It seems as though Princess Anne is the only “reliable” person who can save the crumbling monarchy, according to a royal expert.
With senior members of the Firm pulling back from the royal fold one at a time, the royal family has faced a difficult start to the year.
As King Charles and Kate Middleton remain largely out of the picture following their respective medical procedures, Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell believes that “things are changing” in the family and it “can’t keep going” at the same pace.
“I think the only person that can save the monarchy is Princess Anne,” Burrell said. “William is too tied up with his family: he likes to be very hands-on, which he inherited from Princess Diana. Princess Anne will be ‘Anne the reliable.’”
Burrell noted that Anne, 73, was not reluctant to step in for the King, 75, and the Prince of Wales, 41.
“She is a workhorse, she is stoic, she is reliable, she is everything the royal family needs and she is her father’s daughter,” he said of the Princess Royal. “His work ethic was the same. He never veered away from anything and always hit things straight on.”
“Princess Anne may rely on the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who are very responsible too, but everybody knows Princess Anne, she has always been there,” he added.
“She can hold the fort in any crisis so for the time being her workload is increasing which she doesn’t mind. She just gets on with it.”
Burrell, who boasted a close bond with the late Princess Diana during his tenure, said the “natural” replacement for King Charles would have been the Waleses — however, given the recent photo scandal that rocked the palace and Middleton’s continued recovery behind closed doors, William is “too tied up” to take on an extra workload.
“Now that Charles and Kate are taking a step back, things are changing,” Burrell said on behalf of Slingo. “Charles being so solid, reliable and stoic, I think he is caught in a difficult position because he has to slow down and it isn’t panning out the way he expected,” he explained.
“The machinery of royalty is grinding slower and slower so they have to keep the family business going but slim down their engagements. They can’t keep going at the pace it has in the past.”
“The natural way forward would have been for William and Kate to deputize for the King and Queen but that can’t be so it has to be a very slow period before they restart.”
While William is taking on less as his wife continues to recover, he and his estranged brother, Prince Harry, are expected to make an appearance at a memorial event for their late mother Princess Diana in London.
However, a royal reunion is not in the cards for the feuding brothers.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, will appear via video call at the Diana Legacy Awards on Thursday night, but his appearance will only take place after his brother, the Prince of Wales, has left the premises.
