Prince Harry, second son of King Charles III of England, has spoken to his father after he was diagnosed with cancer and will travel to London in the next few days from his California residence in the United States to visit his father. This was announced by the BBC. Last month, before his hospitalization, King Charles was working on the goal he had set himself before ascending the throne: a streamlined monarchy, in which only a few members of the royal family carry out tasks representing the monarch . Princes Andrew and Harry – who both renounced their official commitments, one in November 2019, the other at the beginning of 2020 – had both remained councilors of state, that is, members of the royal family who can take on particular tasks if Charles is not able to do so or is abroad; and instead the king, a few months after ascending the throne, removed them from the corresponding functions. As part of the State Councilors Act of November 2022, Charles appointed his two siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, as his representatives, but at the same time banned his much-talked-about brother and rebellious son from representing him, despite leaving them among the so-called state councilors.
The newspaper The Times explained last January that the councilors of state are generally the monarch’s wife plus the next four adults in line to the throne who are over 21 years of age (a limit which does not apply to the heir to the throne who enters the list by right when he turns 18). As well as Anne and Edward, the list includes Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice; but Andrea, Harry and Beatrice, even if they are on the list, will no longer be able to act as state councilors. The king also added a special rule that Anne and Edward will be counselors for life while Harry, Andrew and Beatrice will be gradually replaced when Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, the children of the Princes of Wales, are old enough. Councilors of State have been used in the past to carry out urgent official tasks usually performed by the monarch. In February 1974, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret acted together as counselors of state on behalf of Elizabeth II, then in New Zealand, to dissolve Parliament. In June 1967, Charles, then Prince of Wales, acted as Councilor of State in his mother’s place for the first time while the monarch was on tour in Canada.
