The Slimmed-Down Royal Family Experiment Isn’t Working; Here’s Which Royals Are Expected to Step Up Now
Britain’s royal family is in unfamiliar territory and something needs to change quickly.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, her oldest son King Charles became the new head of the Firm and put into place his “slimmed-down monarchy,” meaning they’re are fewer working royals to help out with the family’s daily duties and engagements. What the king didn’t count on was both him and his daughter-in-law the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) having to undergo medical procedures and receiving treatment for cancer, which has sidelined them for months.
This has left the remaining working royals stretched pretty thin leaving some like Princess Anne to do multiple engagements a day. And aside from 41-year-old Prince William and 59-year-old Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh (formerly the Countess of Wessex), every other working royal is over the age of 60 with most deep into their 70s and 80s.
Now, someone who used to work for King Charles is weighing in on which royals could step up to help out with some of the family’s duties.
Former royal staffer says ‘scaled-down royal family’ has to go ‘on the backburner’
Grant Harrold was King Charles’ butler from 2004 to 2011. During his time working for the monarch and Queen Camilla (formerly known as Camilla Parker Bowles), his duties included that of valet, driver, and house manager as well. Harrold also got to know several other members of the family and he doesn’t believe the king’s scaled-down monarchy can continue now as they need help from non-working royals.
Speaking on behalf of Slingo Harrold stated: “The king initially spoke about a scaled-down royal family but because what’s happened, they’re having to change that idea, put it on the back burner, and actually go, ‘Right what royals have we got there, what pool have we got, what resources can we call in?’ I hope it doesn’t get to a point where we’re calling in European royals because we’ve got no royals of our own left.
“Anne undertakes more engagements than anyone, in some years she’s done 500 odd engagements, and the king has done 400 odd engagements. She has definitely been the hardest-working royal for many, many years. She often does double the amount of engagements compared to William and Catherine.”
The former royal employee continued: “I really like Princess Anne, I’ve got a lot of time for her. She’s an amazing grafter, she’s somebody who gets stuff done. She’s like her father, no-nonsense, and says as it is, but she gets the job done. Like her mother, she’s very happy to put duty before everything, and that’s what she does.
“The king made her a bodyguard last year, increasing her role as a counselor for the state, and she’s a senior member of the royal family. She may be way down the pecking order of inheriting the throne, but she still is a very important part of the royal family. She already does more engagements than the rest of them, so I don’t know how she can increase that. But I’m sure if she can, she will.”
Royals the former butler thinks need to step up now
As for who he thinks can and should step up now to help the family during this difficult time, Harrold has a few royals in mind and we’ve already seen some flashes of them doing so.
“What’s interesting is that they haven’t got much of an option. Beatrice and Eugenie are supposed to have their own careers, Zara’s got her own career, and her family too,” he explained. “They’re the kind of royals that are not technically classed as working royals if you like. I have noted that from time to time they do get called in to help, not so much to go and carry out an engagement on their own but sometimes just as backup, and they’ll suddenly turn up with another royal as a plus one. We could probably see more of that going forward.
“I think April will be a pivotal month, there is a lot going on. The social season starts in March, so you find that it starts to pick up in the spring, that’s when you start seeing more of the royals again. Of course, we’re not going to see much of the king just now, or Kate. The other royals are going to be having to up their game in the meantime.”
