NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • Generate wealth weekly
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Queen’s aides considered a regency in her later years amid declining health

Bang Showbiz
15 Jan, 2024 12:15 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Royal officials were concerned that Queen Elizabeth II would be unable to fulfill her duties as ruling monarch during her final years, according to a new book. Photo / Getty Images

Royal officials were concerned that Queen Elizabeth II would be unable to fulfill her duties as ruling monarch during her final years, according to a new book. Photo / Getty Images

Royal officials gave “serious and detailed thought” to a regency in Queen Elizabeth II’s later years.

Aides at Buckingham Palace endured “years of anxiety” and had been working on the belief there could be a “long, slow decline of the Queen’s health” and feared it was “almost inevitable” her son, the then-Prince Charles, would have to take on most of her duties, but the now-King was “extremely reluctant” to engage with staff about the possibility.

An extract from Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story by Robert Hardman published by MailOnline read: “Serious and detailed thought had been given to the prospect of a regency, whereby Prince Charles might stand in for her if she was incapacitated...”

“The working assumption was that there might be a long, slow decline in the Queen’s health or a sudden public collapse during an engagement.”

A senior former aide told the author: “With the Queen Mother going on past her 100th birthday, of course we had to think that the Queen would reach the same age. A regency seemed almost inevitable. That would have been very difficult.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“You would still have needed a near-full Queen’s household and a near-full Prince’s household and it would have been very hard for the regent. I always hoped it wouldn’t happen while I was there but I didn’t see how we could get out of it, to be honest.”

Another aide told of how staff “dreaded” the Queen - who passed away in September 2022 - falling ill in public, and so if she had any official engagements in her later years, they were deliberately “kept very tight and very short”, with “limited” media in attendance.

According to the tome, various regency scenarios were planned.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The author stated: “From time to time, royal aides would draw up plans for a variety of regency options. These would range from ‘regency-light’ (with minimal princely involvement) and ‘reversible regency’, in the event of short-term incapacitation.

“Another question, at one point, was the course of action if the Duke of Edinburgh – who would have been on any regency committee prior to his death – had objected to a regency plan.

According to Robert Hardman's new book, the then-Prince Charles was "extremely reluctant" to engage with royal officials on the matter regarding his mother, the late Queen. Photo / Getty Images
According to Robert Hardman's new book, the then-Prince Charles was "extremely reluctant" to engage with royal officials on the matter regarding his mother, the late Queen. Photo / Getty Images

“The finest royal brains pored over all the possibilities.

“At one stage, an ex-private secretary to the Prince of Wales, Sir Stephen Lamport, was brought back from his job in the city to help with a new blueprint.”

But Charles was reluctant to “dwell on the details” of the plans.

Hardman wrote: “‘Aides would always find Prince Charles extremely reluctant to engage on the subject. ‘You could turn up with all the papers and he would say, ‘Have you been through it all? Are you happy with this?’ and that would be that,’ says one. ‘He didn’t want to dwell on the details… I think he felt that if you reach out for something, you are tempting fate.’”

Another insider told the author the Queen was aware she was nearing the end of her life.

Hardman wrote: “The precise cause of the Queen’s death, says a close friend of the family, will never be known because she had been suffering from multiple conditions in her final year.”

“‘She had come to realise that the medical prognosis meant she was not going to emulate her mother and reach 100, so she had been determined to make the most of that [final] year,’ says one friend. ‘She made sure she had all the family up over the summer, so that the young ones in particular would always be left with happy memories of her.’ "

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

Why nightmares are bad for your health – and how to think your way out of one

Lifestyle

In a dinner rut? 7 tips to make weekday dinners less boring

New Zealand

Brave soles: NZ mum sets barefoot 100m Lego run record


Sponsored

Internal moisture: Building Code gaps risk another leaky homes crisis

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Premium
Why nightmares are bad for your health – and how to think your way out of one
Lifestyle

Why nightmares are bad for your health – and how to think your way out of one

Telegraph: The surprising science behind dream manipulation and its health benefits.

05 Sep 06:00 AM
In a dinner rut? 7 tips to make weekday dinners less boring
Lifestyle

In a dinner rut? 7 tips to make weekday dinners less boring

05 Sep 04:05 AM
Brave soles: NZ mum sets barefoot 100m Lego run record
New Zealand

Brave soles: NZ mum sets barefoot 100m Lego run record

05 Sep 03:55 AM


Internal moisture: Building Code gaps risk another leaky homes crisis
Sponsored

Internal moisture: Building Code gaps risk another leaky homes crisis

03 Sep 12:18 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP