That rumor is yet another installment of a ridiculous narrative that has already been debunked many times by Gossip Cop, and we’ll keep shutting it down till our dying day. It’s completely bogus. Prince William’s ascendance to the British throne cannot come soon enough for tabloid media, despite the fact that he is not currently its heir apparent—that’s his father, Prince Charles.
Back in December, Woman’s Day published a story about how Prince Charles would be sharing the top spot with his son – and, more importantly, his daughter-in-law. An unnamed “source” told the outlet that it was “obvious” that Middleton was being pushed “front and center” at the Diplomatic Corps Reception that month.
The recent scandal involving Prince Andrew’s association with Jeffrey Epstein had apparently damaged the Crown’s reputation to the point where “Charles has accepted that if the monarchy is to survive, William and Kate’s popularity must be capitalized on – even if that means essentially sharing the crown with them.”
The shady tipster finished by stating that “everyone,” including Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, “knows treating Kate as unofficial Queen is the only way forward in PR terms at the moment.”
To be clear, Middleton and Prince William will likely play a very big role in King Charles’ reign whenever it happens, just as Prince Charles has a big role in Queen Elizabeth’s reign. But this article betrays a complete lack of understanding for how heirs and monarchs work in the UK. First of all, Middleton will not be “Queen” the way Queen Elizabeth is “Queen.” She’ll be known as the Queen Consort, a title which doesn’t hold the same power as Queen Regnant, which is Queen Elizabeth’s official status.
Also, as Gossip Cop has explained more times than we can count the positions of monarch and heir apparent are determined by Parliamentary law. Not by any member of the royal family, including the queen herself. And it’s a monarchy, not a diarchy or triarchy. There’s one ruler here, and barring Parliamentary action, it’s going to be Prince Charles.
There’s also this weird running narrative in the tabloids that Prince Charles is somehow taking the brunt of the blame for his brother’s controversies. He’s not—these sketchy outlets are just looking for new ways to get Prince William on the throne faster. In December, the New York Times noted that his brother’s scandal had led Prince Charles to assert quite a bit of authority over the situation.
It was reportedly Prince Charles who pressed his mother to strip Prince Andrew of royal duties when the scandal emerged, leading some British publications to label him a ”king-in-waiting.” It’s only in the tabloid media’s weird fantasy world that Prince Charles is somehow incapable of ruling alone.
Gossip Cop should also note that Woman’s Day has made plenty of inaccurate claims in the past about the British crown. In February, the magazine claimed that Prince Charles was fighting his sister Princess Anne for the throne. The queen, supposedly, had simply come to prefer her daughter to her eldest son as the years had passed. Of course, even if that were true, Queen Elizabeth still has no power to give the throne to someone else.
Just a couple days ago, Gossip Cop called out the tabloid for falsely reporting that Prince William and Kate Middleton were secretly moving into Buckingham Palace in order to keep the unused residence from becoming a waste of money. This, too, was untrue: Prince Charles reportedly intends to use the palace as a “monarchy HQ,” capitalizing on it as an office space and tourist site rather than taking up space for residence.