King Charles bumps into Santa Claus while Christmas shopping as he’s mobbed by well-wishers

THE King has bumped into Santa Claus who assured him he was at “the very top of his good list”.

Charles, 75, was mobbed by well-wishers yesterday as he toured a Christmas market at Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre, West London.

But he made a detour when he spotted Father Christmas while watching dances by a theatre group for adults with learning difficulties.

After chatting about whether there was room for a sleigh at Sandringham, Santa Keith Flaherty, of Worthing, West Sussex, said: “I told him that he was at the top of Santa’s very good list and he said, ‘Really?’, and sounded delighted.”

“What a lovely man he is. We really had no idea he was coming and it was such a shock that he came over to see us.”

Mr Flaherty added: “Honestly what a good sport he is. What a delightful man.”

Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales hosts her third Royal Carols concert today with Prince William giving a reading at Westminster Abbey.

It airs on ITV on Christmas Eve.

Earlier this week, Charles and Princess Kate beamed as they put on a united front and posed with Queen Camilla and Prince William.

The royals smiled at a pre-Christmas event for 500 members of the Diplomatic Corps - in their first appearance together since the Scobie race row began.

An early Dutch version of Omid Scobie's hatchet-job book Endgame suggested Kate and Charles were the two Royals who made remarks about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan's first child, Archie.

The poisonous claims have been pilloried by Royal experts - and in the fall out Scobie has been blasted for peddling "bulls**t" excuses about how the names were included in the Dutch translation. 

But Kate and Charles looked unphased as they met for the first time since the claims and posed in the palace’s 1844 Room.