King Charles is due to make his first public appearance at a royal event since his cancer diagnosis on Sunday (March 31), but the likely absence of son Prince William and the heir's wife Kate will spotlight how depleted the monarchy has become. - REUTERS
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00:00 King Charles is due to make a public appearance at a royal event this weekend,
00:04 the first since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
00:08 Buckingham Palace, the 75 year old monarch, would attend the traditional Easter Sunday
00:12 church service at Windsor Castle alongside his wife Queen Camilla.
00:16 The service is one of the annual engagements usually attended by all senior royals.
00:22 But this year's event will serve to spotlight how depleted the British monarchy has become.
00:27 Sunday's most notable absence will be that of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children.
00:33 The princess revealed last week that she had begun preventative chemotherapy for cancer
00:37 following abdominal surgery in January.
00:40 Here's Erin Hill, People Magazine's senior royal editor.
00:44 As we know, King Charles really wanted to have a slimmed down monarchy when he took on the throne,
00:49 but he never could have anticipated it slimming down to where it is now.
00:54 Charles's desire for a slimmed down institution was designed to counter accusations that it was bloated,
00:59 with distant relatives living off taxpayer-funded handouts.
01:03 But there are now even gaping holes in his immediate circle.
01:07 These not only include his younger son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who left for the US
01:12 three years ago, but his younger brother Prince Andrew, who was banished from public life in 2019
01:18 over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
01:22 According to royal biographer Claudia Joseph, Camilla and William have done a sterling job
01:27 in the absence of Charles, but it still won't have been easy.
01:31 It is, it's going to be on a personal level, it's going to be awful for the royals,
01:36 and obviously on a practical level it makes things difficult.
01:39 Of the remaining official working royals, those that carry out duties for the king,
01:44 such as opening new buildings and meeting foreign dignitaries,
01:47 many are now from the late Queen Elizabeth's generation.
01:50 Princess Anne often tops the list for being the hardest working royal,
01:54 but she herself will turn 74 this year.
01:57 Although polls show most Britons remain generally supportive of the monarchy,
02:02 they also suggest that that majority is shrinking,
02:05 with a growing gap between enthusiastic older people and indifferent younger generations.