The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that Prince Charles will take over as the head of the British monarchy once his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, turns 95 in 18 months time. According to the report, Charles met with his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Tuesday at Sandringham to discuss the move.
Recently the queen has been delegating some of her duties to Prince Charles and Prince William, her immediate heirs.
The Daily Mirror’s royal editor Russell Myers has said that “this really does represent a significant changing of the guard. 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.”
Charles has been given the role of Prince Regent, the Shadow King. The role of Prince Regent would see Charles run things on a daily basis, while his mother fades into the background (but remains in her role as overall monarch).
The Queen is currently 93-years-old and the change is allegedly related to her turning 95 years of age in April 2021. Her husband, Prince Philip, exited public life when he was 95 years old as well, meaning this could be a precedent.
The British Monarchy is not the only Royal institution in Europe. Norway, Spain and the Netherlands also have their respective royal houses.
However, the timing of the reports about the monarch’s abdication comes when the UK is grappling with such huge difficulties as Brexit.
The EU membership referendum, also known as the Brexit referendum took place on June 23, 2016, in the UK to ask the voters if the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). The referendum resulted in 51.9% of votes being in favor of leaving the EU. Although the referendum was not legally-binding the government of the time had promised to implement the result.
The official EU withdrawal process was initiated by the succeeding government on March 29, 2017. This led to an agreement for the UK to leave the EU bloc in a maximum of two years ending on March 29, 2019. But the negotiation period has extended twice so far and presently stands at January 31, 2020.
The process of the UK’s disentanglement from the EU and the difficulties involved are the most disturbing aspect of the referendum campaign, which had been largely concealed from the voters during the campaigning.
The UK failed to acknowledge – on both sides of the argument – the sheer difficulty of disentangling the UK from the EU, even given the will and the necessary support.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has said that the U.S. government of President Donald Trump expressed a preference for a no-deal Brexit in meetings with UK officials.
Labour Party chief, Jeremy Corbyn, told a news briefing on Wednesday that official documents from preparatory trade meetings between the UK and U.S. revealed that the future of the British National Health System (NHS) was at risk.
