While Queen Elizabeth still meets with the Prime Minister on a weekly basis, hosts foreign ambassadors, and gets her daily red boxes, she is increasingly depending on senior members of the royal family to carry out her more demanding tasks.

At the age of 95, the queen has progressively delegated some of her patronages and public appearances to younger royals. Given the Queen’s age and recent health problems, especially mobility concerns, it is an unavoidable shift.

While Queen Elizabeth continues to meet with the Prime Minister on a weekly basis, welcome foreign ambassadors, and get her daily red boxes, she is increasingly relying on senior members of the royal family to carry out her more difficult duties.

The queen, who is 95 years old, has gradually transferred some of her patronages and public appearances to younger royals. Given the Queen’s age and recent health issues, particularly mobility issues, it is an inescapable change.

The Queen now relies on a core group of senior royals, including Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, William and Kate, and Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, after Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal role amid his sexual assault lawsuit and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to California after stepping down from their roles.

On behalf of his mother, the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, handed new colours to the Royal Gibraltar Regiment at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

The Queen, on the other hand, depends heavily on her son and grandson to carry out many of her royal duties, particularly those involving overseas travel. Furthermore, in the absence of her spouse, Prince Philip, the Queen maintains regular, typically phone-based communication with Prince Charles and Prince William.

However, when it comes to the monarchy’s future, all eyes are on Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Yes, Prince Charles, 73, will reign next alongside his wife, future Queen Consort Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 74, but “because of the ages of all the participants, there must be a feeling that long-term, the future of the British monarchy is more about William and Kate—spiritually, not in terms of actual succession,” says historian Sarah Gristwood, author of Elizabeth: Queen and Crown.

“The throne must pass to Charles and Camilla, but there is a sense that the Queen is also passing the baton to William and Kate. Charles and Camilla have a wealth of life experience between them, and they aren’t about to change. The Cambridges hold the key to the future “She continues.