A royal biographer has suggested that the Queen should be allowed to retire after celebrating her 95th birthday on Wednesday. Royal expert Robert Jobson said the Queen’s supporters shouldn’t expect her to continue performing the public duties and functions of her office indefinitely in her old age, according to Express.
Queen Elizabeth celebrated her 95th birthday on April 21. It was the first time she celebrated her birthday without Prince Philip since they married in November 1947.
Prince Philip died on April 9 at the age of 99, with the Queen at his bedside. The Duke of Edinburgh died just two months shy of his 100th birthday on June 10.
Even if the Queen decides to retire after her 95th birthday, soon after Philip’s death, she is already Britain’s longest-serving monarch.
She will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 after celebrating her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
She succeeded to the throne in February 1952 at the age of 27 after her father, George VI, died. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, in a ceremony in Westminster Abbey.
The Queen should be allowed to retire after decades of dedicated public service
Although many royal fans have urged the Queen not to retire or abdicate the throne until the end of her life, Jobson argued that royal fans should be happy to see the Queen retire from public life to enjoy a well-deserved rest after so many decades of dedicated service to the Crown and the nation.
“Do I personally think the Queen should carry on? No, I don’t. I think that she should be allowed to potter around in the country house and do what she wants,” Jobson told Express. “If she wants to retire, then she should be allowed, in my opinion. It’s like we’ve got retired Pope’s now.”
The royal biographer added that the official duties of the Queen involved a lot of physically and mentally challenging activity. Although the queen is still strong and healthy for her age, she is not “indestructible or some sort of super-super-human.”
The Queen will never abdicate the throne
However, Jobson emphasized he was only expressing his personal opinion as a royal watcher and that so far, there are no signs that the Queen is planning to retire from public life. He added that he was sure the Queen would never abdicate the throne.
“The Queen will be the Queen until the day she dies. Of course, she will,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the Royal Family will continue to support the Queen if she decided to “carry on.”
Prince Charles will likely take on more responsibilities
Jobson said that although he didn’t expect the Queen ever to abdicate the throne, he believed that in the years ahead, it is likely Prince Charles will take on more responsibilities and act as “Quasi-King” as the Queen withdraws from public life due to old age.
Some royal fans have suggested that the Queen can retire without abdicating. She could prepare for retirement by making Prince Charles the Prince Regent.
Charles, as Prince Regent, would act as a “Quasi-King,” taking on more responsibilities, thus allowing the Queen to cut down her duties in preparation for full retirement when she is ready.
Prince Philip retired from public life at 96
Some royal watchers have defended the suggestion that the Queen should retire by pointing out that Prince Philip retired from public life in 2017 when he was 96 years old.
Monsters and Critics reported that Philip conducted his last public engagement in August 2017. He divided his time after retirement between Windsor Castle and the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.