A longstanding belief held by monarchists is that Queen Elizabeth II will never abdicate, but there are several signs that the 93-year-old might be indeed preparing to step down – and it’s soon then we suspected.
Royal expert Phil Dampier told Yahoo’s The Royal Box that the Queen will ‘give up her powers’ to her eldest child in just two years, when she turns 95, by invoking the 1937 Regency Act.
“There is talk that when she reaches 95 in a couple of years she may slow down and possibly the Regency Act will be brought in,” Dampier explained. “She will still be Queen but Prince Charles will, in fact, take over most of the duties.”
“He is starting to do that already, being at the state opening in Parliament and the Commonwealth conference.
“He is starting to take over a lot of the duties and doing the investitures.”
Author Robert Jobson says there is already a “period of transition’ underway, with the Queen giving Charles more responsibility.”
While there are many royalists waiting with bated breath for Prince Charles to abdicate and to see Prince William assume the throne as King of England, this rumour is completely false. Prince Charles will be the next British Monarch. The main reason? Queen Elizabeth doesn’t have the power to choose her successor – that right is upheld by the 1701 Act of Settlement and requires that a monarch’s heir must be his or her direct successor and that Parliament must agree.
There is yet another important factor to keep in mind: Prince William likely does not yet want to be king. According to his brother, Prince Harry, no one wants the throne — at least, that’s what he recently told Newsweek.
Charles, on the other hand, has been first in line to the throne since he was four years old — and has been prepping for the job ever since, working as a full-time royal for decades.
Watch: Queen is allowing Prince Charles to ‘take over’
The Queen has even passed on some responsibilities to new royal Meghan Markle. Kensington Palace announced at the start of 2019 that the Duchess of Sussex will be taking on two of Her Majesty’s patronages – The National Theatre and The Association of Commonwealth Universities, which The Queen has held for 45 and 33 years respectively.
This article originally appeared on InStyle.
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