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The King is being treated for cancer, Buckingham Palace has announced.
How will the King’s duties change?
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “Regrettably, a number of the King’s forthcoming public engagements will have to be rearranged or postponed.
“His Majesty would like to apologise to all those who may be disappointed or inconvenienced as a consequence.”
It added that he “looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible”.
The King will continue with paperwork and private meetings as head of state.
Rishi Sunak is the second prime minister of King Charles’s reign
Which Royals can step in for the King?
While the King is recovering, the Queen will continue attending public engagements, Buckingham Palace said.
If it became the case that the King was not able to carry out official duties for a temporary period, two or more members of the Royal Family would be appointed as Counsellors of State, to act in his place.
They could include the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh.
King Charles’s cancer diagnosis
What does the King do?
The King is the UK head of state, but his powers are largely symbolic and ceremonial. He remains politically neutral.
He receives daily dispatches from the government in a red leather box, including briefings ahead of important meetings, or documents needing his signature.
The prime minister normally meets the King on a Wednesday at Buckingham Palace.
These meetings are completely private, and no official records are kept of what is said.
King Charles delivered his first King’s Speech as part of the state opening of Parliament in November 2023
The King also has a number of official parliamentary roles:
- Appointing a government – the leader of the party that wins a general election is usually called to Buckingham Palace, where they are invited to form a government. The King also formally dissolves Parliament before a general election
- State Opening and the King’s Speech – the King sets out the government’s plans in a speech delivered from the throne in the House of Lords
- Royal Assent – when a piece of legislation is passed through Parliament, it must be formally approved by the King in order to become law. The last time Royal Assent was refused was in 1708
The King hosts visiting heads of state, and regularly meets foreign ambassadors and high commissioners.
The portrait of the King that will hang in public buildings such as courts and government offices has been unveiled
He is head of state for 14 of these, known as the Commonwealth realms, as well as the Crown dependencies – the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Who else is in the Royal Family?
After the Coronation, members of the Royal Family watched a flypast from the the Palace balcony
- Prince William is the elder son of King Charles and his first wife, the late Princess Diana. After the death of the Queen, he became the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall while retaining his previous Duke of Cambridge title. He is married to Catherine, Princess of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge. They have three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
- The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) was the Queen’s second child and only daughter. She is married to Vice Adm Timothy Laurence and has two children with her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips: Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall
- The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Edward) was the Queen’s youngest child. He is married to the Duchess of Edinburgh (Sophie Rhys-Jones). They have two children: Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex
- The Duke of York (Prince Andrew) was the Queen’s second son. He has two daughters with his former wife, the Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson): Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Prince Andrew stepped down as a “working Royal” in 2019 after a controversial BBC Newsnight interview about allegations that he had sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre. In February 2022, he paid an undisclosed sum to settle the civil sexual assault case which Ms Guiffre brought against him in the US
- The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry) is William’s younger brother. He is married to the Duchess of Sussex (Meghan Markle). They have two children: Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. In 2020, they announced they were stepping back as senior royals and moved to California
How does succession work and who is King Charles’s heir?
The order of succession sets out which member of the Royal Family takes over as monarch when the existing one dies or abdicates. First in line – the heir to the throne – is the monarch’s eldest child.
Sons no longer take precedence over their older sisters.
King Charles’s heir is his elder son, the Prince of Wales.
William’s eldest child Prince George is second-in-line to the throne, and his daughter Princess Charlotte is third. Her younger brother Prince Louis is fourth and Prince Harry is fifth.
Where does the Royal Family get its money?
The amount is based on a proportion of the profits of the Crown Estate, a property business owned by the monarch but run independently. It had assets worth £16.5bn in 2022.
A 10-year refurbishment programme for Buckingham Palace began in 2017
The King also receives money from a private estate called the Duchy of Lancaster, which is passed down from monarch to monarch. It covers more than 18,000 hectares of land, including property in central London. Worth £654m, it generates about £20m a year in profits.
The Duke of Cornwall (currently William, Prince of Wales) benefits from the Duchy of Cornwall, which mainly owns land in the south-west of England. Worth £1bn, it generated a net surplus of £24m in 2022-23.
The King and William receive the profits from the duchies personally, and can spend the money as they wish. Both voluntarily pay income tax on the proceeds.
Some Royal Family members have private art, jewellery and stamp collections which they can sell or use to generate income as they wish.
What happened at the Coronation?
During the Westminster Abbey ceremony, the King was anointed with “holy oil”, and received the orb and sceptre, symbols of royalty.
Watch King Charles III be crowned
Where do the Royal Family live?
Other Royal residences include Windsor Castle, Sandringham, in Norfolk, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, and Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire.
The Prince and Princess of Wales with their children on their first day at Lambrook School in Berkshire
How popular is the Royal Family?
Overall, 62% wanted to keep the monarchy, with 26% backing an elected head of state – up from 17% a decade earlier.
But while 80% of the over-65s supported the monarchy, only 37% of 18 to 24-year-olds agreed.
There was also less support for the royals in Scotland or Wales than in England, where London had higher levels of people against the monarchy than anywhere else in the country.
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