King Charles' slimmed-down monarchy may have to scale down royal duties otherwise there will be too much work for them, an expert has claimed.
It has long been reported that the King wanted to have fewer working royals carrying out engagements and supporting the monarchy.
However, with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping down as working royals and Prince Andrew forced to quit public life, numbers are already low.
And that's without taking into account the fact that the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra are in their 80s with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are in their late 70s.
The youngest working royal is Prince William, who is 40, while Kate is a year older at 41 and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie, are approaching 60.
And speaking to True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl said this might affect the royals' workload.
She explained: "The current [working royals] have to be realistic about how much they can take on, and you know maybe the thousands of patronages and engagements that they carry out and have always done between them, is something that’s going to need to be redressed.
"You look at the Prince of Wales and the model that he’s adopted which is very much consolidating, and you wonder if perhaps there’s going to have to be an element of that for the wider Royal Family too."
The comments come after the King's sister Princess Anne also waded into the slimmed-down monarchy debate in a rare interview - saying she didn't think it was a good idea.
The Princess Royal sat down for the interview with Canadian TV to discuss the changing monarchy, as well as the challenges it faces, ahead of King Charles' Coronation.
Interviewer Adrienne Arsenault raised the idea of a slimmed-down monarchy and said it is difficult to imagine how the 72-year-old princess would have the time to take on more work.
When it was put to her that the world changes, Anne said: "It changes a bit. I mean, it doesn’t sound like a good idea from where I’m standing, I have to say. I’m not quite sure what else, you know, we can do."
Anne was asked if there are "conversations about relevance", and she replied: "There will be, everywhere. It's not a conversation that I would necessarily have.
"I think it's perfectly true that it is a moment where you need to have that discussion.
"But I would just underline that the monarchy provides, with the constitution, a degree of long-term stability that is actually quite hard to come by any other way."
The Royal Beat - available on True Royalty TV.
