Prince Charles will be walking and sitting next to his mother, Queen Elizabeth, during the opening of Parliament in May but this will not be the first time the queen and her heir would be present as such a significant event together.
This is, however, a clear sign that the queen intends to pass on her crown to her son, amid reports that the line of succession could skip a generation to favor Prince William, Charles' heir. According to insiders, this move to have Prince Charles accompany the queen at the Parliament's opening is a "visible show of support" that she wants her the Prince of Wales to take over when she dies.
To have Charles sit beside his mother also signifies that he is taking on a bigger role as the family patriarch, following the death of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband. In the past, it was Philip who went with the queen for this event. However, in 2016 and 2019, Charles has also accompanied his mother to the opening of Parliament when his father was indisposed.
Over the last decade, Charles has been slowly taking on more roles from his mother due to her age. However, insiders said that the queen will never abdicate since she made her royal service a personal commitment to the people and to God.
However, officials at the palace said a transition has been in effect since the death of Philip. For one thing, Charles has planned a family summit with the working royals in the next few weeks so they could plot their plans and roles for the next generation. This summit has the permission of Queen Elizabeth.
On the agenda would be who will take care of the charities left behind by their father. Philip has been the patron or chair of at least 800 organizations and while some of these have been assigned to members of the royal family since his retirement in 2017, they still have to iron out their other obligations.
Reports stated that Charles hopes to limit the size of the working royals to cut costs and minimize complaints from taxpayers. Essentially, more working royals could follow the same path as Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew, who have not been working with the family for more than a year.
This means that the queen's cousins could also be on the chopping block of working royals. Sources said that Queen Elizabeth was always keen to have the "outer edges" of the royal family involved in their work and didn't want to change the system. But if she supports Charles then she could also agree to this plan to trim down the size of the working royals.
