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King Charles has proposed Princess Anne and Prince Edward be added to the group of royals who are able to stand in for him with official duties.
Camilla, the Queen Consort, and four other senior royals are currently able to stand in for the King as "counsellors of state", but two of them – Prince Andrew and Prince Harry – are no longer working royals.
The King's request to add his siblings to the list of royals able to stand in for him was read to the House of Lords on Monday, which was his 74th birthday.
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His request read: "To ensure continued efficiency of public business when I am unavailable, such as while I am undertaking official duties overseas, I confirm that I would be most content, should Parliament see fit, for the number of people who may be called upon to act as Counsellors of State under the terms of the Regency Acts 1937 to 1953 to be increased to include my sister and brother, The Princess Royal and The Earl of Wessex & Forfar, both of whom have previously undertaken this role."
The Lords are expected to reply to the request on Tuesday.
Granting the request would see the government introducing legislation in the House of Commons, which would amend the Regency Act, which at present says that counsellors are the spouse of the monarch plus the next four royals in succession to the throne, who are over the age of 21.
The request has been designed to resolve the problem of there potentially not being someone available to deputise for the King if he was overseas or unwell and could not carry out his duties as head of state, seeing as two of the current counsels to the state are ruled out.
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King Charles has opted to propose to widen the pool of eligible royals instead of removing Prince Andrew and Prince Harry from the list of counsellors of state.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, withdrew from royal duties after report of his association with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, decided to step back from being a "working royal" in 2020.
The other current counsellors are Camilla, the Queen Consort; Prince William, the Prince of Wales; and Prince Andrews's daughter, Princess Beatrice.
Both Princess Anne and Prince Edward have previously been counsellors of state, but were overtaken in the order of succession.
Counsellors can carry out official duties such as the state opening of Parliament, signing documents, receiving ambassadors or attending Privy Council meetings, if the monarch is temporarily ill or abroad.
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Source: 9News
