Following Prince Philip's death, his eldest son now has to take on new and more powerful responsibilities alongside his mother.
As much as the royal family and their fans mourn the loss of their beloved Prince Philip, life and all the duties must go on. And the first big responsibility falls to the Duke of Wales. Following the death of his father, Prince Charles will have a new role to take on — "quasi-king." Robert Jobson, a royal family expert, royal editor for the Australian breakfast show Sunrise and royal contributor for ABC News, shared that with the Duke of Edinburgh's passing, Prince Charles will take over as the patriarch of the family, according to Mirror UK.
"The Prince of Wales will step up, in a way he’s already been doing that for the past five years, but now he truly is the patriarch of the family because the Duke of Edinburgh is dead," Jobson said while talking to Omid Scobie on ABC's podcast The Heir Pod. "I mean I say quasi-king, but they’d hate that of course, but you’ve got to try and spell it out to a wider audience. The fact is the Queen doesn’t do state visits anymore, so when Prince Charles goes to America say, he’ll be representing the Queen - that’s pretty much a state visit even though it’s technically not."
Even royal commentator, Penny Junor, wrote in The Times about Prince Charles' future as the patriarch, as per Cornwall Live. She said: "It may well be that we see a slight shifting of the tectonic plates in the wake of the duke’s death. That role now officially falls to the Prince of Wales. As the new paterfamilias, it also falls to him to hold the family together, to make the tough decisions, to discipline where necessary and to steer The Firm in the right direction, as his father did so adeptly.”
However, as Prince Charles dons this new hat, there is no confirmation that his mother, the Queen, who will turn 95 shortly, will give up her title. “There’s no doubt the Queen will carry on…she’ll never ever abdicate the throne so there’s scope in there for the change because of course no one knows if she’s going to be mentally or physically ill or not," the author of Prince Philip's Century told Scobie. Dr Anne Whitelock, a royal historian, agreed when she spoke in the Channel 5 documentary, The Queen: Duty before Family?: "I think there is no chance of the Queen abdicating. She simply has a sense of duty and needing to ultimately trump personal difficulty and personal emotion." Royal author Angela Levin added, according to Express UK: "She seems so strong and confident she might just carry on."
But as much as the Queen puts duty to her country first, she must have also been devastated to lose her husband of 73 years. It was evident as she looked back at Prince Philip's coffin one last time before she walked into St George's Chapel to sit alone during the rituals. But at least she'll have her duties to keep her occupied, even as her son becomes the "quasi-king."
References:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prince-charles-quasi-king-queen-23937148
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/quasi-king-prince-charles-new-5315222
Cover image source: Getty Images | Paul Edwards - WPA Pool
