There was talk a few years back about how William and Kate had a different vision for the kind of work they wanted to do ... take on fewer patronages and commitments, but do more in depth, hands on, ongoing work with the ones they did choose. Fewer ribbon cuttings, more substantial change behind the scenes. Which sounds great, probably more rewarding for them, but leaves a lot of charities that have come to depend on fundraising off the name and support of a royal patron out in the cold. Prince Philip was, according to the royal family’s website, associated with over 900 organizations. That model is unsustainable, but where does that leave the 800 organizations the royals no longer support. And the ribbon cuttings and walkabouts seem frivolous or not “real” work, but they are also bringing attention and media coverage to real organizations who are doing good work. Not to mention the work being done to maintain the royal family’s image and popularity. Every time William and Kate go a couple of weeks without appearing in public people are screaming about how they never work. Never mind if they’ve been taking non-stop meetings behind the scenes, it’s the optics. I agree that we don’t want taxpayer money to fund the lavish lifestyle of hangers on who are not contributing anything. On a related but different point this is why George V issued the letters patent a century ago defining who could call themselves HRH. Because all kinds of people with a tenuous link to the royal family and several generations removed from “working” royals were calling themselves HRH because of inherited titles.
Like any institution, if they want to “slim” things then that means they need to decide what they want to stop doing. Not just ask those remaining to do more with less (as anyone who has been through budget cuts and layoffs at work can tell you!). I think that’s Anne’s point. She works harder than any of them, has done so for her entire life, and deliberately made sure her children were set up to not have titles, not have royal duties, and not be supported by taxpayer funds. She’s just saying there already aren’t enough people to do the work that was being done, so if you want to reduce further, you have to reduce the work. Most of the current working royals are retirement age or older. The next generation is only William and Kate. All of QEII’s first cousins were working royals. None of William’s will be. They thought his brother would be, but he chose a different path.
. I supposed Prince Charles was meant to have a decade-long Rumspringa before he married her.
at the idea of Amish Charles and the Decade-Long Rumspringa, which would be a good title for a book. 
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