EIt wasn't long ago that the usual photos of the perfect family went around the world: the King and Queen, the Crown Prince and his wife walking to church at Sandringham on Christmas Day. They smiled, chatted with those waiting and accepted bouquets of flowers. There was no indication that the bad news would pile up just a little later and in 2024 annus horribilis could begin, as Queen Elizabeth once called the years when the royal family was not doing well.
Charles is now an ailing king, as well as an ailing father, grandfather, husband, brother and uncle. Internally, his relatives are primarily people who worry about their family head. Externally, these same people are also there to maintain the system. Soon after the news of King Charles' cancer, they stood up Senior members ready: Prince William, Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and Prince Edward. They take over the king's foreign appointments while he continues to run state affairs from his sickbed.