Are Prince William And Prince Harry Considered Senior Royals?

Fans probably noticed by now that Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Charles are often referred to as senior royals in various reports. But what seems to be uncertain is whether Prince William and Prince Harry are also considered senior members of the family.

However, determining exactly which members are senior royals is a bit tricky. “What defines as being ‘senior royal’ is very much subjective,” warned Royal Central, as there are different factors that can be used to gauge whether one is senior or not.

For instance, a royal’s proximity to the throne could be used as a gauge. In this method, the first senior royal will be Queen Elizabeth II as the monarch, followed by Prince Charles as the first in line, followed by Prince William as the second in line and so on.

While using the line of succession is a viable method to determine seniority, the problem is when it should stop — can the eighth (Baby Archie) or ninth in line (Prince Andrew) still be considered a senior royal? In addition, using this method would also leave other prominent members of the family — such as Prince Philip, Camilla Parker Bowles or Kate Middleton — out of the group since they are not in line to the throne.

Another suggestion is to use a royal workload as a gauge. However, a workload fluctuates throughout a royal’s lifetime, making it an unreliable measuring stick as to who should be treated as a senior royal. At best, it can only determine who the most hardworking royals are.

For example, Queen Elizabeth II already gave some of her work to Charles. It is highly likely that she will even delegate more tasks to her heir in the future as her age advances. However, it’s unthinkable to say that she’s not a senior royal just because of her lighter workload.

However, Royal Central proposed a simpler way to determine who the senior royals are by defining them as the “Monarch, Counsellors of State and their spouses.” Counsellors of State are those high-ranking royals who shall carry out the function of the Crown in case of the Queen’s absence.

With this definition in place, only nine royals make the cut. They are Her Majesty The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew. While Prince George and his siblings are ranked high in the line of succession, they are excluded in the list since they are still children and don’t carry out tasks for the Crown.