Prince Charles to step up as Queen Elizabeth winds down after Philip’s funeral

The passing of the Duke of Edinburgh will herald enormous changes in The Firm.

Prince Charles leads the procession of mourners for Prince Philip at his father’s funeral in Windsor, England, on Saturday night (AEST). Picture: Getty Images

Prince Charles will take on more of the duties of a monarch, relieving some of the workload of his mother after the royal family buried his father Prince Philip at the weekend and as the seven-decade Elizabethan era enters its twilight phase.

Courtiers say the widowed Queen will continue working but that the Prince of Wales, first in line to the throne, will increasingly help her with the daily red boxes of government business.

Charles, and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, will also spend more time at Clarence House, their London home, which is just off The Mall and almost next door to Buckingham Palace.

In a significant departure, the Queen will now reside at Windsor Castle and only return to Buckingham Palace to attend official functions such as her annual garden parties in the palace grounds.

It’s likely that even events such as meeting heads of government, and her weekly meetings with the Prime Minister, will take place at Windsor Castle. While the Queen fully intends to carry out her pledge made on her 21st birthday — “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service” — changes long planned for when the Queen turns 95 this Wednesday are already in motion.

Prince Charles leads Prince Andrew and, from left, Prince William, David Armstrong-Jones, Peter Phillips, Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Prince Harry and Prince Edward. Picture: Getty Images

The changes are personal as well as business. For the first time in nearly 80 years the Queen won’t receive a huge bunch of her favourite white flowers from Philip on her birthday, sometimes accompanied with a piece of hand-selected jewellery.

Already Charles, 72, runs the Duchy of Cornwall, the Duchy of Lancaster and the extensive Crown Estate and his tearful farewell of his father at Windsor Castle on Saturday has sharpened his future role.

Officially the Queen and other members of the royal family and their households, and troops in ceremonial duties, will be in mourning until Friday.

But the Queen has allowed herself, and members of the family to “continue undertaking engagements appropriate to the circumstances’’.

Within days of Philip’s death on April 9, a stoic Queen was feeling “a huge void’’, according to her son, Prince Andrew, yet had signed off on the funeral arrangements and conducted virtual meetings with Governor-General David Hurley and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At another level there was a changing of the guard last week, with the Queen personally farewelling her Lord Chamberlain of the past 15 years, Earl William Peel, and swearing in his successor, former MI5 head Lord Andrew Parker.

Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat for the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Picture: Alamy

Royal biographer Ingrid Seward says the Queen often says: “if I stop, I drop”. While Charles’s workload is to further increase, there is no suggestion he will become regent, which essentially means he takes guardianship of the Queen, as she is still very ­capable.

This was evident in the Queen’s decision to have mourners wear morning dress to Philip’s funeral, sparing embarrassment for Prince Harry, who would have been the only senior male member of the family not in uniform, having lost his military appointments when he resigned his royal duties to live an independent life in California, even though he served two tours of Afghanistan.

While the family walked back to the state rooms at Windsor Castle after the funeral, there was no official wake, and Harry went back to his old house, Frogmore Cottage, with Charles.

Harry and Prince William, 38, also appeared to begin a form of reconciliation after a bitter division was exacerbated by Harry and his wife Meghan Markle ­accusing the royal family of racism and prejudice on American television several weeks ago.

The two began talking to each other as they walked up Chapel Hill to the castle after earlier walking in the cortege separated by their cousin, Peter Phillips.

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, began speaking to Harry, 36, outside the chapel and began walking with him, while William, said to be devastated and furious at the Duke of Sussex’s claims, then caught up. The Duchess then stepped back, allowing the two brothers to begin to thaw their frosty relationship.

The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Windsor Castle for the funeral. Picture: Getty Images

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, who is pregnant with a daughter, was at her Montecito home with toddler Archie.

The Queen had agreed to carry out the wishes of her husband of 73 years, granting him a funeral service where less was indeed more.

Millions across the Commonwealth wanted to lend a comforting hand to the Queen, whose grief was all the more brutal because of the British government’s coronavirus restrictions of a strict 30 mourners, all socially distanced — regardless of vaccinations or not, and in a chapel that a week ago held 100 people for Easter Sunday.

Philip, 99, wanted a send-off without frippery. A service order without eulogies or sermons, the Land Rover hearse, the pared down military parade, the poignant appearance of his two Fell ponies and the carriage seat adorned with his riding cap and gloves all under a blue sky, was all the more powerful for its ­simplicity.

Prince William, left, and Prince Harry follow the coffin. Picture: AFP

Australia’s military attache, Guy Holthouse, said the “enormity, importance and solemnity’’ of Philip’s funeral resonated strongly with him.

Commodore Holthouse was one of four Commonwealth military representatives who were invited to attend the ceremonial aspects of Philip’s funeral, standing in the Horseshoe Cloister near the foot of the stairs leading into St George’s Chapel.

Philip had been an enthusiastic supporter of the Australian military: his first job was as an 18-year-old midshipman in the Royal Navy on HMS Ramillies which escorted Australian and New Zealand troop convoys to Suez for four months in 1940 during WWII.

“It was a military funeral for a military officer executive by the military. He had kept his relationship with the military for his entire life and that was in evidence today,’’ Commodore Holthouse said.

He said the funeral on Saturday was emotional. “On the day the enormity, the importance and the solemnity, resonated, shall we say, with me,’’ Commodore Holthouse said.