ONE year on from his beloved mother’s death, King Charles III isn’t just thinking of the next year ahead – he wants to safeguard the monarchy for decades to come.
His goal is to ensure the monarchy is “fit for purpose” by the time he hands over to Prince William, senior sources have told The Sun.
That means a streamlined monarchy that works as a modern institution – with fewer working royals, less money spent on security, cuts to middle-ranking staff and more diversity.
A well-placed source told me: “His Majesty believes that the monarchy needs to be a well-oiled, cost-effective machine with a clear purpose.
“One year into his reign he knows the buck stops with him and he is going to make sure he stamps his authority.
“Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth had her way of doing things, but The King has made it clear that while he respects tradition, he’s not afraid to make changes.”
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The royal landscape has changed immeasurably since Elizabeth II’s passing, but it has become clear those who voiced doubt about Charles before his accession, underestimated him.
The shouts of “God Save the King” when he stepped from his car outside Buckingham Palace in the wake of the Queen’s death, as well as a hug from a woman in the crowd when he returned from Scotland touched him deeply.
For the first time, he realised the crowds had come out just to see him and wish him well. It was the rocket fuel he needed to embrace his reign.
The anniversary of The Queen’s death on Friday will no doubt be
an emotional day for him – but also one in which to reflect on his first year in the job that is his destiny.
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King Charles will mark it quietly at her beloved Balmoral, in the Scottish Highlands. It was a place where she found peace during her life, and he will find solace in that.
But Charles has never been one who rests on his laurels, and since the late Queen’s funeral he stamped his personality on his reign.
He always said it would not be a carbon copy of his late mother’s. He would do it his way.
There have been subtle changes. Some of the pictures on the walls have been changed – fewer dogs and horses are featured.
International relations
On the world stage, his first overseas mission was punchier than previous state visits. He vowed to ‘strengthen connections’ between the UK and Germany post Brexit and said it was our ‘sacred responsibility’ to unite in support of Ukraine after Vladimir’s Putin’s invasion.
This month he will travel to Paris and Bordeaux in France to carry out another state visit that was postponed due to riots, with a similar message.
I understand Charles will visit Australia next autumn ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
The Australian Government will take the lead in planning the State visit as Charles is their King. They will have to pay for it too and such a visit doesn’t come cheap.
When the Queen visited Australia in October 2011, her last official long-haul visit, the cost of her trip reportedly came to almost $1.74million (£890,000) but the bill included the charter of a plane for long-haul flights.
Shunned royals
Charles is keen to avoid more expensive showcase royal events. After the Platinum Jubilee, the Queen’s death and State Funeral and the Coronation, he will play down his landmark 75th birthday, with no big events planned.
“For the King reducing the cost to the taxpayer and improving efficiency. He has set his mind on it and it will be done,” said one senior aid.
A new era is in play under Charles. Changes are already afoot.
There were fewer royals on the main palace balcony for starters; only Charles’s team of working royals and his closest family.
No Harry and Meghan, no disgraced Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
Charles has dealt with both those issues firmly. He loves his son but won’t allow his petulant behaviour to undermine his reign.
Disgraced Andrew too has not been allowed out of the deep freeze,
although he is of course present at family gatherings as he was a Christmas at Sandringham and this summer at Balmoral.
An insider said: “Talk of him allowing Andrew and Harry back into the royal fold is wide of the mark.
“Andrew is of course part of the family and will be at family gatherings. But no, he will not be making a comeback officially.
That is not going to happen.
“There is very little communication with Harry. Time is a great healer, there needs to be more time.”
Cost-effectiveness
Slowly but surely the King’s way is being introduced, with Queen
Camilla, supported by Prince William, acting as his main enforcers.
Some of Elizabeth II’s old guards have been moved on. Sir Edward Young served as joint principal private secretary to King Charles III, alongside Sir Clive Alderton, until he stepped down in May 2023.
Just ahead of the King’s coronation, Angela Kelly, the late Queen Elizabeth’s former dresser and right-hand woman confirmed that she was leaving her grace-and-favour home in the shadow of Windsor Castle.
She neglected to mention in her cryptic online posts about being booted out that the King had gifted her a new home closer to her family in the north for her to live in for her lifetime, honouring a promise made to her by his mother.
Mindful of the years of public service his late mother’s first cousins have given to the crown, Charles has treated the Dukes of Kent and Gloucester with great respect, and frail Princess Alexandra too. He has encouraged them to attend official receptions at the palace and
family events.
The King cares deeply about his wider family but realises that changes must be made for the sake of the monarchy’s credibility.
It is not so much about having a slimmed-down monarchy, which his own sister, Princess Anne said on TV “doesn’t sound like a good idea”, but more about efficiency and cost.
What matters to the King is his reign being cost-effective. Cuts must be made but not necessarily to the budget, but to get value for money for the taxpayer.
His focus, sources close to him say, is on making the monarchy fit for purpose over the next five years.
He has worked closely with his son and heir William to achieve this, but it is Charles calling the shots, not some kind of joint monarchy as has been wrongly suggested.
True to his passion for green issues, Charles was keen to introduce Teslas as the royal car fleet. In the end, the idea was rejected and they settled on Audi as they are more robust.
But it is a sign of how he is no longer in the shadow of his late mother’s mystique or his father’s dominant personality. The decisions are his alone.
He is already making moves to axe middle-management staff – an estimated 20 per cent – to boost the Royal Household’s efficiency.
And he also wants more diversity in the household, up to 20 per cent, with more people from ethnic minority backgrounds in senior positions.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are determined to streamline staffing, where too many are doing similar jobs. Dozens will be affected.
He also wants to reduce the number of houses in the royal portfolio and has reportedly asked Prince Andrew to move out of the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
In March Harry and Meghan were also evicted from Frogmore Cottage as part of the plans.
Already the plans for a leaner monarchy with fewer working Royals are taking shape.
But Charles cannot cut family, without cutting staff. Conscious of
the financial burden a vast household places on the taxpayer.
He knows fewer royals means a cheaper security bill too. Queen Camilla, Charles’s enforcer at the palace, has already raised the matter of cuts personally with the Master of the Household, Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt.
Camilla, like the King, believes the Royal Family must be seen to be in step with the times to flourish.
Feathers will be ruffled – but Charles is determined to make necessary changes as he is convinced it is the only way to guarantee
a healthy monarchy.
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“The senior courtiers will have to understand that the tune is different now and The King, not the late Queen, is the conductor,”
a senior source said.
Our King: Charles III – The Man and The Monarch Revealed by
Robert Jobson is published in paperback next month. (October
2023)
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