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Caloroga Shark Media at low and Welcome to Palace Entry.
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I am your host. Mark Francis questions on once again
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being asked about whether Prince Harry could one day lose
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his position as Counselor of State, with one royal commentator
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suggesting Prince William may take a different approach when he
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eventually becomes king. Councilors of State are senior members of
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the royal family who can carry out certain official duties
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on behalf of the monarch if the sovereign is overseas
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or temporarily unable to perform them. The current list includes
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Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Andrew mount
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Batten Windsor, Princess Beatrice, and Prince Harry. Although Harry stepped
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back from royal duties in twenty twenty and now lives
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in California, he technically remains eligible. However, King Charles expanded
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the pool of working royals by appointing Princess Anne and
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Prince Edward as additional Counselors of State, reducing any practical
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need for either He, Harry or Andrew to perform the role.
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Speaking on Pallace Confidential Daily Mail Diary editor Richard Eden
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said he believes that decisions signal the King Charles has
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no intention of removing Harry. Eden said, so the idea
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was that they wouldn't need to use Andrew or Harry
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because they had other people to take that role if needed.
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So I think it's clear the King won't. Who knows.
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It's hard to predict what William will do, but I
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think it's fair to say he will do something about it.
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He'll take a very different line. Royal biographer Robert Hartman
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pointed out that any change would not simply be a
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decision for the monarch. Removing a Council of State requires
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legislation passed by Parliament, meaning it there's ultimately a matter
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for the government, rather than the King acting alone. Daily
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Mail Royal editor Rebecca English argued that many members of
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the public view removing such roles as appropriate response when
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members of the royal family have either stepped away from
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royal duties or brought controversy upon the institution. What else
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can you do, apart from telling them they're a very
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naughty boy, she said, take away the things that give
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them validity. Roylan Side at Deep Crown tells us. I
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have thought about this a lot. Let us conduct an
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intellectual exercise. Unpleasant though it may be, William is king.
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Something happens, a fall and illness, a moment of incapacity
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that leaves him temporarily unable to perform his duties, or
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something worse. George is not eighteen yet who acts in
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his place? The answer under the regency acts as Harry,
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Charlotte and Lewis are children. Both are disqualified. Going back
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up the line, we land on the other son of Charles.
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He is an adult, and yet he is the Duke
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of Sussex, resident in California, operating a media company that's
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built itself on institutional criticism. He is, in other words,
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politically radioactive. But he is also technically eligible. Skipping over
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Harry's children, andrews next. Andrew is still in a line
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of succession. Andrew is an adult domiciled in the UK.
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But Andrew is also, by the standards that have governed
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every other institutional decision, this reign completely disqualified. You cannot
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have a regency where the regent is the man the
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institution itself is declared unsuitable. It would be institutional suicide.
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Beatrice is next, Beatrice is an adult technically eligible. But
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Beatrice is engaged in business relationships with Saudi Arabia. She
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is not a working royal. She is, in other words,
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marginal to the institution. More importantly, appointing Beatrice's regent over
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Harry over the entire Sussex machine would signal that the
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Palace is willing to elevate a non working royal rather
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than trust their heir zone uncle. The institutional message would
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be corrosive. Also, her father is Andrew. Eugenie is similarly positioned.
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You are left with Harry, and Harry is the problem.
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Charles left unresolved. Consider what this means. George becomes king.
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He is the monarch of the United Kingdom, but he
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does not reign. Instead, he is groomed, trained, prepared. He
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does not attend university as his singlic spite he does
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not have a normal adolescence. He cannot afford to every
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moment until age eighteen, is consumed by the machinery of
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preparation for the moment he turns eighteen and must actually
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take the throne, And for those years, his uncle, the
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man his family has spent years trying to distance itself from,
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is his regent is the architect of his preparation, is
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the visible face of the institution's continuity. Parliament does not
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need to remove Harry. Parliament needs to legislate now, before
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any crisis arrives, to designate Edward explicitly as regent. Should
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a minor ever ascend to the throne. There is president
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for this. There is a precedent for all of it.
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In nineteen fifty two, King George the sixth died and
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was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth. Her eldest son
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and heir apparent, Prince Charles was only four years old.
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The Regency Act nineteen thirty seven would have provided that
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his aunt, Princess Margaret, would serve as regent if something
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happened to Elizabeth before childs turned eighteen, but Parliament wanted
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to change that. In nineteen fifty three, Parliament passed legislation
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providing that in the event of a child of Her
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Majesty and His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh acceding
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to the throne while under the age of eighteen years,
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his Royal Highness, if living, shall be the regent. The
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president is explicit. Parliament can legislate in advance to designate
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exactly who should serve as regent. They did it for Philip.
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They did it to avoid an awkward situation where the
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reignings monarch's system might have to govern on behalf of
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the monarch's four year old son. Parliament looked at the contingency,
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considered who should actually serve, and legislated the answer. Parliament
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can do the same now, spell it out by law,
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Make it institutional rather than reactive. Make it about competence
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and preparation, not about punishment or family drama. Edward as
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regent problem solved. But there is another possibility. Kate is
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the wife of the heir to the throne. If William
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became incapacitated while George was a minor, Kate would be
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the natural guardian of the child king. Parliament could legislate
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to designate her as regent, as they did for Philip
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in nineteen fifty three. Parliament could pass legislation tomorrow making
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this explicit. In the event George becomes king as a miner,
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Kate is regent until he turns eighteen. Clean, institutional, family centered.
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It removes the constitutional ambiguity entirely and places the machinery
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of regency and hands that have already spent years preparing
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to support the institution more palace in just a moment.
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Many Royal watchers have been asking a simple question, why
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does no one seem to want to live at Buckingham Palace.
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Former Royal Chef Darren McGrady, who worked for the Royal
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family for fifteen years, has previously suggested even Queen Elizabeth
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viewed Buckingham Palace more as an office than a home,
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saying she's never really liked the palace. It's always been
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the office to the Queen. The Queen would always be
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whizzing off back to Windsor Castle. She can't wait to
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get back there. While Queen Elizabeth spent week days carrying
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out official duties at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle increasingly became
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her preferred retreat, particularly in her later years. During the
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COVID pandemic, she remained almost exclusively at Windsor and ultimately
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spent much of the remainder of her reign there. King
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Charles appears to have inherited a similar outlook When in London,
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he and Queen Camilla continue to live at nearby Clarence House,
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where they have been based since two thousand and five.
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Away from the capital. Charles is widely believed for most
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home at High Grove House in Gloucestershire, the country estate
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he has carefully developed over several decades. Buckingham Palace, by contrast,
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is a very different proposition. With seven hundred and seventy
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five rooms, hundreds of staff, constant security operations, and thousands
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of tourists gathering outside its gates every day, it is
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arguably better suited to state occasions than everyday family life.
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Reports have also suggested the Prince and Princess of Wales
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view Windsor as their long term family base, even after
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William eventually becomes king. In The Express, Emily Ferguson writes,
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the decision for the King and Queen to stay at
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Clarence House perhaps seems sensible. It saves the transportation of
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their belongings, moving their domestic household over and saying goodbye
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to a home they have loved living in for over
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twenty three years. But while it may be a decision
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from the heart, what impact will it have on the
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wider monarchy? Charles will continue to pop across the road
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to hold audience's receptions. State visits and the ceremonial events
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such as trooping the color. So it does it really
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matter if he doesn't sleep there? Sensible people will argue, No,
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it reflects the modern error and the king's relatable desire
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to live in cozy, a more comfortable surroundings aged seventy seven.
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But as with all change, the decision doesn't come without
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its risks. Start us to the royal family is at
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risk and the Palace is reduced to a mere office.
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I can't see Britain's and tourists alike during bucking and
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Palaces anything but the visible symbol of the monarchy, even
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if it isn't the king's home. But there's no doubt
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it gives Republicans something else to weaponize, and they have it.
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If you'd like to email us our addresses The Palace
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Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify,
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Rabble and live. A comment for us on Spotify. These
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days I mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott. This
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airs Palace Intrigue and good times