Prince Charles was set to attend the state opening of Britain’s parliament alongside his mother Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, in a sign of his increasing role as his the 87-year-old monarch scales back some duties.
The appearance comes a day after Buckingham Palace announced that Charles, the Prince of Wales, will represent his mother at the next Commonwealth heads of government meeting, a gathering she has only missed once in four decades.
Charles’ wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, was set to accompany him to the opening of parliament for the first time in a sign of her own growing prominence in the royal family.
“Their Royal Highnesses’ role is one of support,” a spokeswoman for the couple’s Clarence House residence said.
“The Prince of Wales often supports the queen on state occasions, and his and the duchess’s diaries were clear on this occasion.”
Palace officials said the queen’s decision not to attend the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka in November is part of a gradual move to cut down her long-distance foreign trips and hand over more of her duties to younger royals.
“Charles and queen in royal jobshare,” said the front page of the Daily Mail newspaper on Wednesday.
The Times ran an editorial praising the “diligence and flair” with which Charles has taken on increasing duties, but warned that the outspoken prince should also adopt her discretion as his time on the throne grows closer.
The queen was forced to cancel several public engagements earlier this year after she was struck down with suspected gastroenteritis and hospitalised for the first time in a decade.
Last year younger royals represented her on diamond jubilee tours around the world to mark her 60th year on the throne.
Queen Elizabeth is the symbolic Head of the Commonwealth — a title that is not necessarily hereditary. She has only missed the organisation’s biennial summit once before, when it was first held in 1971.
A palace source said her decision to stay away this year was unrelated to the controversy over Sri Lanka’s human rights record, which has prompted Canada to threaten to boycott the meeting.
Charles, 64, has accompanied his mother to the state opening of parliament 11 times before, but not since 1996.
He and Camilla were to travel to the grand state occasion in the palace’s Glass Coach, which carried Charles and his first wife Diana to their wedding in 1981.
Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. She was killed the following year in a car crash in Paris.
The prince married Camilla in 2005.
Prince Charles attends parliament opening as role grows
