MULTIPLE REPORTS OUT OF BRITAIN INDICATE PRINCE CHARLES IS PREPARING TO TAKE OVER AS HEAD OF THE MONARCHY WHEN HIS MOTHER ABDICATES IN 2021, AT AGE 95.
Reports in multiple U.K. outlets indicate that Prince Charles is in preparation to take over as the head of the British monarchy once his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, turns 95 in 18 months.
British outlet the Daily Mail says Charles met with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Tuesday at Sandringham to discuss the move, which comes on the back of Charles’ role in forcibly “retiring” Prince Andrew from public life. Andrew has been forced to step aside over recent scandals surrounding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Express is reporting that Charles will be helped in managing royal affairs by Prince William. The Queen has already, in recent times, been delegating duties to the senior pair, her immediate heirs. The new move will see this taken a step further.
“This really does represent a significant changing of the guard,” the Daily Mirror’s royal editor Russell Myers said. “That’s certainly what I’m hearing here at Buckingham Palace. The two other senior members of the Royal Family are taking over responsibility from the Queen.
“By seeking the Duke of Edinburgh’s advice as well, you see this really changing to them really taking a leadership role.”
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has in recent months been in the spotlight for his increasingly scandalous relationship with the dead sex offender Epstein. The final straw for the royals came when Andrew was involved in what has been described as a “car crash” television interview with the BBC, on its Newsnight program.
In that interview, his denials about the nature of his friendship with Epstein drew widespread ridicule. Senior royals are said to have been firmly against the appearance — concerns that were reportedly ignored.
Andrew stepped down from public duties last Wednesday, saying the controversy had caused major disruption to the Royal Family’s work. Queen Elizabeth’s second son denies an allegation that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured for him by Epstein, who killed himself in a U.S. prison in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Reports now indicate the Queen will bow out at 95, as her husband Prince Philip did before her, and Charles’ direct handling of the Andrew scandal is being seen as a sign that he will be in charge going forward.