Lloyd Lancaster-Brown, Thornton Thripp and Rowen a Treadwell, also known as Miss Broadfoot and Frank Bunyan, were all sent to prison for their treasonous plot. Though none of them would admit whose idea it was in the first place, each blaming the other as the mastermind behind the evil plan, their roles became more apparent over time.

Rowena had been clearing out some old filing cabinets at SPLOD HQ when she came across the unsigned abdication document. Marjorie was away at the time, so Rowena had taken it to Thripp in his capacity as the Queen’s chief advisor. He’d told her to sit tight and had hatched a plan to interrupt the line of succession and stop Freddy from becoming King. In return for her cooperation, Thornton promised Agent Treadwell the position of Chief of SPLOD as soon as Marjorie became Queen. This suited Rowena perfectly as she’d always resented Marjorie getting the top job over her.

Lloyd had hacked into Fiona, taking control of SPLOD’s master computer. Agent Treadwell switched the surveillance in Millie’s camera and took the photographs of Alice-Miranda while she was at school and, much to Her Majesty’s disgust, Thripp was the poet and author of the appalling notes. When she later questioned Thripp about his reasons for committing his treasonous acts, he said that he simply couldn’t bear the thought of Freddy ascending the throne after the reign of his gracious and elegant mother. Queen Georgiana couldn’t believe his stupidity.

Lloyd was desperately sorry for being such a fool and apologised to his sister Lydie, and cousin Freddy. He even tried to make it up to Marjorie by creating a completely hack-proof shield for Fiona 2.0.

Vincent Langley was given the option to retire on a very handsome pension. To everyone’s surprise he leapt at the chance, allowing Braxton Balfour to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming head butler at Evesbury. He and Lydie rekindled their romance and planned to marry the following spring. As time went by, her memory grew stronger and stronger. Lydie was more than happy to continue making Her Majesty’s hat too. Marjorie Plunkett had only ever known that the person who lived in the cottage provided her cover – she had never known who the woman was.

After breaking off her engagement with Lloyd, Marjorie chose to focus on her professional career for the moment and work on making SPLOD a more transparent organisation. She even agreed to be interviewed by the famous talk-show host Michael Frost about her role and the responsibilities of the organisation. That way, she no longer had to pretend that she was Her Majesty’s milliner. Marjorie was stunned to find a whole host of important original documents stored in the tower vault and promptly had them safely moved to HQ.

Together with Her Majesty, Marjorie turned the hunting tower into a tourist attraction and charged visitors to view the very first SPLOD computer, Fiona 1.0. They even had Fiona reprogrammed to answer the public’s questions – to a certain extent, of course.

The Prime Minister of Samoa’s visit to the palace had been part of Thripp’s plan to create yet another diversion. Fortunately, by the time dinner was served that night, order had been restored to the palace and the man was none the wiser.

Queen Georgiana decided that it was much safer to keep a close eye on Edgar and Louis and their inventions, and set them up in the attic. Though, their gadgets constantly caused her to question her decision – particularly after a stink bomb went awry and the entire palace had to be evacuated and the bomb squad called in.

Caprice’s grandfather recovered from his stroke and, though her mother was annoyed that Caprice had chosen to stay at the palace instead of going to be with her family, Venetia was pleased to hear that her daughter had played a positive role in apprehending the threesome that would have brought down the Queen.

Her Majesty took Hugh’s advice and gave Freddy more responsibility. He and Elsa had just represented her on a trip to the Pacific Islands. Apart from mispronouncing Prime Minister Tuitua’s name as Prime Minister Tutu, Freddy didn’t fare too badly.

Queen Georgiana appointed Mrs Marmalade as her chief advisor on top of her services as lady-in-waiting. Marian couldn’t wait for Dalton to return and realise what had gone on in his absence. Never mind the answer when he applied for leave again.

Alice-Miranda and her friends had the most wonderful week with Aunty Gee and Mrs Marmalade. As promised, Aunty Gee took Alice-Miranda and Millie riding, and Caprice tagged along too. Even Millie had to admit that the girl was a very accomplished rider. The children had picnics and midnight feasts, and they used the clothes from the attic wardrobe for a play they presented to the palace staff on their very last night. Of course, they insisted on Aunty Gee and Mrs Marmalade performing in it too. It wasn’t a stretch for either of them, though, playing a queen and lady-in-waiting.