According to a Monday announcement from Buckingham Palace, King Charles III of Britain has been diagnosed with cancer and will take a leave of absence from public appearances while receiving treatment. The information was released following Charles, 75,’s visit to a hospital in London last month for a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate. Following testing, a “form of cancer” was discovered, the palace said in a statement on Monday. CNN was informed by a royal source that the type of cancer found was not prostate cancer, but the source did not elaborate. “His Majesty has started a regimen of routine treatments today, and during this time, medical professionals have advised him to delay engagements with the public,” the palace announced.
Over this time frame, His Majesty will carry out official duties. The King was previously reported to be “doing well” after spending three nights at the London Clinic, a private hospital close to Regent’s Park, for his most recent procedure. He appeared to be in good spirits as he waved to the public on his way to a Sunday morning church service in Sandringham, Norfolk, on Sunday, the first time he had been seen since his treatment. He was accompanied by Queen Camilla, his spouse.
How much is currently known about King Charles’s cancer diagnosis?
The only information provided by Buckingham Palace regarding the king’s cancer type is that it is not prostate cancer. Following a recent procedure to treat a benign prostate enlargement, a “separate issue of concern” was noticed; tests later on showed that the growth was cancerous. According to Cancer Research UK, the age range between 85 and 89 is when cancer cases in Britain peak. Prostate, lung, and bowel cancer are the most prevalent cancers among British men 75 years of age or older.
Members of the British royal family have recently lived to extraordinary ages. The Queen Mother, Charles’s grandmother, lived to be 101 years old. At the official age of 99, Prince Philip, his father, passed away from “old age.” Elizabeth II, the mother of Charles, lived to be 96 years old. However, historians claim that cancer runs in the family. Before passing away in 1952 at the age of 56, his grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer. George VI and the British public, according to some accounts, were not informed of his diagnosis. The diagnosis of “coronary thrombosis” was made officially.
After King Charles, who is the next in line for the throne?
According to the palace, Charles will carry out “state business” as usual and is anticipated to get his “red boxes,” which are official government documents that the king needs to go over. It is not anticipated that he will name a “counselor of state” or another high-ranking royal family member to whom he can assign his responsibilities.
The Regency Act of 1937 specifies Charles’s successor if he is unable to perform his duties. According to the act, the regent is the next in line of succession, given that they are an adult British subject who resides in Britain.
What might this signify for the title of Queen Camilla?
The term Queen consort, which distinguishes a ruling monarch’s spouse from the British sovereign, who holds the position of head of state, is Camilla’s official title. This won’t alter. She is not a member of the line of succession and does not possess any constitutional authority. The palace’s announcement that she will carry out a “full program” of public duties while Charles receives treatment, according to royal expert McCreery, should “advance her down the path of full rehabilitation in public” because she was undoubtedly involved in the dissolution of Charles’s first marriage to the wildly popular Princess Diana. Because of their memories of Diana, a sizable portion of the British public—and possibly the American public as well—hatred Camilla for a very long time, according to McCreery. “This is more proof that she is trying her hardest and that she is fully behind Charles.” Without the cursed diamond, Queen Consort Camilla will don a recycled crown.
What does King Charles’s illness mean for Prince Harry?
According to The Washington Post, Prince Harry has discussed his cancer diagnosis with the king and plans to visit his father in Britain shortly. Royal observers interpret it as a potential reconciliation between Harry and his father, as well as with the British press and public, following his widely reported departure from royal life and relocation to North America. The announcement that Harry will see his father again in the United Kingdom is significant, according to McCreery. Harry is still in the line of succession even though he has given up his royal duties.