Yesterday, Remembrance Sunday, was Prince Charles’ 73rd birthday. The royal social media accounts all posted photos and birthday wishes for Chuck, but most people were focused on the Queen pulling out of the Cenotaph event at the last minute. Charles took his mother’s place, just as he did at the Festival of Remembrance. Even though he’s not officially the Regent, he is acting like it. Which also makes it odd timing that Chuck and Camilla flew out of the UK this morning.
The Prince of Wales on Monday jetted to Jordan for the first part of his Middle Eastern tour after checking on the Queen who was forced to miss the Remembrance Sunday service. Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrive in Amman on Tuesday and will later travel on to Egypt. It is the first royal overseas tour for two years after they were halted in the pandemic.
It is understood the prince spoke to the Queen after she pulled out of the service at the Cenotaph on Sunday due to a sprained back. On Monday, she was carrying out light duties at Windsor.
The tour to Jordan, in the kingdom’s centenary year, will showcase its “strong bilateral relations” with the UK and will focus on addressing the climate crisis. Charles’s visit to Jordan will underpin security cooperation and the long-standing relations between the two royal families. On the first day of engagements, Charles and Camilla will be welcomed by King Abdullah and Queen Rania at Al Husseiniya Palace.
This trip has been planned for weeks, if not months, and it was said that Charles was quite eager to get back to royal tours, even if his tours are boring as hell and they get very little coverage outside of Salt Island. But this also made me think of that weekend at the end of October when Charles was in Italy for the G20 Summit and the Daily Mail’s “sources” were suddenly freaking out about the Counsellors of State. If the Queen is incapacitated, there are four counsellors of state appointed to take over and undertake the business of the crown. Currently, those counsellors are Charles, William, Harry and Andrew. Harry is out of the country permanently. Charles is traveling outside of the UK. Andrew is a pervert who stepped down from royal duties. So that just leaves Work-shy William to hold down the fort while the Queen is apparently too ill to do much of anything. They still haven’t gotten around to appointing new counsellors of state either!!
Thank you for the kind birthday wishes for The Prince of Wales today. pic.twitter.com/RrlNGjQoiX
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) November 14, 2021
Wishing The Prince of Wales a happy birthday today 🎈 pic.twitter.com/L28cmM2KET
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) November 14, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Brilliant to have PWT as the sole source of power when the Queen is out of action/on her way out. I scent a constitutional crisis in the making…
@ Andrew’s Nemesis, as do I. Baldimort is one lazy and inept FFk!! I am certain that TQ has no hopes for him as he has proven himself to be useless time and time again. The fact that she had to take his hand back to Scotland to show him how to perform his duties at nearly 40 years old must anger her as he cannot be bothered to learn what his duties are. Baldimort will destroy The Monarchy as we see it as he is so ill equipped that it will only go down in flames.
The Queen is probably in a wheelchair that shouldn’t stop her from performing her duties so no need for the Counsellors of State.
What duties? I keep seeing people talk about those duties and no one ever tells the peasants what those are
Given she has no constitutional power (supposedly), what are those duties exactly that they need 2-3 people around?
It is not really my business to be honest, just trying to understand what people meant by “duties”
Thank you
I know the queen has to give “royal assent” or basically rubber stamp stuff but is there anything else?
Update – I googled it and no, there’s not much else. She’s basically a very expensive national mascot.
From Wikipedia: “The monarch and their immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic and representational duties. As the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the prime minister, which are performed in a non-partisan manner. The monarch is also Head of the British Armed Forces. Though the ultimate executive authority over the government is still formally by and through the royal prerogative, these powers may only be used according to laws enacted in Parliament and, in practice, within the constraints of convention and precedent.”
From the royal family website: “As Head of State, The Monarch undertakes constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one thousand years of history. In addition to these State duties, The Monarch has a less formal role as ‘Head of Nation’. The Sovereign acts as a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognises success and excellence; and supports the ideal of voluntary service.”
TLDR: the queen rubber stamps bills, represents the nation at ceremonial and diplomatic events but not in any important way, hands out awards and generally is a national symbol
@VS: She meets with the PM once a week, has audiences with new Ambassadors and she opens red boxes. She can do all those things in a wheelchair. The rest of her duties are done by her Private Secretary.
She has to read and approve all government documents that cross her desk ( the famous red boxes that follow her everywhere) and she meets daily with her chief of staff for a briefing on world affairs. I also imagine that like any CEO she is meeting with representatives of governments/organizations via either zoom or in person. And meeting with staff on a regular basis. No one has officially said she is ill only that she is injured ( sprained back). So she’s be capable of doing all of these things. If she does have a sprained back riding in a car, walking, and standing would be the issues for her.
Always look forward to a Queen Rania sighting. The woman is a fashion icon!
Also is it correct to say (if you don’t mind) that “Harry is exiled from the country permanently”? Because these clowns are so clever they think they’re punishing him
Yes, Rania is always very fashion forward and I wish she got more U.S. coverage. Love her Instagram.
Unfortunately her fashion comes from manipulation of public assets!
He’s not exiled, they just moved. He’s not on good terms with his father and brother and also COVID happened. I imagine Harry will go back to England if/when he wants to for big events.
@Emma: the only big event Harry will be going back to the UK for is his grandmother’s funeral.
@ Layla, (I love your name). I do wish we saw more of her as she is a stunning woman. She is so elegant and such a presence she has is incredibly hard to emulate!
As for Chaz meeting with Jordan, what does Chaz have to do with Jordan’s climate change policies? Wouldn’t that be something that Jordan would undertake during the Paris Accord? I wish that the Accord would have done more than just the standard 1.5F as we are so far behind the ball on climate change that this is just the bare minimum.
All of a sudden Charles strongly resembles his father – or maybe it’s just the hat that obscures his different hairline?
Why not just let Anne or Edward step in.
It seems that the Counselors of State have to be officially appointed, and taking it away from either Andrew or Harry would be an acknowledgement that both of them are permanently out of the official royal duties game (for different reasons, obviously).
They’re never going to really accept that Andrew is out because as far as they see it the only thing he did wrong was be indiscreet and get caught, and taking away the Counselor of State thing would be a major MAJOR and very harsh punishment for these people. Just telling him to lay low and no you can’t do the big public fun things is a slap on the wrist in comparison, but he’s a spoiled brat so of course he’s going to throw a tantrum over something so relatively mild.
And they’re never going to remove Harry as a Counselor of State because doing so would be admitting that he willingly left the royal business and isn’t going to come back unless severe circumstances force him to, such as George being left as a minor monarch and needing a regent that isn’t Andrew, or inheriting the throne himself. Harry seems to be the only senior royal capable of separating the person from their position or role within the royal hierarchy, for the rest they ARE their jobs. The job is being them. Because if it’s a job that you can quit then it’s a job you can be fired from.
Charles can fly out because it’s all a ruse and the gig is up. There is no need for any of them because the men in grey run things across there. It’s all handled.
That OG photo of Charles looking at his mother and Petty Betty looking at whatever shiny thing is in the box is pretty telling.
@ TIFFANY, I know!! How embarrassing, but to play devils advocate, I think she has something to present him with and that is why she has her eyes on the box.
In my country if the king is going to the other country. The next in line can cause a lot of harm.
For example,
Selling buildings or lands from the monarchy assets.