‘New’ royal family revealed for 2021
The queen revealed a new slimmed- down version of the royal family this week, which — no surprise — doesn’t include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
It also won’t be weighed down by a roster of minor royals or anyone, such as Prince Andrew, who has been mired in scandal. The “New Firm” was on display at Tuesday night’s socially distanced outdoor gathering at Windsor Castle, where Elizabeth II has been mostly living since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Mirror and The Express reported.
The eight front-line family members present were: The queen and Prince Charles, the future king, and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William and Kate Middleton; Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex; and Princess Anne. The family members make up an arrangement reportedly devised by Prince Charles, who wanted to streamline operations and the number of people designated to officially represent the monarchy, The Mirror said.
The Express also reported that courtiers were excited by the prospect of these senior royals supporting one another’s causes, coordinating their philanthropic work and possibly appearing at joint events. Not surprisingly, Elizabeth’s 99-year- old husband, Prince Philip, is not included in this new plan because he retired from royal duties in 2017.
Harry and Meghan also are not included because they left the U.K. more than a year ago and have since settled in Montecito, Santa Barbara County. At one point, future king Charles reportedly expected his second son and his American wife to be key players in “The Firm,” but Harry and Meghan felt that their global celebrity wasn’t fully appreciated.
The absence of Prince Andrew from the Windsor Castle gathering also was striking, given that all of Elizabeth’s other children — Charles, Edward and Anne — have been included in the new plan.
Last year, Andrew, reportedly at the insistence of the queen and Charles, resigned from all public roles as a result of his association with the late pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, and Epstein’s sex trafficking scandal.