ROYAL APPROVAL - KING CHARLES AND CAMILLA SAY A BIG 'THANK YOU'

THE KING AND QUEEN CONSORT SHOW THEIR APPRECIATION TO THE PEOPLE OF ABERDEENSHIRE FOLLOWING HIS MOTHER'S DEATH AND CAMILLA MAKES HER FIRST SOLO APPEARANCE IN HER NEW ROLE

-  RHONA MERCER

As the date for the coronation of King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort was revealed last week, it was business as usual for the royal couple.

Buckingham Palace announced the ceremony will take place on 6 May next year in Westminster Abbey – the first time a British monarch will be crowned on a Saturday since Edward VII’s coronation in 1902.

But while royal fans got excited about having a big celebration to look forward to – and many Brits wondered if we’d be awarded another bank holiday – the King, 73, and Camilla, 75, were fulfilling a series of engagements.

First stop was the Aberdeenshire village of Ballater, close to Balmoral Castle where Queen Elizabeth II passed away last month. The King, dressed appropriately in a kilt, attended a reception with Camilla to thank representatives of local communities, including farmers, council workers and volunteers, for their help and support in the days following his mother’s death.

The couple also met some of the riders – and their horses – who had lined the route of the Queen’s cortege as her coffin was transported to Edinburgh.

Roddy Blackhill, 54, a local farmer, said, ”They were really easy to talk to and down-to-earth and were interested in what was happening on the farm and how harvest went.”