The problem with a slimmed-down monarchy

When he was Prince of Wales, the King began to advocate the need for a slimmed-down monarchy. The perception was that there were too many royals, an image confirmed in the eyes of the media and the public when they all appeared together on the balcony following the Trooping the Colour. The ill-informed man in the street would go away thinking the taxpayer was supporting all these disparate family members. This was a misconception, but it lingered. At the time of the Diamond Jubilee, the Queen’s advisers were delighted when only a handful of royals appeared on the balcony after the service at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2012 – the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry (the Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital at the time). This image was what media advisors would describe as a better ‘optic’.

Then at the time of the Platinum Jubilee a new category was devised – the so-called working royals.