If you were to believe news reports from yesterday, King Charles’ cancer battle had taken a turn for the worse, and his funeral plans (code named Operation Menai Bridge, just in case you wanted to know) were being revised in preparation. It just proves how fluctuating the news cycle is—and how careful one must be in consuming it—because today, Buckingham Palace released a statement on the King’s health, and the reports look overwhelmingly positive.
The Palace said that Charles is set to return to public engagements as doctors are pleased with progress in his cancer treatment—and the King, poignantly, will make a public-facing visit to a cancer treatment center on Tuesday alongside his wife, Queen Camilla, where they will meet with medical specialists and patients, Tatler reports. “This visit will be the first in a number of external engagements the King will undertake in the weeks ahead,” the outlet writes.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said that “His Majesty’s treatment program will continue, but doctors are sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far that the King is now able to resume a number of public-facing duties,” they said. “Forthcoming engagements will be adapted where necessary to minimize any risks to His Majesty’s continued recovery.” The Palace confirmed the King was “greatly encouraged” to be resuming some public-facing duties and “very grateful” to his medical team for their “continued care and expertise.”
While Charles has continued working throughout 2024, he has been away from public-facing duties most of the year, at first because of his prostate procedure in January and then, just weeks later, his cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment for it. A known workaholic, Charles’ nephew Peter Phillips—the son of his sister, Princess Anne—told Sky Australia recently that the King was “hugely frustrated” with his ongoing cancer treatment, and was constantly “pushing'' his staff to allow him to expand the scope of what he could do during his treatment, fully committed and determined to getting back to a full working schedule and a normal workflow. Sources speaking to longtime royal author Katie Nicholl for Vanity Fair told her that Charles was “a good patient” but “not a very patient one,” saying “He is doing well, but is frustrated more than anything else that he has had to take time off.” (Hey, after waiting nearly 74 years to do a job, wouldn’t you be annoyed if you were sidelined so soon into it?)
In its statement today, the Palace also announced that the King and Queen will host Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan for a state visit in June and released alongside the announcement a new photograph of themselves together, taken to celebrate their first anniversary following the Coronation, which was last May 6. The photo was taken in the Buckingham Palace garden on the morning of April 10, the day after Charles and Camilla celebrated 19 years married; the photo was taken by Millie Pilkington, a favorite of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
In the statement, it was said the King and Queen are “deeply grateful” for the “kindnesses and good wishes” from around the world “throughout the joys and challenges of the past year.”
As for Trooping the Colour, Royal Ascot, and Buckingham Palace garden parties as spring turns into summer, the King’s attendance hasn’t been confirmed yet, but “Planning continues for ways in which Their Majesties may attend such summer and autumn engagements, though nothing can be confirmed or guaranteed at this stage,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.
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