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Charles has inherited a Firm much smaller than he might once have expected, but still, these working royals regularly turn up to well over 3,500 events a year. Within a decade there will only be the Prince and Princess of Wales left under normal retirement age. The royal workforce is ageing. But at the same time, the demand for them to turn up, glad-hand local worthies, cut ribbons and make small talk has barely changed. In 2010 our collective of royal workers accepted just over 3,000 domestic invitations: ten years later this figure was just under 3,000, with fewer big hitters to share the load.
George V set the template for modern royalty: turn up, cut ribbons and shake hands. It’s a model that works, but supply and demand are now badly out of sync. The public quickly tires of royals opining on political causes. It’s the ribbon cutting they want, and all the trimmings that go with it. We need more royals; we can’t simply wait a quarter of a century for Prince George to get to an age where he will pick up the slack with his siblings.
Last week Princess Beatrice was quietly installed as a Counsellor of State, a nod to the need for an extra pair of hands by a new monarch. This role is coveted by royals, indicating, as it does, a level of seniority that no title can quite achieve. Beatrice already boasts the title of Princess and the HRH that goes with it, thanks to her father insisting that they take on all the trappings of royalty. Well into her thirties, married and without much of a business career to leave behind, she would make an ideal new member of the Firm. As Prince of Wales, Charles rebuffed lobbying from the Duke of York to make Beatrice a full-time working royal, reminding his brother that she was a ‘blood princess’. This bizarre criterion shouldn’t stand in the way of giving the idea a re-think.
It is long past time for Zara Phillips to raise her profile. Coming as she does from the Princess Anne school of conduct, she would make a popular addition. Her ruddy, down to earth approach would be a welcome contrast to the puffed up self importance portrayed by recently retired royals.
The late Queen understood that for the monarchy to prosper she and her relatives had to be ‘seen to be believed’, but as of today there are too few royals. A few new members are needed to pick up where late Her Majesty left off. The British public demands it.
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