King Charles celebrated his 74th birthday Monday. He marked the event by announcing that his two siblings, Prince Edward and Princess Anne, would be the new members of the Counsellors of State. The move convinced several experts that they were added, so Prince Andrew and Prince Harry won’t be called to represent the new monarch.
Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl weighed in on the issue when she appeared on Entertainment Tonight. She shared her thoughts about Prince Harry’s potential reaction to his father’s latest move, which according to the author of “The New Royals,” was like a demotion on the part of the Duke of Sussex.
“I think it’s going to be frustrating, possibly quite upsetting for Prince Harry and Prine Andrew, knowing that they’ve essentially been demoted,” Nicholl told ET. “I mean, the King has been diplomatic.
I think in not stripping them of their roles as Counsellors of State, but that essentially means that Charles is not going to be using Andrew or Harry as a substitute and I think that’s just another probably quite [a] painful reminder for Harry that he’s willing to be out of the royal family.”
Other royal experts deemed King Charles’ move a snub to his son and brother. Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers said on “Today” that “It does definitely seem that Andrew and Prince Harry have been given the elbow for their respective sort of insolences against the monarchy.”
Prince Harry’s biographer, Angela Levin, also deemed the move “a slight to Harry and Andrew.” However, the “Harry: A Biographer of a Prince” author believed it was necessary.
“Harry and Meghan would be absolutely furious. But he lives in California, he’s stopped being a working royal, so why should he [be a Counsellor of State],” Levin explained to Mail Online. “Reading between the lines allows him the ensure that the right people are doing the right job,” she added, referring to the addition of Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex as the king’s official stand-ins.