Queen ‘proud’ to shoulder the burden in depleted ‘workforce’
THE QUEEN is “proud” to shoulder a greater burden of official duties in the absence of the King and the Princess of Wales as she prepares for a packed schedule of royal events this week.
The Princess’s cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment mean she is likely to be out of action for several more months and there is no date set for the King to return to full public duties either.
Both the King and Queen have spent more time with the Prince and Princess in recent months, bound by shared experience. The Queen’s relationship with Prince William has become closer but so too, her relationship with the Princess.
One insider observed: “Sometimes there are certain things that you just want to speak to someone of the same sex about,”
Royal aides say Her Majesty is “resilient” and will step up to do whatever is asked of her, with the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh also filling in gaps in the royal diary.
In the past week the Queen, 76, has already carried out one of her most significant solo visits, flying to Belfast to fulfil a series of engagements on a high-profile trip planned before the King received his cancer diagnosis.
This week she will become the first consort to distribute Maundy money on behalf of a monarch when she attends the annual service as the King’s representative. A royal source said: “She is proud, resilient and devoted and if it serves the King and the nation to step up and serve the nation she will do it. She does have incredible energy, she does ballet classes once a week, she’s very fit and healthy. Of course, she’s juggling. She wants to spend as much time as possible with the King to support him however she can.”
The Royal family has never needed the Queen more than it does now and her trip to Belfast last Thursday showed just how much trust is placed in her.
Northern Ireland is one of the most sensitive places in the world for Royal family members to visit and on previous visits the King has of course been front and centre during diplomatically tricky engagements, as the Queen played a supporting role. As she toured the Lisburn Road in south Belfast, her easy manner went down well with locals, who gathered in numbers to see her and to pass on get well cards for the King.
She had visited the Isle of Man the previous day, and stayed alone at Hillsborough Castle, the official royal residence in Northern Ireland, on Wednesday night before touring Belfast.
Day-long royal visits usually combine joint engagements attended by the King and Queen with portions of the day when they split up and do some engagements on their own.
It was significant that the Queen decided to press on with her own engagements rather than the King’s programme, suggesting she was very much in charge. She always, however, makes sure she emphasises how much her husband would like to have been able to attend in person, telling people how disappointed he is to be missing out on a visit, and how much he was looking forward to it. Royal staff would have been pleased to see her back after the visit: she alluded to the fact that the King is a difficult patient when a member of the public suggested men were less easy to look after than women and she replied: “I try to keep him in order.”
On Tuesday, Her Majesty will host a reception at Clarence House with authors and neuroscientists to celebrate the results of The Queen’s Reading Room study into the link between reading fiction and well-being. Then on Wednesday, she will visit Shrewsbury in Shropshire, where she will visit the local farmers’ market and the recently restored Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, the world’s first iron-framed building, which is used as a hub for volunteer groups.
Thursday will see the Queen visit Worcester, where she will distribute Maundy money on behalf of the King at the annual Royal Maundy Service in the city’s cathedral.
It will mark one of the most significant royal events from which the King, 75, will be absent.