King Charles' cancer diagnosis: Princess Beatrice seen leaving Clarence House, is she a Counsellor of State?

Hours after King Charles’s cancer diagnosis was announced, his niece Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were seen leaving Clarence House in London. Following the late Queen Elizabeth 11’s passing, Princess Beatrice was promoted to Counsellor of State, which entails representing His Majesty King Charles 111 on official duties if he is unwell or unable. Following King Charles's cancer diagnosis, he may well have called her to Clarence House to discuss her undertaking more royal duties in his absence from public facing roles as he undergoes treatment.

The current Counsellors of State are The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Sussex, The Duke of York and Princess Beatrice. Princess Anne and Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh have also been added.  According to the royal family’s website, “Counsellors of State are authorised to carry out most of the official duties of the Sovereign, for example, attending Privy Council meetings, signing routine documents and receiving the credentials of new ambassadors to the United Kingdom.”

As Counsellors of State, they are not allowed to undertake core constitutional functions which involve Commonwealth matters, the dissolving of Parliament, except on King Charles’s express instruction, the creation of peers, and appointing a Prime MInister. 

Although both Prince Andrew and Prince Harry are listed as Counsellors of State, as non working royals, they will not be called onto ‘act.’ As for Princess Beatrice, The Times reported that “The King added a special rule which will mean Anne and Edward will be counsellors for the rest of their lives, unlike Harry, Andrew and Beatrice who will gradually be replaced when Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis come of age.The royal household’s rule also prevents Beatrice, 35, Andrew’s elder daughter, who is not a working royal, from acting in her position as a counsellor of state.”

Princess Beatrice has currently not only got to contend with her uncle King Charles’s cancer diagnosis but also her mother’s Sarah Ferguson. In January this year, she revealed her shock at being diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer. She said on her Instagram that “I have been taking some time to myself as I have been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, my second cancer diagnosis within a year after I was diagnosed with breast cancer this summer and underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. It was thanks to the great vigilance of my dermatologist that the melanoma was detected when it was.”