King Charles 'pushes Kate and William forward to keep Royal Family afloat'
King Charles is pushing the Prince and Princess of Wales to increase the number of royal engagements they undertake next year in a bid to keep the Royal Family afloat, a source has claimed.
The monarch is said to be keen to bring William and Kate to the forefront to help build a future he can sustain, in response to a growing interest in royals among a younger generation. According to a source, the idea would be to lighten the load on more senior members of the Royal Family.
The source said: "The King is very aware of the role the younger members of the royal family play in spreading the word to a wider and younger audience. Media and audience tests demonstrate the success of William and Kate's engagement with the younger generation through social media and public appearances. So it's important that they continue this success into 2024 and beyond."
The Prince and Princess of Wales depart after attending a mental fitness workshop run by SportsAid at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre (Zak Hussein / SplashNews.com)
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will travel to Kenya at the end of this month (PA)They told OK!: "The aim is for both William and Kate to build on their popularity as the years go on and take on more engagements, not less. It won't be a case of burning them out but certainly increasing their profiles and building on youth initiatives that will hold value for the family as a whole as it grows."
In new data taken from the Court Circular which keeps a record of all the engagements the Royal Family has undertaken since 1997, Prince William has so far conducted 95 engagements this year compared to last year's 128. In the same period, Catherine has undertaken 75 engagements compared to 93 in 2022. The late Queen Elizabeth II undertook over 21,000 engagements during her reign.
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The data also revealed that King Charles has undertaken far fewer engagements than his mother did at the same age. So far in 2023, Charles has conducted 162 engagements, while back in 2000, when the late Queen was also 74, she undertook 335.
"The King is conducting nowhere near the number of engagements the Queen fulfilled. Even at the age of 93 in 2019, she undertook 295 engagements," the source said. "The move to increase the younger family members' engagements is an attempt at bridging that gap."
According to the data, Princess Anne, at the age of 73, is still the hardest-working royal. In 2022, the Princess Royal undertook 213 engagements compared to 172 so far this year.
"Princess Anne will slowly wind down her engagements year on year," the source said. "Not by a huge amount but less and less as the years go on to something she can manage. By increasing the number of engagements the younger royals take on, less will be needed from those who are already doing so much to keep the family afloat."
The report comes as King Charles and Queen Camilla will tour Kenya from October 31 to November 3. It is where Elizabeth II learned of her accession in 1952 and some stops are expected to evoke her memory.
But Charles, 74, will also become the first royal to speak about the violent response to the Mau Mau rebellion from 1952 to 1960. Chris Fitzgerald, deputy private secretary to the King, said: "The programme will celebrate the close links between the British and Kenyan people. The visit will also acknowledge more painful aspects of the shared history."
In 2013 the Government officially stated Britain's regret for "torture and other forms of ill-treatment" by the colonial administration. It paid out £19.9million to around 5,200 elderly survivors. The King and Queen were invited by President William Ruto as Kenya celebrates 60 years of independence. The Foreign Office said it hoped Kenya saw Britain as a partner of choice "on peace, on trade, on economic development".
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