BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond is leaving the corporation to launch a freelance career and spend more time with her family.
Bond, right, who held the post for 14 years, will stay until the end of August.
“I’ve had been mulling over this for the past year and have decided that it’s time to branch out into new fields,” she said.
She covered the deaths of the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the Princess of Wales, and was with Prince Charles in Australia in 1994, when an attempt was made on his life.
BBC head of newsgathering Adrian Van Klaveren said Bond had “redefined the role of a television royal correspondent”.
Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell will effectively step into the vacated role, moving over from mainly radio coverage.
News correspondent Peter Hunt, currently a deputy royal correspondent, will be promoted to royal correspondent in charge of coverage of royal stories for BBC Radio.
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