By law, every monarch enlists their Counsellors of State to represent them or undertake their duties in the case of illness or absence abroad.
The Counsellors of State include the monarch’s spouse and the next four people in the line of succession who are over the age of 21.
At the moment, these are Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.
In late 2022, Charles proposed that his siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, be named additional Counsellors of State too.
However, only working members of the Firm can act as Counsellors of State which rules Harry and Andrew out.
Now royal expert Richard Fitzwiliams commented on who would be in charge in case neither the King nor the Prince of Wales could and took aim at the new ‘slimmer monarchy’ stating it “could not function the same way [as before]”.
He told Express.co.uk: “If the monarch is incapacitated or abroad, Counsellors of State can stand in for them. They act in pairs.
“Obviously Harry and Andrew, still technically on the list, could not. The Queen, William, Beatrice and more recently the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh were made Counsellors of State.
“This proves that a slimmer monarchy could not function in the same way.”
The expert added that William and Kate’s reported trip to Italy will have to be postponed due to the seriousness of her operation.
He explained: “William will not be carrying out royal duties whilst Catherine is in hospital and this appears to be a serious operation, so we must obviously hope that all proceeds as planned and she is able to resume royal duties after Easter. The trip to Italy which they had reportedly planned, will almost certainly be postponed.”
But Fitzwilliams appeared certain that all essential functions of the monarchy would be carried out if needed.
He said: “The King would probably expect to work in hospital and obviously intends to resume his audiences with the prime minister as soon as he is able to.
“In the event of incapacity, there is the Regency Act, only once used in 1811 when George 111 was unable to undertake his duties.
“This prostate operation is, as he has taken the opportunity of pointing out, a common one. This has been an attempt by King Charles to spread the word to help others.”
