TheBritish royal family comprisesCharles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although theRoyal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considered part of the royal family. Members typically support the monarch in carrying out public engagements and take part in charitable work and ceremonial duties.
Senior royals collectively undertake thousands of official engagements across theUnited Kingdom,British Overseas Territories,Crown Dependencies and abroad each year, including state visits, national events, and patronage activities. The family also represents the UK on the global stage and contributes to soft power through diplomacy and cultural presence.
Initiatives associated with the family include charitable foundations such asThe King's Trust andThe Royal Foundation, which focus on youth development, mental health, conservation, and early childhood. The monarchy operates within a constitutional framework, with succession determined by statute and convention.
TheLord Chamberlain's "List of the Royal Family" published in November 2025 mentions all of KingGeorge VI's living descendants and their spouses, along with QueenElizabeth II's cousins with royal rank and their spouses.[1] The list applies for the purposes of regulating the use of royal symbols and images of the family.[2]
The royal website once stated that "generally speaking, the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of a Sovereign, as well as their spouses, are members of the Royal Family. First cousins of the monarch may also be included. Children are included on coming of age or after they have completed their education."[3]
Boxes indicate living individuals with royal titles and styles.
Purple indicates living individuals listed or described as members of the royal family on the official website.[11]
All living individuals except for Mark Phillips and Sarah Ferguson are listed as members of the royal family by theLord Chamberlain as of November 2025.[12]
Dashed lines indicate married couples, dotted lines divorced couples.[9]
Marriage certificate of Elizabeth Windsor and Philip Mountbatten, signed by members of the royal family
The monarch's children and grandchildren (if they are children of the monarch's sons), and the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, are automatically entitled to be known asprince orprincess with the styleHis or Her Royal Highness (HRH).[13]Peerages, oftendukedoms, are bestowed upon most princes prior to marriage.[14][15]Peter Phillips andZara Tindall, children of the King's sister, Princess Anne, are, therefore, not prince and princess.Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor andJames Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex, though entitled to the styles "Princess Louise of Edinburgh" and "Prince James of Edinburgh", respectively, are not called prince and princess, as their parents, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, wanted them to have more modest titles.[13]
By tradition, wives of male members of the royal family share their husbands' title and style.[16] Princesses by marriage do not have the title prefixed to their own name[13] but to their husband's; for example, the wife of Prince Michael of Kent is Princess Michael of Kent.[16] Sons of monarchs are customarily given dukedoms upon marriage, and these peerage titles pass to their eldest sons.[16]
Male-line descendants of KingGeorge V, including women until they marry, bear the surname Windsor. The surname of the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II, except for women who marry, isMountbatten-Windsor, reflecting the name taken by her Greek-born husband,Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, upon hisnaturalisation. A surname is generally not needed by members of the royal family who are entitled to the titles of prince or princess and the style His or Her Royal Highness. Such individuals use surnames on official documents such asmarriage registers, however.[17]
The Princess Royal meeting members of the public during a walkabout inPaisley, Renfrewshire
Members of the royal family support the monarch in "state and national duties", while also carrying out charity work of their own.[18][19] If the sovereign is indisposed, twocounsellors of state are required to fulfil his/her role, with those eligible being restricted to the sovereign's spouse, and the first four people in the line of succession over the age of 21. In 2022 the thenEarl of Wessex and thePrincess Royal were added to the list by special legislation.[20]
Each year the family "carries out over 2,000 official engagements throughout the UK and worldwide", entertaining 70,000 guests and answering 100,000 letters.[18][21] Engagements include state funerals, national festivities, garden parties, receptions, and visits to theArmed Forces.[18] Many members have served in the Armed Forces themselves, including the King's brothers and sons.[22][21] Engagements are recorded in theCourt Circular, a list of daily appointments and events attended by the royal family.[23] Public appearances are often accompanied by walkabouts, where royals greet and converse with members of the public outside events.[24] The start of this tradition is sometimes attributed to a trip Queen Elizabeth II made in 1970 to Australia and New Zealand.[25]Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother also interacted with crowds on a trip to Canada in 1939 and in 1940 duringThe Blitz in London.[26][27]
Given the royal family's public role and activities, it is sometimes referred to by courtiers as "The Firm", a term that originated with George VI.[33][34] Members of the royal family are politically and commercially independent, avoiding conflict of interest with their public roles.[35] The royal family are considered Britishcultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the family among a group of people who they most associated withBritish culture.[36] Members are expected to promote British industry.[37] Royals are typically members of theChurch of England, headed by the monarch. When in Scotland they attend the Church of Scotland as members and some have served asLord High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland.[38][39]
Members of the royal family are patrons for approximately 3,000 charities,[21] and have also started their own nonprofit organisations.[22] The King startedThe Prince's Trust, which helps young people in the UK that are disadvantaged.[40] Princess Anne startedThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers, which helps unpaid carers, giving them emotional support and information about benefit claims and disability aids.[41] The Earl and Countess of Wessex (as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were then known) founded the Wessex Youth Trust, since renamed The Earl and Countess of Wessex Charitable Trust, in 1999.[42] The Prince and Princess of Wales are founding patrons ofThe Royal Foundation, whose projects revolve aroundmental health, conservation, early childhood, andemergency responders.[43]
In 2019, following the negative reactions to the "Prince Andrew & the Epstein Scandal" interview, the then Duke of York (laterAndrew Mountbatten Windsor) was forced to resign from public roles; the retirement became permanent in 2020.[44] The Duke and Duchess of Sussexpermanently withdrew from royal duties in early 2020.[45] Following these departures, there is a shortage of royal family members to cover the increasing number of patronages and engagements.[5]
Royal biographerPenny Junor says that the royal family has presented itself "as the model family" since the 1930s.[5] Author Edward Owen wrote that during theSecond World War, the monarchy sought an image of a "more informal and vulnerable family" that had a unifying effect on the nation during instability.[46]In 1992, the Princess Royal and her husbandMark Phillips divorced; the Prince andPrincess of Wales separated; a biography detailing the Princess'sbulimia andself-harming was published;her private telephone conversations surfaced, as did the Prince'sintimate telephone conversations with his lover, Camilla Parker Bowles; the Duke and Duchess of York separated; and photographs of the topless Duchess having her toes sucked by another man appeared in tabloids. Historian Robert Lacey said that this "put paid to any claim to being a model of family life". The scandals contributed to the public's unwillingness to pay for the repairs toWindsor Castle after the1992 fire. A further "PR disaster" was the royal family's initial response to thedeath of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.[28]
In the 1990s, the royal family formed the Way Ahead Group, made up of senior family members and advisers and headed by Elizabeth II, in a quest to change in accordance with public opinion.[28][47] Thewedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in April 2011 led to a "tide of goodwill", and by Elizabeth II'sDiamond Jubilee in 2012 the royal family's image had recovered.[28] A 2019YouGov poll showed that two-thirds of British people were in favour of maintaining the royal family.[48] The role and public relations of the extended royal family again came under increased scrutiny due to the Duke of York's friendship with convictedsex offendersJeffrey Epstein andGhislaine Maxwell, andallegations of sexual abuse, along with his unapologetic conduct in the2019 interview about these subjects and subsequent2021 lawsuit.[49][50][51] In June 2019, the royal family, several members of which advocate for environmental causes, faced criticism after it was revealed that they "had doubled [their] carbon footprint from business travel".[52]
In a2021 interview, the Duchess of Sussex, who is ofbiracial heritage, relayed second-hand that there had been "concerns and conversations" within the royal family about theskin colour of their son,Archie, while the Duke of Sussex stated it was a single instance.[53] The interview received a mixed reaction from the British public and media, and several of their claims were called into question.[54][55] The Duke of Cambridge said the royal family were "very much not a racist family". In June 2021, documents revealed that "coloured immigrants or foreigners" were banned by Elizabeth II's chief financial manager at the time from working for the family asclerks in the 1960s, prompting black studies professorKehinde Andrews to state that "the royal family has a terrible record on race".[53] In response, the palace stated that it complied "in principle and in practice" with anti-discrimination legislation, and that second-hand claims of "conversations from over 50 years ago should not be used to draw or infer conclusions about modern-day events or operations."[56] In March 2022 and during the Caribbean tour of the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as part of theQueen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the family encountered criticism from a number of political figures and the press, given their past connections tocolonialism and theAtlantic slave trade via theRoyal African Company.[57][58]Reparations for slavery emerged as a major demand of protesters during the couple's visit.[59] Both the then Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge have condemned slavery in their speeches,[60][61] and the Prince has described acknowledging the wrongs of the past as a necessity for the Commonwealth countries to realise their potential.[62] In a2023 interview, the Duke of Sussex was questioned if he and his wife had accused members of his family of racism during their 2021 interview, to which Harry responded "No. The British press said that, right? Did Meghan ever mention 'they're racists'?"[63]
Historically, the royal family and themedia have benefited from each other; the family used the press to communicate with the public, while the media used the family to attract readers and viewers.[64] With theadvent of television, however, the media started paying less respect to the royal family's privacy.[28] Princes William and Harry have had informal arrangements with the press whereby they would be left alone by thepaparazzi during their education in return for invitations to staged photograph opportunities. William has continued the practice with his family posts onInstagram. Relations between the media and British royals have been destabilized by the rise of thedigital media, with the quantity of articles becoming paramount toward gainingadvertising revenue, with neither side able to exercise control.[64] In the 2000s, the phones of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, and Prince Harry and his then-girlfriendChelsy Davy, were hacked multiple times by media outlets,most notably by a private investigator working for aNews of the World journalist.[65][66] A 2021BBC documentary suggested that briefings and counter-briefings from differentroyal households was the reason behind the negative coverage about members of the royal family. Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace, which represented the Queen, the then Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge respectively, described these suggestions as "overblown and unfounded claims".[67]
Annual public spending on European monarchies, 2022–2023
Senior members of the royal family, who represent the monarch, draw their income frompublic funds known as theSovereign Grant, an annual payment of theBritish government to the monarch.[68] It comes from the revenues of theCrown Estate, which are commercial properties owned bythe Crown.[69][70] Members of the royal family who receive money from the sovereign grant must be accountable to the public for it and are not allowed to make money from their name.[68] The monarch also receives the income of theDuchy of Lancaster, and the Prince of Wales from theDuchy of Cornwall.
The security expenses for the royal family are typically covered by theMetropolitan Police rather than the sovereign grant.[71] The royal family, theHome Office, and the Metropolitan Police decide which members have a right to taxpayer-funded police security. Extended members do not retain automatic right to protection; in 2011 Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie ceased receiving police security.[72][73]
Clarence House served as the official residence ofCharles III from 2003, when he was Prince of Wales, until he ascended to the throne on 8 September 2022.[70] Another London residence of his when Prince of Wales wasSt James's Palace, which he shared with the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra.[79] Princess Alexandra also resides atThatched House Lodge inRichmond.[80] The King also privately ownsSandringham House in Norfolk andBalmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, which are his personal property. He inherited them from Elizabeth II upon her death.
1 Not a British prince by birth, but createdPrince Consort.2 Not a British prince by birth, but created a Prince of the United Kingdom. Princes whose titles were removed and eligible people who do not use the title are shown in italics.
The generations indicate descent fromGeorge I, who formalised the use of the titlesprince andprincess for members of the British royal family. Where a princess may have been or is descended from George I more than once, her most senior descent, by which she bore or bears her title, is used.
The generations include wives of princes descended fromGeorge I, who formalised the use of the titlesprince andprincess for members of the British royal family.
_(cropped_2).jpg)
.jpg)
_(William_and_Catherine).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
