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Queen Elizabeth is reportedly having some thoughts about the monarchy’s future amid Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s stunning departure. The queen kicked off 2020 with a series of royal scandals, and things aren’t getting any better. Now that her grandson Peter Philips has separated from his wife of 12 years, royal experts believe Queen Elizabeth is reassessing the future of the royal family.

Queen Elizabeth Meghan Markle Prince Harry
Queen Elizabeth, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

The royals get hit with another controversy

The first big controversy to hit the royal family in recent months came in the form of Prince Andrew’s scandal. Andrew was linked to the disgraced financier-turned-pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, and stepped down from his royal duties as a result.

Queen Elizabeth was hit with another bombshell at the beginning of January when Harry and Meghan announced their exit from the royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently living in Canada as they take the proper steps to make their exit official.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the royals are dealing with another scandal this month in the form of a royal divorce.

Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Peter just confirmed he is getting a divorce from his wife, Autumn Philips. Peter is Princess Anne’s son. Although he rarely appears at royal engagements, he is usually spotted at the big events, such as Trooping the Colour.

Queen Elizabeth is reassessing the future of the monarchy

In light of Peter’s divorce, an expert on the royal family claims that Queen Elizabeth is looking hard at the future of the monarchy. According to Express, expert Katie Nicholl claims the queen is forcing everyone to reassess where things stand and think hard about what the future holds for the royal family.

“It’s forcing the institution to look at itself, to reassess its future,” Nicholl said. “What is the monarchy going to look like now that we are three senior royals down?”

With Harry and Meghan stepping down as senior members of the royal family, their workload will likely be divided up among the other royals. The same holds true for Andrew’s engagements, especially if he does not return to his old post soon.

The only problem with this is that the rest of the senior members of the royal family already have packed schedules. In fact, Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge have already taken part in over 10 royal engagements apiece in 2020.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are also in the middle of scheduling a tour of Australia. The two are visiting the region as a show of support after the devastation caused by bushfires.

Who will else pick up the slack?

There has been a lot of speculation about which members of the royal family will increase their workload in the coming months.

There is little doubt that William and Kate will shoulder the brunt of the extra engagements, though there has been some speculation that Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will also take more prominent roles.

However, Princess Beatrice is getting ready to tie the knot with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in May and will likely be unavailable in the months leading up to her wedding.

The two also have professional careers outside of the monarchy and would be required to quit their jobs if they took on more responsibilities.

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