Princess Beatrice will have to step up for King Charles as Prince Harry will not - analysis by Svar Nanan-Sen
Princess Beatrice is ninth in the Royal Family's line of succession.
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Princess Beatrice looks set to step up for King Charles as he recovers from imminent prostate surgery.
Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday that the King will undergo a procedure in hospital next week as he is suffering from an enlarged prostate.
The Palace added that the King's royal engagements will be postponed while he recuperates.
Just hours before Kensington Palace announced that the Princess of Wales was in hospital as she had undergone successful abdominal surgery.
Kate is not expected to undertake Royal Family duties until after Easter.
Prince William will balance supporting his wife and looking after their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during the coming months.
The slimmed-down version of the Royal Family that King Charles wanted, is now looking stretched.
However, despite not being an official working member of the monarchy, Princess Beatrice also looks set for a call-up.
The slimmed-down version of the Royal Family that King Charles wanted, is now looking stretched.
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King Charles has five Counsellors of State who act as his contingency plan in case of emergency and are expected to cover for the monarch should he be unavailable to undertake royal duties.
Counsellors of State are appointed from the next four adults in the Royal Family's line of succession who are over the age of 21.
The current five are Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.
Queen Camilla, 76, is the obvious candidate to step in for the King but she may need support in covering all of the Royal Family's engagements.
The Prince of Wales will be unavailable as he focuses on supporting his family and the disgraced Duke of York will not be allowed to take up royal duties.
This just leaves Prince Harry and Princess Beatrice. The Duke of York no longer has a base in the UK after the King evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage in 2023.
The Prince of Wales will be unavailable as he focuses on supporting his family.
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Harry has lived in the US for almost four years after he stepped down as a working member of the Royal Family alongside his wife Meghan Markle in 2020.
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Harry has lived in the US for almost four years after he stepped down as a working member of the Royal Family alongside his wife Meghan Markle in 2020.
Since then the Duke of Sussex has fired a plethora of public attacks on the Firm through TV interviews and his autobiography Spare.
It is very unlikely that Prince Harry or the Royal Family would be willing to press ahead with the Duke of Sussex's stepping in for the King after all that has happened in recent years.
Therefore the responsibility for covering the engagements and duties if Queen Camilla cannot looks set to fall to Princess Beatrice.
This week, Beatrice has been in Davos, Switzerland to support her sister Princess Eugenie at an anti-trafficking summit.
Whether the Princess of York gets the call-up to support the monarchy despite her non-working royal status will be revealed in the coming weeks.