Prince Andrew can still deputise for King as Counsellor of State but Princess Anne can’t under current rules

Prince Andrew is still a Counsellor of State, which means he can step in temporarily for the King, but their sister Princess Anne is still not appointed one because of longstanding rules.

Counsellors of state, of which there are usually five, can be called upon to stand in for the sovereign should they fall ill or be absent from duties.

Under the Regency Act 1937, passed the year after George VI came to the throne, counsellors of state include the spouse of the king or queen and the next four people in line to the throne who are aged over 21.

However, Princess Anne is excluded because when she was born, male heirs had first right to the throne over females – a rule known as male royal primogeniture.

In 2013 a new law, the Succession to the Crown Act, abolished this and gave women equal rights to men in the line of succession. However, the law is not retrospective, so, Anne, 71, misses out.

It means that for King Charles, the Counsellors of State are is his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, his brother Prince Andrew, and his niece Princess Beatrice.

the Duke of York’s daughter is ninth in line to the throne, but is the fourth eligible adult aged over 21. Like Prince Andrew and Prince Harry, Beatrice she is not a working royal.

The Queen’s counsellors of state were her husband Prince Philip until his death, Charles, William, Harry and Andrew.

It would require new legislation to be passed for the Princess Royal to replace Andrew.

Royal experts told i that the existing protocol requires a “radical rethink”, due to the exclusion of Princess Anne, who has played a major role in ceremonial events to mark the Queen’s death in recent days, and the inclusion of three non-working royals.

But for any change to the current standings, legislation would be required. Prince Charles, who is known to want to prevent the Duke of York from returning to royal duties, and his team have not yet said whether the laws around counsellors of state could be altered.

The role is an important one as a counsellor of state can be called upon to carry out the official duties as sovereign, such as attend the State Opening of Parliament, and act on the King’s behalf.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams noted that before the Queen died the situation was “extremely unsatisfactory”, as the Duke of Sussex and Duke of York were unlikely to be called upon to act as a Counsellor, which left just Prince Charles and Prince William to deputise.

He told i that the protocol now needs a “radical rethink”, and that perhaps a different royal, other than Princess Beatrice, could be appointed a counsellor of State.

“What it needs is a radical rethink, in my view, what you need is someone like the Princess Royal or the Earl and Countess of Wessex,” he said. “I would have thought that was a more practical solution to this because they’re all senior working royals and there is no controversy to them in any way.”

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Mr Fitzwilliams added: “I would have thought that in the coming period, this was an opportunity to actually assess how the counsellors of state are chosen.”

Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, founder and director of the British Monarchists Society, said: “Year after year, she [Princess Anne] is continuously one of if not the hardest working royal. She is proven reliable, trustworthy, and duty-bound.”

“This has never been so true as from what we have seen of her over the past few days. That is deduction and duty.

“The rules as they apply now are fair going forward, but Anne deserves it, more so than her niece [Princess Beatrice].

“Especially when Andrew and Harry are still in the position where one has beeen stripped of duties and the other throwing his duties away.”

But Mr Mace-Archer-Mills added: “I think the King will be relying on her quite a bit in the future, so maybe she is happy to stay where she is at the moment as her current and increasing workload may prevent her from taking on anymore.”

The Regency Act allows counsellors of state to act in place of the sovereign on a temporary basis, if he or she can’t undertake official duties due to “illness or absence abroad”.

They are appointed by Letters Patent to act in Her Majesty’s place and allow for a temporary delegation of duties.

The position can only be held by the sovereign’s spouse and the next four people, over the age of 21, in the line of succession.

Prince William’s three children, Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four are ruled out due to their age, despite being third, fourth and fifth in line to the throne respectively.

Counsellors of state are authorised to carry out most of the official duties of the sovereign, for example, attending Privy Council meetings, signing routine documents and receiving the credentials of new ambassadors to the United Kingdom.

Letters Patent were issued earlier this year, which saw Charles and Williams step in for the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament.

Prior to this, was in 2015, when the Queen travelled to Malta.

In 1974, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret declared a state of emergency and dissolved Parliament while the Queen was in Australia.

There are several core constitutional functions that cannot be delegated under Counsellors of State, such as giving Royal Assent to legislation and holding the weekly meetings with the Prime Minister.

For someone to do this on the sovereign’s behalf a regency would need to be appointed. Such a move would involve the King transferring her powers as monarch to his heir Prince William, without having to abdicate.

However, such a scenario is very unlikely to happen while the monarch holds mental capacities and continues to carry out duties.