To be clear, the Windsor clan knew that they screwed up pretty quickly last year. Once the Sussexit was formalized and it was clear that Prince Harry and Meghan would begin to build their new life in California, the sense of panic and dread crept into Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace. So many carefully laid plans all got blown up and they had no one but themselves to blame. It’s not that Harry and Meghan were the future of the monarchy, it’s that H&M represented the modern monarchy, an image the Windsors could have milked for decades, if not for the Windsors’ jealousy, racism and pettiness. Which is why Buckingham Palace tried to “rebrand” the still-working Windsors as the “Magnificent Seven” last December. By March of this year, the Magnificent Seven seemed to be dead already. And so here we are: Prince Charles and Prince William will be holding a series of meetings to discuss the post-Sussexit, post-Philip future of the monarchy.

Princes Charles and William will meet to discuss the future of the monarchy after the death of Prince Philip, reports say. The two heirs will reportedly plan with the Queen which members of ‘The Firm’ will be working Royals and what they should do. It comes after the Duke of Edinburgh’s death on April 9 raised questions over if his hundreds of patronages should be passed down.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure complicated matters by reducing the number of people available to help the monarch in high-profile roles. Sources told the Telegraph official and personal duties cannot be decided separately because they are too closely linked. Prince Charles is said to be taking the lead in the talks due to him becoming king first and because any immediate decisions will impact his reign. But he is understood to have wanted his son the Duke of Cambridge involved every step of the way for major policies that affect him when he inherits the throne.

Meanwhile Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex are believed to be stepping into the void left by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit. They are expected to take on bigger roles despite already fulfilling 544 duties as of the last year before the coronavirus lockdown. Harry and Meghan did 558 jobs between them in 2019, meaning the Royals have to review how these will be redistributed.

Prince Andrew, who stepped back from duties after his Newsnight interview over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, also has roles that may need to be dished out. The Duke of York, Prince Philip and Prince Harry have hundreds of patronages and military titles that now need to be taken on. The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge are expected to decide over the next few weeks and months how they will tackle the issues. They are said to have rocketed in importance for the Queen and Charles after Harry and Meghan’s review period ended last month. But the decline in the Duke of Edinburgh’s health followed by his death just over a week ago shifted the focus.

Prince Charles had wanted a smaller monarchy made up of the Queen, Prince Philip, himself, his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, the Cambridges and Prince Harry. In these plans the Duke of Sussex was expected to help out until William and Kate’s children George, Charlotte and Louis grew up and took on roles.

Insiders revealed Charles, William and the Queen will need to discuss whether to continue with thousands of engagements annually or cut them down. A source said: ‘The question is whether you start off by deciding how many patronages and engagements there should be, and then work out how many people are needed to achieve them, or whether you decide how many people there should be, which will dictate how many engagements and patronages they can take on.’

[From The Daily Mail]

First of all, surely Prince Philip’s massive list of patronages had already been distributed to other people when he retired in 2017? Damn, Philip was still technically patron of a lot of charities when he passed? That’s odd. And they’re so f–king mad that Harry didn’t come crawling back to them. They put everything on hold with the hope that Harry’s California experiment would fail and he would beg them to come back. Nope! Too bad Charles, the Queen and William were too bloody short-sighted to take Harry and Meghan up on their offer to remain half-in. H&M would have taken on dozens of patronages.

As for the rest of this… it’s absolutely CLASSIC that the closer William gets to power, the more he lowers expectations. William’s current list of patronages is so weak, and he could and should take on so much of his father’s work and grandfather’s work. But these meetings are going to be William saying “I’m not doing that!” and then everyone will have to agree that the Windsors should be doing less because William is such a lazy ass.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.