As Queen Elizabeth ages, the question seems to arise more frequently: will the queen abdicate the throne in order for Prince Charles to become king before she passes? The tradition has been that abdication is a last resort, and it is tradition for one monarch to pass before the next in line ascends to the throne. Queen Elizabeth is a big believer and follower of tradition.
A royal documentarian, Nick Bullen, says that the queen will not abdicate to Prince Charles, according to Radar Online . Queen Elizabeth, 92, just helped her oldest son, Prince Charles, celebrate his 70th birthday surrounded by his grandchildren, but according to Bullen, the popularity of her grandsons and their wives has given her a real boost over the last year.
Bullen says that “abdication will never happen,” and Prince Charles will never be the “ruling monarch” as long as the queen is alive and well. The filmmaker says that Queen Elizabeth is enjoying the recent surge in popularity, and despite the rumors, the monarch gets a kick out of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. “I think the Queen sees what those boys and their wives bring, I also wonder whether she even throws forward to the great-grandchildren.”
Bullen says that Prince Charles could plausibly wait another decade before becoming king. “Her mother lived to 101. The Queen is there for the long run – she could live for at least another 10 years. She’s seen it all, she’s done it all, she is the ultimate working mother and working woman, and I don’t think she’s going anywhere, anytime soon.”
Even journalists admit that Queen Elizabeth smiles more often and more easily lately, particularly when surrounded by the younger members of her family.
There has been buzz that the queen could ask parliament for the Regency Act which would allow her to remain queen, but allow the Prince of Wales to be appointed king in all but name as long as his mother lived. But for now, this is only a rumor, and it seems unlikely.
Viewers of the Netflix series The Crown know what the abdication of Prince Edward did to the state of the monarchy, and Queen Elizabeth wants no role in any scenario that would see any talk of an “illegitimate monarch” on the throne. The abdication (combined with Prince Edward’s marriage to Wallis Simpson and behavior during WWII) put a stain on the Windsors for more than a generation, and it’s unlikely to happen on the queen’s watch.