The Buckingham Palace balcony told its own story at this year’s Trooping the Colour.

It was once a crowded royal showcase that has been reduced to a carefully curated line-up with senior working royals, the Wales children and a single additional family member. 

The Royal Family is running short on working hands and the consequences are becoming impossible to ignore.

In 2025, just 10 working royals carried the weight of the monarchy. 

Together, they completed 2,459 official engagements, a sharp drop from 2018, when 16 working royals undertook nearly 4,000 duties. The decline isn’t about commitment; it’s about capacity.

The numbers also reveal a demographic squeeze. The average age of today’s working royals sits close to 70, with six of them now in their eighties responsible for roughly two-thirds of all appearances.

King Charles and Princess Anne continue to lead the workload, despite being well past typical retirement age.

William and Kate account for a much smaller share of health considerations, family priorities and a conscious effort to pace their roles while raising their children. 

The problem is that there simply aren’t enough younger royals ready to step in.

Recent health setbacks across the family exposed how fragile the system has become. Reduced schedules, hospital stays and scaled-back travel highlighted the lack of flexibility within the current model.

Solutions are limited and risky. Cutting back royal duties could weaken long-standing ties with charities and communities. 

Expanding the working roster would require reversing years of policy aimed at keeping the monarchy lean and would likely demand financial support for relatives leaving private careers.

Prince George and his siblings are still years away from full-time royal life, leaving a long stretch where the institution must manage with fewer faces and growing expectations.

It seems quite difficult for Sarah Ferguson to keep her dignity intact without a royal title as she’s been struggling to adjust to life since her fall from grace.

Life without a $40 million mansion and royal perks is whole different ball game for Fergie.

The Duchess of Sussex might be sticking to the royal title for avoiding the same fate as she’s aware that surviving without royal clutches won’t be easy, not until they have carved their own niche as celebrities.

Dropping the title would’ve meant starting from scratch, and the couple’s decison clinging to it seems to be a savvy move.

Ferguson has enjoyed a life of luxury as part of the royal family.

Now, it has been a rude awakening for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie’s mother to rebuild her own reputaion without royal perks and honours.

Fergie reportedy feels humiliated after losing royal status and adjusting to life outside Windsor Castle.

However, Meghan and Harry have a different story. They had conflicts with some royals and disagreed with certain traditions, which led the couple to start a new life in California. 

Interestingly, they still keep their Duke and Duchess titles even though they’ve publicly expressed reservations about being part of the royal family.

The former duke and duchess of York’s example may strenghten Meghan and Harry’s decison to continue with their royal titles.

king Charles stirpped Andrew and his ex-wife of  their Duke and Duchess of York titles last year over their connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

Ferguson “finds the situation humiliating beyond belief,” sources explained to Radar.

The insiders went on to explain that the couple are still at loss to understand that “how egregious it was to associate with Epstein and to lie about it.”

In her chummy 2011 email to Epstein, the former Weight Watchers spokesperson “humbly” apologised to him after publicly distancing herself from him a few weeks prior.