” Eden said.
For now, Louise is a sophomore in college at William and Kate Middleton’s alma mater, St. Andrew’s University. As for James, he lives with Sophie and Edward at Bagshot Park in Surrey, England, 11 miles from Windsor, England, and the Prince and Princess of Wales’ family home of Adelaide Cottage (via Tatler).
Making Louise and James working royals would be a move away from a ‘slimmed-down’ monarchy for William
The author continued that King Charles’ “slimmed-down” monarchy will “hopefully” be a thing of the past when William takes the throne.
“What better way to build on its strengths than with an injection of energy from young people who have had values of public service and duty instilled in them from birth?” he asked.
He added that “hopefully” William will have realized by the time he becomes king a “slimmed-down” doesn’t, as the outlet put it, “safeguard the institution, but lead to its irrelevance and eventual death.”
Currently, the official number of working royals stands at 12. However, three of them — King Charles, Kate, and William — are out of action. The king and Kate are taking a break from public appearances as they undergo cancer treatment. Meanwhile, William’s significantly cut back his workload to be at home as Kate recuperates.
That means the only available working royals are in the single digits. There’s the king’s wife, Queen Camilla, his youngest brother, Edward, and sister-in-law, Sophie. Also still carrying out official duties is the king’s sister, Princess Anne.
Rounding out the remaining working royals are Prince Richard, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, and his wife, Birgitte, along with Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, and his sister, Princess Alexandra, who are also cousins of the queen.
James and Louise have grown up knowing they’ll ‘very likely have to work for a living’
According to James and Louise’s mom, Sophie, she and Edward haven’t raised their children to expect positions as working royals. “We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living,” Sophie told The Sunday Times in 2020.
“Hence we made the decision not to use HRH [His/Her Royal Highness] titles,” she added. “They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but it’s highly unlikely.”
Louise turned 18 on Nov. 8, 2021. Since then, she hasn’t embraced her HRH title. In fact, she’s the only one in her immediate family not to have undergone a title change when her uncle, King Charles, took the throne.
Louise has remained Lady Louise, while her parents are now duke and duchess. Meanwhile, James, formerly known as Viscount Severn, took over their father’s former Earl of Wessex title.
For now, James and Louise stay largely out of the spotlight, only attending the occasional royal family event.
