Hundreds of King Charles’s patronages are ‘in limbo’ following his accession

For months now, we’ve heard that King Charles simply won’t be able to keep up with all of the charitable patronages he had when he was the heir. Say what you will about Charles – he’s a douche – but the man actually had/has a work ethic and he was often recording 500-plus events a year. Those numbers aren’t even padded like they are for Prince William and Kate. Anyway, since Charles became king, we’re heard that his staff is doing a review of his patronages and commitments and trying to downsize his patronage portfolio. Surely, the new Prince and Princess of Wales would take on a big chunk of Charles’s portfolio? Not so much. That’s the point of this new story in the Telegraph – we’re coming up on the anniversary of QEII’s passing and William and Kate are still doing f–k all and refusing to take on any of Charles’s patronages or QEII’s patronages.

Hundreds of charities are in limbo following the King’s accession as a Buckingham Palace review of royal patronages has thrown their future into doubt. All of the charity affiliations held by Elizabeth II, the King and the Queen are on hold pending the outcome of a review that was launched several months ago.

Organisations founded by His Majesty when heir to the throne, including those such as The Prince’s Foundation, remain unsure whether they will continue to operate under the same name. Last week, the first move was made as the Prince’s Countryside Fund was rebranded The Royal Countryside Fund. It is thought the move, which gives the charity an elevated status, is considered something of a test case but there are no guarantees for the hundreds of others that have relied on royal patronage for decades.

Several charities have told The Telegraph they hope they will be given a suitably high-profile royal patron to help support them, emphasising that they found such a presence invaluable in promoting their work.

The late Queen was patron of more than 600 charities and organisations across the UK and the Commonwealth and with a shrinking number of working royals, it is unlikely that they will all maintain such links with the monarchy. Of 12 remaining working royals, only seven are likely to take on additional responsibilities; the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal. The Duke and Duchess of Kent, aged 87 and 90, respectively, and Princess Alexandra, 86, are far too old to continue, while the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, aged 78 and 77, are also of an age when most are winding down.

But the Prince and Princess of Wales each have their own interests and have made it clear that they intend to approach their new roles in their own way, focusing more on creating impact and legacy and less on ribbon-cutting appearances for appearances’ sake.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: “Given that there are hundreds and hundreds of charities and organisations to be redistributed, this is a major problem. It certainly can’t go on in the way it has done because there are fewer people to undertake the work of what was once a much bigger team. The slimmed-down monarchy can’t get any slimmer and cuts will pretty clearly have to be made…. It will be interesting to see what the palace comes up with. It seems inevitable that they will have to say farewell to some organisations and charities that have had royal patronage use for very many years because otherwise, it’s just spreading the load far too thinly. We’re nearly a year into the new reign now and clearly these things are taking a lot of time to tackle, to assess how to handle them in the most sensitive way.”

[From The Telegraph]

If only Charles, Camilla, William and Kate weren’t incandescent with rage, jealousy, racism and pettiness, they could have had two other working royals to help with all of these charities and patronages. Every year that passes since the Sussexit, Harry and Meghan’s offer of a half-in scenario, wherein they would continue to work on behalf of the crown, seems like an incredibly sensible solution and one which the Windsors should have agreed to. Oh well!! Charles gave in to William’s threats and tantrums, and now look where they are: Peg and Buttons are about to disappear for ten weeks and when they “go back to work” in the fall, they’ll just continue to do their asinine busy work of barely one event a week. That decision in early 2020 really was the inflection point for the entire future of the monarchy. And the Windsors got it wrong.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.