Smiling, Mr King Charles confirmed from London that he is doing well, on his return to public duties after a three-month absence due to cancer.
The 75-year-old king, who continues his treatments, symbolically chose to visit a center specializing in the fight against cancer, along with Queen Camilla, 76. Arriving in the royal Bentley at University College Hospital’s Macmillan Center late in the morning, the royal, wearing a blue suit, stayed there for about 40 minutes.
“I asked him how he was doing, he said, ‘I’m doing well,'” Eisa Millen, 60, who is undergoing treatment for bone marrow cancer, said after his visit. “I’ll have to have my treatment this afternoon too,” the king confided to Leslie Woodbridge, 63, who had gone to the center for scheduled chemotherapy.
Walking slowly, the king shook hands with many people and chatted with medical staff and patients. He sat beside many patients, held their hands. He accepted the flowers offered to him by children, gave them a present before leaving with his wife.
With this first official public appearance in three months, Charles wanted to raise public awareness of the importance of early diagnosis.
“His majesty did his best to meet with as many staff and patients as he could.” Patients were “thrilled” to see him, hospital director David Propert said after an “incredibly inspiring visit”.
Buckingham Palace announced on Friday that Charles would undertake a “specific number” of commitments, “carefully planned”, in “close consultation with his doctors”.
Can’t wait to come back
They are “very encouraged by the progress made to date and remain optimistic about the King’s continued recovery,” the palace said.
In June, the king and queen are expected to host, on an unspecified date, Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, as part of an official visit at the invitation of the British government.
His attendance at other public engagements, the Royal Ascot horse races, the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, the Trooping the Color military parade in June, will depend on doctors’ recommendations.
For his part, the press representative of the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the return of the king is “great news”. “We will continue to wish him a full and speedy recovery as he returns to his public duties,” the spokesman told reporters.
Nine months after he ascended the throne in May 2023, the palace announced in early February that Charles is suffering from cancer, which he discovered following prostate surgery in January. The nature of the cancer and the progression of the disease were never clarified.
Charles then suspended all his public activities, but continued the duties of a constitutional monarch, which mainly involve signing laws, meeting frequently with the prime minister and ratifying certain appointments.
The king, very active before his cancer, made no secret of his eagerness to resume his public duties.
“I think it’s very disappointing (…) that he can’t do everything he wants to be able to do,” his nephew Peter Phillips, Princess Anne’s son, told Sky News Australia at the end of March, adding that Charles was “pushing” his environment, including his doctors, to do more.
Kate
2024 is particularly difficult for Britain’s royal family. In addition to the king, Kate, Princess of Wales, is also suffering from cancer, which was diagnosed after major abdominal surgery in January.
The 42-year-old princess, “protagonist” of the royal family, announced her illness on March 22 in an emotional video, where she said she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy.
She did not specify the type of cancer and since then no new information has been released by Kensington Palace, which handles communications between her and her husband Prince William, heir to the throne.
The couple celebrated their 13 year wedding anniversary yesterday. She has three children, George, 10, Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 6.
The princess has not been seen in public since Christmas, apart from this short video.
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