King Charles ‘doesn’t do abdication’: David Starkey backs defiant monarch to keep throne amid calls to step down

King Charles ‘doesn’t do abdication’: David Starkey backs defiant monarch to keep throne amid calls to step down
Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 07/02/2024

- 09:04

HISTORIAN David Starkey says the UK doesn’t “do abdication easily” amid speculation the King might step aside.

Mr Starkey told GB News’ Patrick Christys: “Our monarch doesn’t do abdication easily. The abdications that have happened have been because of personal crises, not ill health.”

On speculation that the King’s cancer diagnosis would bring about some form of reconciliation between brothers Harry and William, Mr Starkey wasn’t hopeful.

He added: “The extraordinary thing is actually, once upon a time, Harry and Will were really close. It’s actually rather unusual for Royal brothers. If you think of the relationship, it's winner-takes-all. One, under the rule, takes everything, the other, as Harry constantly reminds us, is the spare and in one sense gets nothing.

“Harry, I think has behaved disgracefully. The way he seems simply to have been sucked into this strange relationship with Meghan is deplorable. On the other hand, it is worth thinking a little just what it's like being the youngest son and the kind of resentment and insecurities which go back to the terrible events of his parents before.

“It's clear something has gone utterly off and fundamentally wrong in the relationship between the two brothers. There’s no proper explanation.”

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