00:00 King Charles is due to make a public appearance at a royal event this weekend,
00:04 the first since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
00:08 Buckingham Palace, the 75 year old monarch, would attend the traditional Easter Sunday
00:12 church service at Windsor Castle alongside his wife Queen Camilla.
00:16 The service is one of the annual engagements usually attended by all senior royals.
00:22 But this year's event will serve to spotlight how depleted the British monarchy has become.
00:27 Sunday's most notable absence will be that of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children.
00:33 The princess revealed last week that she had begun preventative chemotherapy for cancer
00:37 following abdominal surgery in January.
00:40 Here's Erin Hill, People Magazine's senior royal editor.
00:44 As we know, King Charles really wanted to have a slimmed down monarchy when he took on the throne,
00:49 but he never could have anticipated it slimming down to where it is now.
00:54 Charles's desire for a slimmed down institution was designed to counter accusations that it was bloated,
00:59 with distant relatives living off taxpayer-funded handouts.
01:03 But there are now even gaping holes in his immediate circle.
01:07 These not only include his younger son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who left for the US
01:12 three years ago, but his younger brother Prince Andrew, who was banished from public life in 2019
01:18 over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
01:22 According to royal biographer Claudia Joseph, Camilla and William have done a sterling job
01:27 in the absence of Charles, but it still won't have been easy.
01:31 It is, it's going to be on a personal level, it's going to be awful for the royals,
01:36 and obviously on a practical level it makes things difficult.
01:39 Of the remaining official working royals, those that carry out duties for the king,
01:44 such as opening new buildings and meeting foreign dignitaries,
01:47 many are now from the late Queen Elizabeth's generation.
01:50 Princess Anne often tops the list for being the hardest working royal,
01:54 but she herself will turn 74 this year.
01:57 Although polls show most Britons remain generally supportive of the monarchy,
02:02 they also suggest that that majority is shrinking,
02:05 with a growing gap between enthusiastic older people and indifferent younger generations.
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