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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Caroline Davies

A soft regency? The House of Windsor reckons with shortage of working royals

King Charles III and Prince William at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II,
King Charles III at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, and behind him Prince William, who is likely to be a royal figurehead while his father is treated for cancer. Photograph: Reuters

One principle of hereditary monarchy is that it is the institution, not the individual, that prevails; the “Firm” over the figure on the throne.

Following King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, Buckingham Palace and the government can point to laws as evidence the well-oiled machinery of monarchy will continue to whirr efficiently in the background as the king retreats for treatment.

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