I would guess that as every year that goes by, Charles' opinions hold more and more weight...both with HM and also with the powers to be in BP. If Charles is determined to downsize the number of working royals then his opinions will have to be considered.
This one
Prince Andrew STILL insists on helicopters and guards for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie | Mail Online
It is towards the end below the picture of the girls with Sarah and above the one of Beatrice on her graduation day from UN last month.
This above mentioned article is written by Catherine Ostler, whoever she is, but she obviously has a direct line to HM the Queen, Prince Charles, and former Palace Courtiers, whom she has quoted with gay abandon. But why is it that I don't think any of the above-mentioned would know her if they fell over her?
After all, where is her context, her actual quotes, interviews with any of them? Nowhere, that's where, and she and like minded reporters of the Daily Mail and other such publications continue to make sweeping statements allegedly from such vague references that we all, by sheer dint of repetition, start to accept them as fact. Witness the statement of kakieanne above, she obviously accepts the "facts" as previously presented. But should we?
When Beatrice graduated the BBC reported an
actual quote from Buckingham Palace:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=beatrice%20graduates&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-england-london-14860925&ei=NAalTp6qHOHiiALzvuCFAQ&usg=AFQjCNELBl2BsLAUVm9h4kDlu79aQNtLpQ&sig2=KJlUfKVfM6KowcvDvAw99w
The People, The Telegraph, and indeed the Mail Online all carried the same quote and source, and it is a total variance with their latest offering. It did not seem to support that idea the Beatrice was about to be "Kicked Out of the Kingdom"!
What happened? Did HM change her mind? Did Prince Charles? Did the Courtiers, past or present? Only the Express diverged from that "party line":
Buckingham Palace has also declined to say whether the Princess, who lives rent free in a taxpayer-funded four-bedroom apartment at St James’s Palace, will ever become a full or even part-time working royal, undertaking official duties on behalf of the Queen.
Royal sources have long suggested that she does not figure in the family’s future plans for official duties amid claims that Prince Charles is keen to see a slimmed-down monarchy.
But they still went on to speculate, just as we have done, on the mortality of the senior branch of the BRF and the large hole it would leave.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...8mmSqk9cq_j20Ofew&sig2=kOOhZGQ1zcDOhKbumGnfGw
So, when all is said and done, and an awful lot has been both said and done, who are we to believe? Not the tabloids . . . . . they are actually recycling stories so many times they contradict themselves, so who does that leave?
Me, I'm hanging out for a real live quote from a real live person, preferably in the general vicinity of Buckingham Palace, who will take pleasure in having his name and position attached to said quote.