Whatever the hot take,the facts are these:our monarch has been discovered after he sought treatment for a benign enlarged prostate. He has begun a schedule of as-yet undisclosed regular treatments and has been advised by his doctors to postpone public duties. According to Buckingham Palace,he is expected to undertake official business and paperwork as usual. “He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”
The King’s illness,coming barely nine months after his coronation,is certainly an unexpected speed bump as he settles into his long-awaited role;and there may yet be more serious ramifications. So what happens in the short term? Is William expected to step up? And what are the protocols if the illness turns out to be more debilitating than has so far been indicated?
The Age,SMH
What happens next with the King’s duties?
Signs from the palace are positive,suggesting Charles’ doctors – no doubt the best in the land – feel confident he will be able to manage what us commoners might describe as “light duties”. Opening factories,overseas tours and shooting grouse will have to wait;signing stuff should be fine.
Day to day,this would include giving royal assent to bills passed by parliament (all legislation must receive his sign-off to become law);a weekly meeting with the British prime minister (which could probably be held remotely) and chairing monthly meetings of the Privy Council (a body of formal advisers to the Crown). According to,he must also give his authority to “the affixing of the Great Seal of the Realm (a symbol of royal authority) to certain documents;for example,Royal Proclamations (which might dissolve Parliament) or Letters Patent (which can confer peerages or ratify a treaty).”
Charles will continue to receive government documents in his famous “red box”;the same one,according to London’sTelegraph,used by his mother,her father King George VI and her grandfather,King George V. Recently restored,it has been embossed with a coronation crown and carries King Charles’ cypher,or monogram,consisting of his initials,his title,Rex (Latin for King) and a representation of the Crown.
His public engagements may be cancelled,postponed or taken up by other “working royals”:this can happen unofficially. If Charles is unable to perform his constitutional roles,a more formal mechanism kicks in to allow substitute royals to take his place on most matters of state but not all (more on that later).
Still,this current situation will be a spanner in the works,says Juliet Rieden,author and royal correspondent forThe Australian Women’s Weekly. “He had a very full set of engagements this year,including world tours. A lot of that will have to be cancelled. So it’s definitely difficult for sure. We’re barely into February and already this year’s plans are having to be reorganised.” Charles and Camilla had been expected to tour Australia later this year.
King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer,Buckingham Palace has confirmed in a statement early this morning.
Queen Camilla and William,Prince of Wales,will likely take on many public appearances,says University of Sydney historian Cindy McCreery. “They include things like opening the hospital wing,a community organisation;those local very important impersonal events.”
There are 10 working royals in addition to the King and Queen who could conceivably pick up some informal engagements. We know who they are because they appear in an official portrait taken last year,alongside a description describing them as “members of the working royal family”.
They are the Prince and Princess of Wales,William and Kate;Princess Anne and her husband,Tim Laurence;the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh,Sophie Rhys-Jones and Prince Edward;the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester,Birgitte van Deurs Henriksen and Prince Richard;Prince Edward,Duke of Kent;and Princess Alexandra,the late Queen’s first cousin. Absent are Prince Andrew and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Meghan Markle.
What happens if it turns out King Charles can’t perform his official roles?
If Charles’ condition worsens and he is unable or unwilling on doctors’ orders to perform his official duties,there are fallbacks in place.
His first action would be to appoint “counsellors of state”,who would be authorised to carry out many of his duties,such as holding Privy Council meetings,appointing ambassadors,and granting royal assent to legislation. But the counsellors can’t do everything the monarch has to,at least not indefinitely.
This is a “stop-gap measure”,says Rieden. “The point of the counsellors of state is that the business of government needs to continue. It’s not something that would go on and on.” Counsellors cannot dissolve parliament (at least,not without the monarch’s express permission),appoint a new prime minister and,of particular importance to Australia,“they can’t do anything to do with the Commonwealth”,says McCreery.
The earliest counsellors were appointed by George V when he travelled to the Delhi Durbar (a huge assembly in British-ruled India) in 1911 with Queen Mary,becoming the.
Back then the counsellors were a mix of royals and high-ranking dignitaries such as the Archbishop of Canterbury or the British prime minister. They could be appointed on the run,such as in 1936 when George V was confined to his bedroom with a chest infection and was barely able to sign his approval.
AsThe Times reported:“Between the meeting-place[of the Privy Council] and the sick-room a door was left open to enable the King to follow the proceedings. He was able to give them spoken approval but was too weak to sign the Order in Council … Then he made deliberate and repeated efforts,most gallant but most pathetic,to sign his last State paper with his own hand. Then,when the effort was too great for him,he turned to his Council with a last kindly and kingly smile.”
The measure in its current form was enacted the following year with the Regency Act of 1937,passed to make it far easier for the monarch to delegate certain royal functions to counsellors of state if he or she was overseas or unwell.
It is not an entirely uncommon occurrence. In February 1974,for example,when the Queen was away in New Zealand she instructed her counsellors of state,the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret,to declare a state of emergency and dissolve Parliament,triggering the 1974 general election.
The act specifies there are to be five counsellors of state:the sovereign’s spouse and “the four persons who[…] are next in the line of succession to the Crown”,albeit with the condition they must be aged 21 to serve,or 18 if heir to the throne. This means that,under the original act,the available counsellors would be the Queen,Prince William,Princess Beatrice … and Prince Harry and Prince Andrew.
King Charles foresaw the looming problem back in 2022,shortly after he ascended to the throne. He asked parliament to change the act so that the pool of eligible counsellors could be expanded to allow him to pick only from the ranks of working royals (which do not include Beatrice,Harry or Andrew). So it now also includes Charles’ other siblings,Princess Anne and Prince Edward.
Two counsellors usually act together on behalf of the monarch. In March 2022,Charles,then Prince of Wales and Prince William opened parliament as counsellors on behalf of Queen Elizabeth while she was unwell. If this circumstance was to occur for the King,McCreery says,“that would mean Camilla and William”.
What happens if a monarch remains seriously ill?
Were Charles incapacitated by long-term treatment,he would be unable to rule by proxy through his counsellors indefinitely.
The next mechanism that kicks in is the appointment of a regent. A regency applies if a monarch succeeds to the throne before the age of 18,or if a monarch becomes permanently incapacitated due to “infirmity of mind or body”. A regent acts on the monarch’s behalf,assuming most of the monarch’s royal functions,except the power to grant royal assent to a Bill that alters the line of succession or changes the Scottish system of government.
The heir to the throne is automatically chosen as regent,unless they have not reached the age of 18. In such a case,the regent is the next in the line of succession who has reached the age of 21. That would be William. An eligible regent cannot decline the role. If William is also incapacitated,the role would fall to Harry.
Prince William,the King and Prince Harry.Marija Ercegovac
The term “Regency era” is often bandied around today to refer to the lifestyle of Jane Austen novels or. In fact,the period refers to years between 1811 and 1820 when the future King George IV governed as a regent for his father King George III,who was deemed to be “mad”. George III had what historians today believe was mental illness or a blood disease and would withdraw to Kew Palace to recover. Meanwhile,George IV’s regency is not defined as much by assisting his father,who he had a strained relationship with,but by his extravagant collection of art.
Today,the Regency Act highlights the next in line to the throne is by default called up to be regent,unless disqualified by age,residency or Catholic religion. Says McCreery:“William is next in line,so I think it’s absolutely appropriate that William steps up,if need be,as counsellor of state and,if need be,as regent.”
For a monarch to be declared incapacitated,and a regent to be installed,at least three of five individuals are required to put in writing they are satisfied the king or queen is unable to perform their royal functions. They are:the wife or husband of the monarch,the Lord Chancellor,the Speaker of the House of Commons,the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and the Master of the Rolls.
McCreery says the 1937 legislation has provided a clear path for what happens when the monarch is permanently incapacitated. “The monarch can’t,for example,insist that they can remain as monarch if it’s clear to their doctors and senior members of the royal family that[they can’t],” she says. “There is absolutely a mechanism for assuring the public and assuring the country or the Commonwealth even that the head of state is competent to stay in that role.”
What would happen if Charles was incapacitated for several months? We could be in “abdication territory” at that stage,ventures Rieden. “I imagine that if he is so sick that he can’t read papers and see the prime minister for that length of time then he would step to one side.”
In that eventuality,William would ascend to the throne,according to the royal family’s rules of succession. Second in line is William’s eldest child,Prince George. Third is William’s daughter,Princess Charlotte. Fourth is her younger brother,Prince Louis. However,were William to also become incapacitated or otherwise be unable to succeed his father,Prince Harry would become regent until George came of age. That is,on the condition that he was domiciled in the United Kingdom (if he continued to live in California,he would be disqualified).
“Even though he’s a non-working royal and therefore cannot be a counsellor of state,” says Rieden. “If King Charles steps aside and then if Prince William for some reason steps aside,we will have Harry.” Which would be quite a turn of events.
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