The duties younger royals will be expected to fulfil
SHE’S newly minted as the Duchess of Sussex, but Meghan Markle’s official outing with the Queen this week showed why she is already being granted opportunities that other young royals haven’t had.
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THE Royal Family has wasted no time putting Meghan, the popular new Duchess of Sussex, to work in the family business, as the ageing Queen increasingly hands responsibilities over to the younger generations.
This week’s public appearances, where newlywed Meghan joined the 92-year-old Queen at three events in northwest England, come as the most popular younger royals – Prince Harry and Meghan, and Prince William and wife Catherine - take on increased responsibility.
As the Queen ages and her husband, 97-year-old Prince Philip, has retired from public life, the royal family is transitioning some of the power within The Firm, as the family calls itself, to younger royals.
Her grandsons and their wives are among those shouldering a heavier load.
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Picture: Mega Agency
Prince William, 35, embarks later this month on a historic trip to Jordan, Israel and Palestine, the first official royal tour of the troubled region.
Prince Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36, will visit Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand in October.
Catherine, 36, the Duchess of Cambridge, has stepped away from most public events for a few months following the birth of her third child, Prince Louis, in April, but will resume her public appearances in a few months.
Heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles is also handling more royal duties, and next week will take his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, on a visit to Salisbury, the English town where a Russian double-agent was attacked with nerve gas in what was thought to be a sanctioned hit by Moscow.
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But royal experts say the increased profile of the hugely-popular young royals - Charles’ sons and daughters-in-law - does not indicate the Queen is stepping back from her duties entirely.
“The Queen is definitely still the person on the throne,’’ The Times of London’s royal correspondent Valentine Low told News Corp.
“She’s there for all the absolute important occasions, and Charles is there on occasion.
“It’s not a regency in all but name; I don’t think that’s the case at all.
“It’s the Queen who sees the Prime Minister, attends the state opening of Parliament, reads the red boxes (official government documents), occupies the top spot.’’
However, there is no doubting the value of Meghan to the royal family’s brand.
The American actor, who married Prince Harry at Windsor on May 19 in a ceremony watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people, has sent interest in the British royal family sky-high.
As well as being beautiful, fashionable, bi-racial, and a feminist with a history of activism, Meghan is comfortable in front of the cameras and handles herself with poise and confidence at public events.
At her outing with the Queen on Thursday, she smiled, laughed, crouched down to meet young fans, and had the normally reserved Queen smiling and looking more animated than she’s been in years.
“She took to it like a duck to water,’’ Low said.
“She’s really handled herself well in public several times.
“Her first engagement was in Nottingham within a few days of the announcement of the engagement and she handled it just fine.
“She didn’t show any nerves, as you would expect. She’s used to the red carpet, being interviewed and appearing in public. Quite that level of adulation might be new to her though.’’
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Meghan brings a different, more relaxed style to royal outings than older members of the family.
Unlike the Queen, who always wears gloves, Meghan gets up close to those she meets, and metes out hugs, pats on the arm and back and beaming smiles, with no hint of royal reserve.
Her outing with the Queen on Thursday to Cheshire was unusual in that the Queen waited a year before taking the more reserved and somewhat less confident Catherine on an official engagement after her 2011 wedding to Prince William.
It was also highly unusual for Meghan to be invited to travel overnight on the royal train with the Queen – an honour not yet bestowed on Catherine, William or Harry.
“I have never heard of them going on the royal train (overnight) before,’’ Low said.
“That’s unusual – a sleepover with the husband’s granny. What are they going to talk about?’’
Meghan and the Queen are thought to have bonded over their shared love of dogs, and Meghan’s rescue beagle Guy was spotted riding in a car with the Queen in the lead-up to the wedding.
Meghan has also shown great respect to the monarch, converting to the Church of England faith as a mark of respect for the church the Queen leads, and not putting a foot wrong with her public comments on the royal family.
Documents lodged this week with Companies House, the business register in the UK, showed that Meghan was being added to the leadership of The Royal Foundation, the principal fundraising body for the two princes.
She will join Harry, William and Catherine as co-director.
Low said the popularity of the young royals was good for the royal family, but “people shouldn’t get carried away’’.
“The popularity of the royal family is a very ephemeral thing. It can come and go just like that,’’ he said.
“If you talking about Australia and New Zealand I don’t think popularity of individual members of the royal family affects that much about what people think of the monarchy.’’
While the republican movement in Australia remains fairly active, and leaders of both major parties – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition leader Bill Shorten – are republicans, there is unlikely to be any move towards getting rid of the monarchy as long as the Queen reigns.
“I don’t sense yet a big groundswell of opinion over there,’’ Low said.
“The young ones go over there, Charles has been there quite a lot recently… and yes, the royal family sort of takes advantage of their popularity, as they would do.’’
Originally published as The duties younger royals will be expected to fulfil
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