London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Queen left furious after Prince Charles' household suggested 'delight' over abdication

Queen left furious after Prince Charles' household suggested 'delight' over abdication

THE QUEEN was left furious with Prince Charles and after a member of his royal household joked that he would be delighted if the monarch abdicated, unearthed accounts reveal.

The Queen faced more heartbreak this week after her close friend and lady-in-waiting, Lady Diana Farnham, died aged 90. She was one of Her Majesty's closest friends and most trusted confidants, having acted as her Lady of the Bedchamber since 1987. Lady Farnham supported the Queen for decades, most publicly during the 2021 Diamond Jubilee celebrations when she stepped in for Prince Philip who was unable to attend due to illness.

Her death comes just months after the passing of another of the Queen's ladies in waiting, the Duchess of Grafton.

Another of her close aides, Ann Fortune FitzRoy, sadly passed away in December after serving the Royal Household throughout the Queen's 69-year reign.

With the Queen now aged 95, many have cast their eye towards Prince Charles, who is expected to succeed her.

Through the decades, the Prince of Wales has often commented on and joked about his eventually becoming king.

Lady Farnham: The Queen's close friend and confidant sadly passed away aged 90


None has attracted the attention and ire of the Queen as much as when, in 1998, Charles' household made a monumental mistake in appearing to endorse the thought of the Queen's abdication.

Robert Jobson, a veteran royal author, recounted the awkward moment in his 2006 book, 'William’s Princess', noting how Charles' reputation was thrown into disrepair as a result.

He wrote: "In November 1998, a person never identified was responsible for a spectacularly misguided attempt to burnish Charles’ reputation and enforce his position as heir to the throne.

“[It] led instead to the Queen’s ire, necessitating an embarrassing climbdown on the part of her eldest son.

Prince Charles: He is the next natural heir


“The Queen was appalled to read that a St James’s Palace aide had asserted that Charles would be ‘privately delighted’ if his mother were to abdicate.

“If true, this was a delight the prince would have been better keeping to himself.

“But the source of the information was a supporter of Charles who no doubt genuinely believed himself to be speaking in the Prince of Wales’ best interest.

“This was an act of treachery as far as the Queen was concerned.

“Livid, she telephoned Charles who was on an official visit to Bulgaria.

Mother and son: The embarrassing moment came in 1998

Throne: Many experts claim Charles might skip the throne and pass it on to his son, Prince William


“He knew nothing about it but agreed with his mother that a joint statement should be issued in which Charles would stress his ‘abiding admiration and affection for the Queen’.

“Prince Charles insisted that if any of his staff had been guilty, heads would roll.

“Whatever Buckingham Palace suspects, the investigation proved nothing and nobody was hung out to dry.”

Mr Jobson was on the trip to Bulgaria and remembered the "ashen face" of Charles' secretary on receiving the call.

Prince William: He and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, have higher approval ratings than Charles 


He continued: "A statement was issued rubbishing the notion that Charles had any interest in his mother abdicating.

“It was a joint statement from monarch and heir, the subtext perhaps being that without the Queen’s clout, doubt might still remain.

“What it amounted to was a humiliating public apology from son to mother that the newspapers seized on enthusiastically.”

Much has been said of whether Charles will take the throne or pass it on to his son, Prince William.

Many point towards the Royal Family's approval ratings, of which William sits at third, just behind the Queen and Prince Philip, while Charles sits at sixth, behind Princess Anne and just a point in front of Zara Phillips, her daughter.

Father and son: The pair are known to share a close bond

Experts claimed that the public might prefer to see a younger, more modern pair of royals in William and his wife, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, take the throne as opposed to Charles, who is 73.

Constitutional researchers at University College London's (UCL) Constitution Unit previously said that having waited "over 60 years as heir apparent, it would be perfectly natural for Prince Charles to want to assume the throne and perform the royal duties for which he has spent so long preparing in waiting".

However, in a post published to their website, they added: "But it would be equally natural if, after reigning for a few years as an increasingly elderly monarch, he chose to invite Parliament to hand the throne to Prince William."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×