King Charles is open to wider reform of the monarchy in the wake of the Andrew-Epstein scandal, but conservative forces within the palace may delay significant change until the next reign, royal sources have told The i Paper. Experts believe the number of working royals – currently 11, down from 15 a decade ago – could eventually fall to as few as four or five.
The King has already shown a willingness to act in a way that his mother never did: removing Andrew from royal duties, which the late Queen consistently refused to countenance. But whether he can overcome more traditionalist voices inside the palace, who see continuity as the monarchy’s defining purpose, remains uncertain.
“I think the changes will come,” one royal source said, “but we may have to wait until William is King.”
The pressure for change centres on calls for fewer working royals, fewer family members with titles living in subsidised royal residences, fewer staff, and greater transparency.
Epstein crisis ‘demands a clean break’
Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Modern Monarchy, believes the headcount could eventually fall to as few as four or five – mirroring the Spanish monarchy’s structure. “You may have just King William, Queen Catherine and their children,” he said. “We could be faced with a very small monarchy in future.”
Royal biographer Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy, said the Epstein crisis demanded a clean break with the past. “All of those further down the line of succession need to go,” he said.
William and Kate could preside over a slimmed down version of the current monarchy (Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage)The palace typically manages change almost imperceptibly. Senior members of the family and their staff regularly consult counterparts in other European monarchies, all of which have slimmed down over the past 25 years – most to around 10 working members, some to just the sovereign, consort and their children.
Canadian royal commentator Patricia Treble said she thought the Epstein scandal wasn’t enough alone to drive the process, but could speed it up. “I do wonder about the palace taking a saw to the thicket of styles and titles enjoyed by private members of the family. That process may be accelerated.”
Under Charles, attendance at most official events is already limited to working royals, and their number will reduce naturally as several of the late Queen’s elderly cousins – among them Princess Alexandra and the Dukes of Kent and Gloucester – move into retirement.
Palace ‘cautions against speed’
But they, like Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, have their defenders – inside and outside the palace – who argue they carry much of the monarchy’s load, travelling the country to support charities and community champions.
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Palace officials also caution against speed, arguing they must think about the precedents their decisions set for future generations. Hasty calls tend to backfire: when Charles and Camilla announced their engagement in 2005, the palace – anxious to head off public opposition to the marriage – declared she would never be Queen, then spent 17 years trying to unpick the commitment.
Experts warn against treating a slimmer monarchy as a silver bullet. Rick Evers, a royal commentator in the Netherlands, noted that the Dutch monarchy had pioneered a legal separation between the taxpayer-funded royal house and the wider family, but that the public rarely saw the distinction, and the King was still held accountable for his relatives’ behaviour.
“With a surname like Windsor or van Oranje,” he said, “there will always be side effects. With or without being paid by the taxpayers’ money.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
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