Hi, Question: What Are Royal Patronages and How Do They Work?
On top of popping up at state dinners in tiaras and stolen diamonds, standing on balconies for a quick wave, and wandering around London in gold carriages, part of the royal family's myriad duties include being ~patrons~ to various charitable organizations.
Some examples? Kate Middleton just became official patron of the hospital where she received chemotherapy, Meghan Markle was patron of the National Theater before she stepped away from royal duties, and Princess Anne is patron of a whopping ~300 organizations (truly, no one in this family works harder).
But...what does being a "royal patron" even mean? Good question. For the most part, the gig involves showing up to the occasional event, chatting with people in charge, acting interested (and in most cases, we hope, actually being interested), and general "ribbon cutting" energy. But patronages are actually pretty complicated so let's dive in.
How Many Royal Patronages Are There?
According to the royal family's official website, "over 1,000 organizations have a member of the Royal Family as their patron or president," and around 600 of these are related to the armed services.
What Does a Royal Patronage...Do?
Essentially, royal patronages provide publicity to a charity or organization thanks to the royal affiliation. So, if you're a charity who has the support of a royal, you can count on them coming to your events, bringing their press pool with them, and drumming up publicity for your work in the process.
In other words, the royals are brand ambassadors and influencers, only instead of promoting, idk, dubious hair vitamins, they're promoting The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Royal Patronages Get Handed Down
King George II had the very first patronage thanks to his involvement with the Society of Antiquaries, a patronage now held by The Duke of Gloucester. Meanwhile, all the monarchs after King George IV have stoically continued his patronage of the the Royal National Lifeboat Institution—including King Charles!
Do Royals Get to Pick Their Patronages?
Kinda. The family's official website notes that Queen Camilla became patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society due to her mother and grandmother passing away from the disease. And we know Kate Middleon recently joined Prince William as a patron of the Royal Marsden Hospital due to her personal connection to the facility. Meanwhile, the Queen bestowed the National Theater patronage on Meghan Markle due to the Duchess' strong interests in the arts—not to mention her own background in acting.
But! King Charles Is Technically Cutting Down on Patronages
Back in May, Reuters reported that the royals would "relinquish" almost 200 patronages after a review following Queen Elizabeth's death.
It remains to be seen what Prince William's approach to patronages will be when he's King, but he's spoken candidly about wanting to scale down the royal family. When asked about his approach to royal engagements back in November, for example, he said “I can only describe what I’m trying to do and that’s trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation. I’m doing it with maybe a smaller r in the royal, if you like, that’s maybe a better way of saying it.”
Wills added that he wants to focus on “impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people," and noted “I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well, because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives… and I think we could do with some more empathetic leadership around the world.”
Noted!
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