Queen Elizabeth Might Trigger The Regency Act Soon

Queen Elizabeth is reportedly planning to trigger the Regency Act when she reaches 95. This means that in a couple of years, she may already relinquish her powers to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.

At 93, Queen Elizabeth is now the longest-serving monarch in the history of the British royal family. Despite previous speculations that the Queen might already abdicate or retire from her royal duties soon due to old age, Queen Elizabeth made it clear that she regards her current position as a lifelong duty and would therefore not step down.

Now it looks like Queen Elizabeth has changed her mind. According to royal author Phil Dampier, Queen Elizabeth might offload much of her powers to her son in the next two years as she plans to establish a regency to take over most of her duties when she’s 95.

“There are talks that when she reaches 95 in a couple of years she may slow down and possibly the Regency Act will be brought in,” said Dampier. He clarified that setting up a regency does not mean that Queen Elizabeth will abdicate. “She will still be Queen but Prince Charles will, in fact, take over most of the duties,” he added.

While Queen Elizabeth earlier dismissed talks of her giving up all or part of her powers to the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles has been increasingly taking on some of her royal duties of late. “He is starting to do that already, being at the state opening in Parliament and the Commonwealth conference,” said Dampier. “He is starting to take over a lot of the duties and doing the investitures,” he added.

If the Regency Act is set in place, it will regulate the process of setting up a regency to stand in place of the Queen when she is no longer able to perform her royal duties. According to the Regency Act of 1937, Prince Philip, the Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons must be able to provide evidence that the Sovereign is already unable to perform her functions before the Regency Act takes effect.

The last time this Act was brought in was in 1811, when King George III had to give his full powers to his son, King George IV, because of his health. It remains to be seen if Queen Elizabeth will follow suit when the time comes.