Does anyone else feel a little uneasy about the number of duties and the amount of public appearances the Royal Family (and Charles in particular) are having to go through in the glare of the world's media so soon after the passing of their mother.
The Queen hadn't been dead 24hrs before Charles was at the gates of Buckingham Palace having to shake hands with hundreds of people, with thousands of camera phones shoved in his face, dozens of TV cameras pointed at him and probably hundreds of millions of people watching him around the world.
Since then he's had to record a televised speech, greet all sorts of people at Buckingham Palace, address Parliament walk behind his mother's coffin in a funeral cortege, attend countless ceremonial duties and he's soon to be off on a tour of the 4 nations.
The Queen's other children and Grandchildren have also had to do walk abouts, chat to crowds and have TV cameras thrust in their faces at every opportunity and all when their probably going through the worst time in their lives. I know when I lost my mother, just going to the supermarket to make sure I had enough tea and biscuits for visitors felt overwhelming.
I understand why the Royal Family are doing what they are doing as they were stung badly by the publics reaction to Diana's death so they feel as though it is their duty to be 'seen' to act as a comfort to the country but is it really their job to comfort us when they are the ones who have lost their Mother/Grandmother? Surely it should be the other way around.
In no other job in the UK would an employer expect you to return to work within 24 hours of losing a parent. And it's not even just returning to work - it's returning to work with a massive promotion, many more responsibilities and expectations whilst, the whole time, every move, word and gesture you make is being watched and analysed and broadcast to hundreds of millions of people world wide.
It's inhuman and my heart breaks for the Royal Family (and Charles in particular) every time I see them paraded around for the amusement of the baying crowds.
In no other walk of life would you have crowds cheering and congratulating you on the death of a parent.
I know all of this succession stuff needs to be done but does it really need to be done this week? Can't it wait at least until after the funeral? The country isn't going to fall over if we don't have a RF for 10 days - hell, we've just gone 8 weeks without a government so I think we'll be fine for 10 days without a new King.
In any other job in the country you would be entitled to bereavement leave following the death of a parent grandparent so why does that not apply to the RF. And by bereavement leave I mean no public appearances no official duties, no affairs of state, no 'meeting and greeting', no ceremonial duties - just 10 days of complete privacy for them to mourn the loss of their loved one in their own ways. Everything else can wait.