Royal officials gave “serious and detailed thought” a regency in Queen Elizabeth’s later years. Aides at Buckingham Palace endured “years of anxiety” and had been working on the belief their may be a “long, slow decline of the Queen’s health” and feared it was “almost inevitable” her son, the then-Prince Charles, would have to take on most of her duties, but the now-king was “extremely reluctant” to engage with staff about the possibility. An extract from ‘Charles III New King. New Court. The Inside Story’ by Robert Hardman published by MailOnline read: “Serious and detailed thought had been g…