Old-Duffer,
I also understand that de facto and de jure, when Charles becomes King, his wife becomes Queen and it would take another of, the much mentioned above, acts of parliament to change the status from Queen to Queen Consort.
Not quite. There can only be one monarch, so the wife of the King is not the Queen. She will only ever be Queen Consort. She is called "Queen", but not THE Queen. Whatever she is called, Camilla will be Queen Consort, but as you said, as a "sop to the great unwashed" the plan was to simply call her Princess Consort instead. Diana would have only have been Queen Consort too.
Our current Queen is THE Queen, because she is the monarch (Queen Regnant). Her husband could never be King, which is why Philip is a Prince Consort, but is called "Prince" in much the same way.
Jolly confusing this.
Nobody mention the Statute of Westminster 1931.