Prince Charles set to 'trim' down royal family as transition into 'monarch-in-waiting' begins: reports

Prince Charles' long-reported desire to cut the acting royal family to a smaller core group of royals has seemingly already been put into action amid his younger brother Prince Andrew's interview with the BBC that resulted in him stepping away from official royal duties.

The Daily Star reported that the future King of England wants to "trim the number of working royals down to a bare minimum," which would include himself, sons Prince William and Prince Harry and their respective wives and children.

"I think the Andrew crisis has definitely strengthened Prince Charles's desire for a slimmed-down monarchy," Royal Central deputy editor Brittani Barger told the outlet. "Prince Andrew is now out of the picture. I don't see him ever undertaking royal duties again, and any hope that his daughters would is now gone. So the process of slimming the monarchy has already begun as we know Charles was pushing his mother to meet with Andrew and have him step back from his royal duties."

"I think when it's all said and done, the monarchy will be Charles and his children and grandchildren," she added.

Editor of Royal Central Charlie Proctor echoed Barger's sentiments, adding that the likes of Princess Anne and the Earl and Countess of Wessex "are some of the hardest working royals," but under Charles' reign, their official duties could be cut off to avoid any other scandal.

"Since the Prince Andrew debacle and the events surrounding his Newsnight interview, I should imagine support for a slimmed-down monarchy have shot up overnight," he said. "For all the positive work royals do in their line of work, it takes only one incident for everything to unravel. Prince Andrew would probably have been sidelined during King Charles’s reign anyhow, but his expulsion from public duties has now been sped up."

Also likely among the so-called "casualties" under Charles' slim-down would be Prince Andrew's popular daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.

"Gone are any chances of Princesses Beatrice & Eugenie ever becoming working royals," Proctor explained. "There is now no chance they will ever conduct engagements on behalf of Queen Elizabeth or King Charles."

Adding credence to the theory that Charles hopes for less royals representing the family in an official capacity is The Times of London's report that it was Charles who urged Queen Elizabeth to strip his younger brother of official duties following his interview about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

"The Prince of Wales urged the Queen to remove the Duke of York from public life after realizing that the scandal over his relationship with a convicted pedophile was beginning to overshadow the [upcoming general] election," the outlet reported.

Additionally, the Daily Mail reported that Charles also met with Prince Philip upon his return, talking to his father at Sandringham about the 93-year-old Queen's "retirement" plans, reportedly to be laid out over the next 18 months.

"Charles could take on a Prince Regent role, which would see him taking over family affairs and the handling of day-to-day business from his mother," the outlet claimed.

The New York Times' Mark Landler argued the same, saying that Charles' involvement with the cleanup of Prince Andrew's public gaffe "dramatized how Prince Charles has effectively assumed the role of monarch-in-waiting."

"Prince Charles has long pushed for a more streamlined royal family, with fewer members carrying out official duties, drawing from the public purse, or generating damaging publicity," Landler wrote. "But the Prince Andrew debacle is the most visible sign yet that the shift has begun to happen."

That being said, Landler argued, if changes have indeed been set in motion, the public should expect such shifts to happen gradually and subtly, as to not blindside the British people.

"Any overt move to sideline the queen would be extremely sensitive, given her beloved status," he wrote. "But royal watchers said her grip on internal matters had weakened for several reasons," noting the retirement of "disciplinarian" Prince Philip, 98, and the Queen's longtime secretary, Christopher Geidt.