King Charles leaves Clarence House on his way to Sandringham earlier this morning, NZ time, following a brief meeting with his son Prince Harry. Photo / AP
King Charles leaves Clarence House on his way to Sandringham earlier this morning, NZ time, following a brief meeting with his son Prince Harry. Photo / AP
Royal officials announced on Monday that the 75-year-old king has been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer and is receiving treatment as an outpatient.
Less than 18 months into the reign that he’d famously waited decades to begin, Charles suspended public engagements but will continue with state business — including weekly meetings with Sunak — and won’t be handing over his constitutional roles as head of state.
The two have a troubled relationship, and Harry has seen his father infrequently since the prince quit royal duties in 2020 and moved to Los Angeles with his wife, Meghan, citing what they said was the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
Harry has since detailed his rocky relationship with his family and his royal inheritance in TV interviews, a documentary and a memoir, Spare.
About an hour after Harry arrived, Charles and Queen Camilla were driven from their residence to nearby Buckingham Palace in a royal Bentley. The couple waved to tourists and well-wishers gathered outside the palace gates. A helicopter believed to be carrying the royal couple took off from the palace soon after.
Two black SUVs, believed to be carrying Prince Harry, arrive at Clarence House, London, following the announcement of the King's cancer diagnosis on Monday evening. Photo / Getty
Buckingham Palace said the King’s cancer was found during Charles’ recent hospital treatment for an enlarged prostate but is a “separate issue” and not prostate cancer.
“Thankfully, this has been caught early,” Sunak told BBC radio.
“We’ll crack on with everything,” Sunak said, adding that he would continue to communicate with the king normally.
“Many families around the country listening to this will have been touched by the same thing and they know what it means to everyone,” Sunak said. “So we’ll just be willing him on and hopefully we get through this as quickly as possible.”
The palace said Charles, who has generally enjoyed good health, “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”
Charles became King in September 2022 when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne.
A selection of front pages of the British national newspapers for February 6, after it was announced that King Charles has cancer. Photo / AP
News of the king’s diagnosis comes as his daughter-in-law Kate, Princess of Wales, recovers from abdominal surgery that saw her hospitalised for about two weeks.
Kate is taking a break from royal duties as she recovers. Her husband, Prince William, who is heir to the throne, also took time off to help look after her and the couple’s three children, but is due to preside over a ceremony at Windsor Castle and a charity dinner on Wednesday.
Charles departed from royal tradition with his openness about his prostate condition. For centuries Britain’s royal family remained tight-lipped about health matters.
Disclosing information about his cancer diagnosis — albeit in a limited way — is another break with tradition.
When UK monarchs had real power, news of illness was withheld for fear it might weaken their authority. The habit of secrecy lingered after royals became constitutional figureheads.
The British public wasn’t told that Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56, and some historians have claimed that the King himself wasn’t told he was terminally ill.
A helicopter leaves Buckingham Palace in London following the announcement of King Charles' cancer diagnosis. Photo / Getty
In the final years of Elizabeth’s life, the public was told only that the Queen was suffering from “mobility issues” when she began to miss public appearances towards the end of her life. The cause of her death was listed on the death certificate simply as “old age”.
When and how much to disclose about illness remains a difficult subject for many public figures. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been criticised for not telling US President Joe Biden or other key leaders that that he was being treated for prostate cancer, even when he was hospitalised in intensive care in January for post-surgery complications.
Buckingham Palace said that the King “has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer”.
Charles took the throne intending to preside over a slimmer monarchy with fewer senior royals carrying out ceremonial public duties. But with Charles and Kate both temporarily sidelined, Harry self-exiled to California and Prince Andrew largely banished from view because of his association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the royal “Firm” risks becoming severely overstretched.
William and Camilla are both expected to take on extra public engagements during the King’s treatment.
There are no current plans to call on the “counsellors of state” — senior royals, including Camilla and heir to the throne William — to deputise for the monarch on constitutional duties such as signing legislation and receiving ambassadors.
