Kate Middleton could be given this important royal role

In recent months, Kate Middleton has become Catherine, Princess of Wales, which means she is now one of the most senior royals around.

As such, she could be considered for a very prestigious role: that of Counsellor of State. These Counsellors are able to stand in for the King in an official capacity if he is not able to attend those duties for any reason.

This comes amid a controversy surrounding Princes Harry and Andrew, who are still Counsellors of State despite no longer being working royals, and Princess Beatrice, who is not a working royal either but was appointed to the role in September. Prince William is the only other Counsellor of State as it stands.

Over the last days, there have been concerns in the House of Lords about what it would mean constitutionally were Prince Harry — who lives in the US — and Prince Andrew — who was disgraced over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — called upon to stand in for the King.

But one expert thinks that, rather than removing Harry and Andrew as Counsellors, a better solution would be to add other royals to the list instead.

"The most straightforward solution is simply to add to the pool of Counsellors of State other members of the Royal Family, who may well be further down the line of succession but still conduct public duties," Dr. Craig Prescott, a Law lecturer at the University of Bangor, said on a webinar (via Express).

"Obvious candidates include Princess Anne and Prince Edward. You may even think about the Duke of Gloucester perhaps. Because the original idea behind the 1937 [Regency] Act was to have a pool of Counsellors of State to have the necessary flexibility.

"Adding a few others would allow Prince William to travel overseas at the same time as the King, perhaps on shorter visits to further some of his own interests, or the Earthshot Prize, or whatever that may be. It simply would make managing their diaries easier."

Craig suggested that Princess Kate would also make a great candidate, considering her new role in the Royal Family. He added that it would be "quite nice if the Prince and Princess of Wales acted together".

In this way, there would be "no need to specifically remove Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice".

For our part, we're sure Princess Kate would be up to the task!