Prince Harry, Prince Andrew forbidden to act on King Charles’ behalf

Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have been royally flushed.

Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday that the two royals will not be among the Counsellors of State that can carry out engagements on the behalf of King Charles III when he is hospitalized next week for a planned procedure to treat his enlarged prostate.

While the 75-year-old monarch’s condition is benign and he will still be capable of fulfilling his constitutional requirements and duties during this time, King Charles was forced to cancel all public engagements.

The role of a Counsellor of State is to stand in for the monarch and that person can act on the monarch’s behalf through the Letters Patent if he is incapacitated, but because Prince Andrew, 63, and Prince Harry, 39, are not working royals, their eligibility was quietly declared null and void after Charles took the throne following Queen Elizabeth’s death.

According to the Times of London, “in a hitherto unnoticed statement during the second reading of the bill in the Lords on November 21 2022, Lord True, lord privy seal and leader of the Lords, said that the royal household had confirmed that in practice only working members of the royal family will be called on to act as counsellors of state.”

“They’ve taken the most sensible option,” royal expert Dickie Arbiter explained, according to Vanity Fair. “Only Parliament can remove them as Counsellors of State and they’ve got their hands full so the [royal] household have said only working royals can stand in for the king which is a neat and sensible solution to a potential problem.”

Arbiter continued, “Let’s not forget this is the first time Charles has been in hospital since he broke his arm in 1990 so he has had a wonderful run of health. He’s pretty fit and should bounce back quickly.”

The bill went into effect in December 2022 and at the time Princess Anne, 72, and Prince Edward, 58, officially became Counsellors of State, allowing them both to carry out constitutional duties for their elder brother if he ever travelled abroad or became unwell.

The bill was “fast-tracked” through Parliament according to the BBC to resolve the potential for an “awkward constitutional problem” as King Charles’ reign began shortly after Prince Harry and Prince Andrew both stepped back from their working royal roles.

Usually the Counsellor of State position falls to the sovereign’s spouse, which is currently Queen Camilla. She is followed by the first four people in the line of succession over the age of 21, which are Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice, Andrew’s eldest daughter.

The Duke of York withdrew from royal duties in the wake of his association with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Recently he was accused of participating in an “underage orgy” on Epstein’s private island, according to a newly unsealed court document.

The Duke of Sussex, meanwhile, lives with wife Meghan Markle and their children, Archie and Lilibet, in Montecito, Calif. They stepped back from being working royals in 2020.

Prince Andrew’s eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, is also prevented from acting as a Counsellor of State because she is not a working royal. However, she is often seen at many events with the royal family.

“The position of Counsellor of State was provided for in 1937 under the terms of the Regency Act. Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were drafted and passed only in necessity,” the royal family’s website explains. “As such, there had been nine separate Regency Acts to cover various eventualities since 1728. Shortly after George VI came to the throne in 1936, a new Regency Act was passed which provided a rule for all future reigns. It was at this time that the new office of Counsellor of State was created to cover short term absences where a regency would be unnecessary.”

Kate Middleton, 42, is currently in a central London hospital recovering from abdominal surgery and will be out of action until after Easter, and thus the royal family is down five key members at once.

“This is very rare, the royals are actually five members down because there were seven if you include Harry and Andrew,” said Arbiter, who previously worked for Buckingham Palace as communications secretary to the queen. “What has happened is unprecedented. If this had happened later in the year it would have hindered the work they do. In January, they are still basically on down time. The first we really see them is in mid-February.”

While Prince William is in good health, sources say he is stepping back from public engagements and clearing his schedule to care of his children while Middleton recuperates.

“The palace is saying up to 14 days in hospital which means she is going to need time to recover at home too,” added Arbiter. “There has been some criticism of William taking time off but I think he is doing what he needs to do as a father and a husband. He’s a hands-on dad and caring husband. If there’s something urgent regarding business he’ll make himself available.”