Prince of Wales hires diplomat as he steps up responsibilities

The Prince of Wales has been taking on an increasingly global role – Daniel Leal/AFP

The Prince of Wales is to hire a former diplomat who was made an MBE for work on international peacekeeping as his private secretary as he takes on more royal responsibilities.

Ian Patrick, who has worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and as a geopolitical consultant, will join the Kensington Palace team as part of a restructuring to support the Prince and Princess of Wales.

For some years, the Prince has been taking on an increasingly global role, representing King and country on overseas diplomatic visits and travelling for his Earthshot environmental prize.

This week, he has faced questions about stepping up to support his father in the aftermath of the King’s cancer diagnosis.

He is understood to be taking on select public duties while the King continues to conduct all essential business of state. On Wednesday, he performed an investiture before making a speech at an air ambulance fundraiser.

Changes to the Kensington Palace team, put in place before the King’s diagnosis, will give the Prince and Princess their own private secretaries, with a newly-created role of chief executive yet to be filled.

The Princess is recuperating from abdominal surgery and is not expected to return to work before Easter at the earliest.

Mr Patrick spent eight years in the Foreign Office and worked in international peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina for four years. He is a trustee of the charity Crohns and Colitis UK.

On Friday, the Royal family continued working out of the public eye. A source said the King “looks forward” to returning to full public duty as soon as he is able, with no plans to appoint counsellors of state – senior members of the Royal family authorised to carry out official duties – to perform any of his roles.

One constitutional expert described the formal plans to cope with the illness of any monarch as “bombproof”, with provisions under the Regency Act 1937 for all eventualities.

Those involved in any future application of the Act – the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls and the Speaker of the Commons – are understood to have been “reminded of their responsibilities” this week out of an abundance of caution.

While the King has been resting at Sandringham this week, the Queen has attended a concert at Salisbury Cathedral and met several charities.

The Princess Royal has undertaken several engagements, and both she and the Duke of Edinburgh also performed investitures at Windsor Castle.

The Duke of Sussex, meanwhile, has said his “mission continues” after he agreed a court settlement with Mirror Group Newspapers in the wake of an “overwhelming” victory in his phone hacking claim.

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