A thrifty new King and his Queen are bent on making changes

It’s easy to believe he has been up to his eyes sorting out – coins and paper money that have his late mother’s head on them, those umpteen charities and organisations which had her as their patron and the sensitive subject of the elderly ladies who have waited on Elizabeth 11 since she was enthroned 70 years ago. He’s a busy man!

Just think for a minute the upheaval any of us who have said goodbye to the last parent. The family home is empty, there’s still food in the fridge, the garden needs some attention and what to do with all those things you took for granted plus the dozens of personal things they hadn’t got round to allocating in the will.

Walking into that home with everything still in it brings the tears on, though in my case my attention was drawn to the two kittens yapping because no-one was paying them attention as the mistress who fed them wasn’t there. I took them both and 21 years later, last month in fact, they both died after years of taking me for a ride. Spoilt rotten, but I would give my right arm to have them back.

The newly named Royals, Charles now King, Camilla is Queen Consort, William is the Prince of Wales and Kate the Princess of Wales are going to be busy. They face a mountain of paper work as each will have to re-sign the letters that will come in from the hundreds of charities and organisations which have them as Patrons.

And that’s just the start. There’s all the re-shuffling of the family homes stretching from Scotland to London. Where will the King get the time for public duties, a haircut and his grandchildren?

Oddly enough it’s the late Queen’s ladies in waiting I feel for most. Some of them have spent decades on Royal duties and now feel it’s time they took that longed for cruise or tended to their garden. Seven `devoted ladies’ have looked after the late Queen a role which was unpaid as they would have considered it an honour and were wealthy in their own right.

The Queen Consort, it is understood, is to get rid of the roles of lady in waiting to be `more with the times’. I hope she knows what she’s doing? Who will she hand those bunches of flowers she will get from the many she will meet in the job and what if her hat goes askew? Who will politely fix it for her or point to the little ones dying to meet her whilst she’s dealing with the grown ups? I always thought those delightful ladies were heroes in themselves some of whom had been doing the job for decades, almost certainly putting the Boss before whatever family they had themselves.

What will this cost conscious King do with all that spare accommodation? Maybe we will find out soon enough.