Prince Harry arrived in London on Tuesday to visit his father King Charles, less than 24 hours after it was announced that the monarch was suffering from cancer.
According to British media, the prince, who arrived from California and had been on bad terms for months with the royal family, landed at Heathrow. The Telegraph said he would have to visit his father at his London residence at Clarence House immediately.
After 17 months on the throne, Charles III, who received his first treatment on Monday, will be absent from public life for an indefinite period.
Wishes for recovery poured in from around the world after the announcement, which caused a shock in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sought to be reassuring about the king’s state of health, declaring on the BBC that the 75-year-old monarch’s cancer was “detected early”.
“I am of course in regular contact with (the king) and I will continue to communicate with him as usual,” added the conservative leader who speaks every week with the king.
The “form of cancer” from which Charles III suffered was not specified. We know that the disease was detected during an operation for benign prostatic hypertrophy at the end of January, but that it is not prostate cancer.
“Very optimistic”
After his first treatment, the king spent the night at his home at Clarence House, according to British media.
The sovereign assured that he was “very optimistic” about his treatment and added that he would continue to carry out “state affairs and administrative tasks”, linked to his role as head of state of 15 countries, including the Kingdom -United.
But while he was already resting due to his prostate operation, his absence from public life promises to be longer than expected, pushing away from the spotlight a king who waited 70 years to ascend the throne, and had been particularly active since then, multiplying field visits and trips abroad.
“We are shocked because the king really started strong, he went to France, to Germany, and we hoped that it would be like this for a long time,” explains Sue Hazell to AFP, visiting the north of England with her husband, in front of Buckingham Palace.
Gill Armstrong, 71, hopes for a quick recovery: “He has done a good job since he became king, he will be hard to replace.”
The illness plunges the monarchy back into uncertainty a year and a half after the considerable shock of the death of Elizabeth II at the age of 96 and more than 70 years of reign.
Reconciliation?
Especially since one of the most beloved figures of the royal family, Princess Kate, wife of Prince William, is in a long convalescence after a mysterious abdominal operation in January, for which she remained hospitalized for almost two weeks. She has not appeared since Christmas and her return is not expected before Easter at the end of March.
It is therefore mainly up to Queen Camilla, 76 years old, and William, 41-year-old crown prince, to represent the monarchy. Shortly before the announcement of the king’s cancer, the prince announced that he was resuming his public activities, suspended for several weeks to stay with Kate and their three children.
The arrival in London of Prince Harry has raised new hopes of reconciliation between the Duke of Sussex, who left in 2020, and the rest of the family, notably his brother.
According to British media, he was to come alone to London, without his wife Meghan or their two children, Archie and Lilibet, as during the coronation last May.
As with his operation for a benign prostate problem, Charles III chose not to hide his illness, contrasting with the secrecy surrounding the health of previous sovereigns. The palace, however, remained short of details.
As it stands, an abdication seems improbable, Charles III having, like his mother, promised “a life of service”.