The Duke of Sussex, 37, resigned as a senior working royal along with his wife Meghan Meghan in 2020. Despite resigning, he still holds a position as one of the four people in Queen’s Counselors of State .
The Royal Website describes what the post actually entails to write: “In the event that the Queen is unable to assume her official duties as sovereign on a temporary basis due to illness or absence abroad, two or more State Advisers shall be appointed by Letters Patent to act. in the place of Her Majesty. “
By law, the persons who make up the state advisers are the monarch’s spouse and the next four persons in the succession, who are over 21 years of age.
At present the posts are held by Prince Andrew, Prince Charles and his sons William and Harry.
Currently, Prince William in the Caribbean is with his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, on an eight-day royal tour to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum anniversary.
Their tour started in Belize last Saturday and is now in its second stage in Jamaica.
While the heir, Prince Charles, is currently in Northern Ireland with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on a two-day visit.
Former BBC correspondent and host Peter Hunt pointed out that at the moment, when both Charles and William are abroad, if the Queen was unable to perform her duties due to illness or absence, then it would be up to Prince Andrew to fill it. on her behalf – an achievement which he regarded. “an unthinkable move for many”.
He also pointed out that Charles could be forced to fly back to fill in, but claimed that it appeared the royal family had “no foolproof plan” if the monarch could not fulfill his responsibilities.
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On Twitter, Mr Hunt wrote: “Both Charles and William are abroad. If the Queen falls ill, Charles will either fly home or Andrew will step in – an unthinkable move for many.
“This is the reality of having a foolproof plan to cover all scenarios for when a 95-year-old head of state is unable to perform his duties.”
The tweet was retweeted by Daily Mail diary writer and tenacious critic of the sexist Richard Eden, who argued that such a circumstance should see both Harry and his uncle deprived of the crucial royal role.
In a tweet to his 27.9,000 followers, he wrote: “This is why #PrinceAndrew and #PrinceHarry should be immediately stripped of their roles as state advisers. #Royal”.
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State advisers must meet certain requirements, such as being a UK citizen and living in the UK.
Harry could be removed from state advisers within a few years due to UK law, as he could lose his residency status and be “unjustified”.
UK law says you will lose residency if you leave the UK and reside outside the UK for six tax years.
Harry could be succeeded in his position by his cousins Princess Beatrice or Princess Eugenie, depending on who the reigning monarch is at the time.
The holders of this position are determined by legislation and can thus only be changed by a law from the Folketing.
Prince Andrew remains in his role despite the fallout with his affiliation with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He also retains the position after recently reaching a settlement in the sex abuse case that Virginia Giuffre has filed against him in New York.
Andrew neither admitted nor denied Giuffre’s claims in a letter sent to the court confirming the settlement.
In 2019, the Duke of York said he resigned from royal duties for the “foreseeable future”.
The Duke was facing growing setbacks after his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview at the time.