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 The Commonwealth has secretly begun considering who might succeed the Queen as its head, the BBC has learned. The issue is hugely sensitive because the role is not hereditary and will not pass automatically to the Prince of Wales on the Queen's death. However, senior sources added that the gathering in London would also consider what happens when the Queen, who turns 92 in April, dies. A senior source said: "I imagine the question of the succession, however distasteful it may naturally be, will come up." The agenda for the all-day summit, seen by the BBC, says there will be a discussion of "wider governance considerations", which insiders say is code for the succession. The Queen was proclaimed Head of the Commonwealth at her coronation in 1953, when she was head of state in seven of its eight members. The high level group, which is made up of seven senior former ministers from the Commonwealth, will meet at the body's London headquarters at Marlborough House.
– A day-long meeting set to take place in London will have "wider governance considerations" on its agenda. The BBC reports that's code for something much more fascinating than it sounds: succession. Not of the crown, which Prince Charles will inherit upon his mother's death, but of the role as head of the Commonwealth. It has 53 member states—many of them formerly part of the British Empire, reports the Telegraph, with Rwanda most recently joining in 2009—that are home to 2.4 billion people, but only 15 of them will eventually have Charles as their head of state. The Commonwealth position is not hereditary, leaving open the possibility that someone else could fill the role, and that's reportedly what a "high-level group" will be discussing before appearing at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April. Queen Elizabeth became head of the Commonwealth when she was crowned in 1953, but the Commonwealth has only been in existence since 1931, and there is no formal process for deciding on a successor. There have been some murmurings in the past about electing what the BBC calls "a ceremonial leader to improve the organization's democratic credentials." The Telegraph reports a 2009 diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks allegedly voiced the concerns of the Commonwealth's secretariat director of political affairs with Charles assuming the role, saying he "does not command the same respect" as his mother. She has been quietly lobbying for her son, whose website expresses his support for the Commonwealth and notes he has been to 41 of its countries. (The queen's father used a most unusual hiding place for the crown jewels during World War II.)