The average age of the seven minor working royals is 76 - should younger members take on more

[Solent123]

Excluding the King, Queen and the Wales family there are seven other working members of the Royal family with a combined average age of 76, carrying out hundreds of engagements every year - for example the Duke of Kent is 89 and still carries out regular engagements - should younger members take on more or will all these engagements become unnecessary in the future as Charles streamlines things.

They are,
Duke Of Edinburgh - 68
Duchess Of Edinburgh 59
Duke Of Gloucester 80
Duchess Of Gloucester 78
Princess Royal 74
Duke Of Kent 89
Princess Alexandra 87

"will all these engagements become unnecessary in the future as Charles streamlines things."
firstly, their engagements are all unnecessary and charities etc. would benefit more by having real experts as a figurehead.
secondly, chief parasite has shown no moves to streamline things as he's a money grabbing hypocritical tit

I think they need to get Peter, Zara, Beatrice and Eugene on board with Louise and James joining in in around 10 years time. Set a retirement age - maybe 70, maybe younger. Maybe depending on when George, Charlotte and Louis come on line. In 30 years time they are really going to be missing Harry’s family helping out.

The Duke of Edinburgh is only 60.

Oh god no. Let the whole thing naturally become a thing of the past

Ah - my mistake - Edward is 60 the Duke of Edinburgh award is 68, still most of them are past the age of retirement. Personally I think if they are going to continue with the Royal Family in its present form then it would be nice to see more of the younger generation taking on these engagements. Although with jobs / young children it might not be feasible for Beatrice/Eugenie/Zara.

Do any of the public really want to see Zara or Louise taking on royal duties? Do they even know who they are? That's assuming any of them would want to give up their comfortable lives where they enjoy the benefits of royal adjacency without the scrutiny and restrictions, which I doubt.

As I said on another thread, I do think the future of the monarchy is going to be the monarch, consort, direct heir and their spouse. Many royal patronages and 'duties' will be phased out. The days of minor royals playing lord and lady bountiful are over.

Well I think I'm more likely to recognise Beatrice than I am the Duke of Kent. Perhaps scaling back is a good thing in terms of cost saving but I do think it gives a boost to small charities to have a royal visit / patron.

i can’t imagine anyone wanting to have Peter/Zara or god forbid the yorks doing stuff.
can you imagine Zara and her delightful husband doing royal stuff.
pmsl
edited to add that maybe PW could step and work

I think that Beatrice and Eugenie are sadly slightly tainted by their odious father's reputation. Peter did that tacky Chinese milk ad and I don't think is held in much affection. Zara is likeable but I don't think she'd be up for it. Louise seems very private and a bit awkward. James I think is ND and I would hope he doesn't feel compelled to be public facing. Kate and William really need to step up. I know Kate has been ill but William hasn't, and in her own words she's cancer free so could do more.

I don’t know - I would probably. I saw the Duke of Gloucester this week and was reasonably enthusiastic about it. By the time George is King then William’s cousins will be as relevant as the Duke of Gloucester is now. Hence my suggestion of a retirement age but you do need the youngsters coming up the ranks to make that work.

This is a bit more kindly phrased than I would have gone with, but yes,
.

I really don't think they will. The level of interest in the royals is much less than it was a generation ago, and will likely continue to decline. Younger people don't much care about the royals, and certainly not the minor royals.

All the European royal families are moving in the direction of smaller royal families, and that is clearly the way forward for the British monarchy too. I don't think there is any public appetite for funding various minor royals to visit charities. The model just seems rather dated.

You can't have it both ways. HMQEII slimmed down the number of working royals to reduce the public purse.

"I saw the Duke of Gloucester this week and was reasonably enthusiastic about it."
why were you enthusiastic?

"You can't have it both ways. HMQEII slimmed down the number of working royals to reduce the public purse."
ah bless.
Think you'll find the money received was the same ( and getting greater) but the money goes to fewer people so chief one and his son etc. receive even more money

I don’t know - he is a Prince and a Duke and he turned up to something I was doing and made a speech. That’s what the royals are there for. It was nice. Why is anyone enthusiastic about any of them? Plenty of people are.

Society has moved on from the days when the Royal family needed lots of cousins doing engagements. The older members were serving the late Queen in a time before social media. I can't see any benefit to William's cousins suddenly switching to part time royal work.

It was decided when Harry left that half in half out wouldn't work and I imagine the furore if people like Peter Phillips were to start representing the King. Social media is merciless and expects (unfairly I believe) perfection from the Royal family, someone who sold milk is not going to cut it.

Hang on there. A few years ago, there was mass public support for "streamlining" of the monarchy with lots of the younger members accused of being "hangers on" and being effectively forced out of public engagements and basically told to get a proper job and make their own way in life.

Now it seems some people want them back into the fold.

I wish people would make up their minds.

It's only a short term "blip" anyway, as pretty soon, within a decade or two, we'll have William and Kate's three children coming through as the next generation of "close" Royals to take over a lot of formal engagements under King William and Queen Kate, to replace the active ageing Royals like Anne etc.

Then it'll be pretty much "slimmed down" with just the direct family King William, so basically just five of them for that generation. After all, the shenanigins of Harry have meant the next generation after Charles/Anne etc will be just William, so basically a "reset" of the broad Royal Family down into William, Kate, their children and future grandchildren etc. Just as if William was an only child. Let's face it, Harry will never get back into the fold given the damage he did.

I have a lot of respect for the way the way the Duke of Gloucester gave up his career when he unexpectedly inherited the title and instead followed a life of serving the monarch. And for the Duke of Kent, still fulfilling the duties of a lifetime.

It may now be an outdated Royal model and need some adjustment, but that doesn't mean I don't respect the service the late Queen's cousins gave when both expectations and society were different.

Do you think people like Zara and her husband and the York girls and their spouses who seem to me to live happy privileged lives with some privacy would really want to give up their various paid employment and privacy to work as official royals ? Why on earth. They get most of the benefits now as they are without the drawbacks!

It'll be pretty much "slimmed down" with just the direct family King William, so basically just five of them for that generation

If we have to have them at all that works just fine for me

Also, even before Catherine's illness the pair did nothing like as much as their elders, so if they encourage the children to do the same they'll soon be mostly invisible

It's the slimmed down version, as per demands on this board and elsewhere. Same as Scandi royals.

I would love to see Mike tindall take on royal duties. Monarchy ended within 5 years I reckon

People don’t want the tindalls and yorks doing royal duties and being paid.
it’s only on here that seems to be a thing.

Aside from the fact that their jobs shouldn't exist anyway...

William and Harry were the only ones of their generation raised with the expectation they would be working royals. The others have all had decades of being called hangers on and told they should expect to be "slimmed down". Let them go live their lives.