King Charles III is suffering from cancer discovered during a recent prostate operation, which will keep him away from public life for an unknown period of time.
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Less than a year and a half after succeeding his mother Elizabeth II to the British throne and nine months after being crowned, the 75-year-old sovereign does not plan to completely cease his activities as head of state of the United Kingdom but also from 14 other countries, Buckingham Palace announced on Monday.
“During the recent procedure for benign prostatic hyperplasia, a separate problem was noted” and “subsequent tests identified a form of cancer,” the palace explains in a statement.
The palace said the health problem was not prostate cancer.
The king “began a program of regular treatments today (Monday), during which doctors have advised him to postpone his public activities,” according to the palace. However, he will continue “to take care of state affairs and administrative tasks as usual.”
“Very optimistic”
According to Buckingham Palace, the king “remains very optimistic about his treatment and looks forward to returning to public duties as soon as possible.”
After learning of the diagnosis, US President Joe Biden said he was “worried” about the sovereign, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he hoped “he will recover quickly and completely”.
“I have no doubt that he will quickly regain all his strength and I know that the entire country sends him its best wishes,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on X (ex-Twitter).
Wishes for recovery poured in, including from Scottish independence Prime Minister Yumza Yousaf and Northern Irish Republican Michelle O’Neill.
Like his operation for a benign prostate problem about which he had been transparent, Charles III “chose to share his diagnosis in order to avoid speculation, and in the hope of helping the public to understand all those affected by cancer around the world,” it says.
The announcement of his prostate problem had already contrasted with the secrecy surrounding the health of Queen Elizabeth II in the years preceding her death on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96, at the end of a record reign 70 years old.
It comes at a time when the wife of his heir William, Kate, 42, was hospitalized on January 16 for an abdominal operation, the cause of which is kept secret. She hasn’t been seen in public since appearing with the rest of the family for Christmas.
Kensington Palace announced a week ago that she had been discharged from the private London clinic where she underwent the procedure and was continuing her convalescence at the family home in Windsor, west London.
The reasons for his operation remain mysterious, but it is not cancer, according to British media.
The palace announced that it would suspend its activities probably until Easter, March 31.
Harry soon in the UK
William, eldest son of King Charles III, had also stopped his public duties in order to prioritize their family. But his services announced Monday that he would attend a decorations ceremony in Windsor on Wednesday and then a charity gala in London.
Exiled in California, Charles’s youngest son, Harry, will return to the United Kingdom to see his father despite the notorious tensions between the Duke of Sussex and his father as well as his older brother.
The forced withdrawal of Charles, Kate and William placed Queen Camilla, 76, at the forefront, with numerous trips every week for the one who remains little loved by the British, who adored Princess Diana, the sovereign’s first wife .
At the end of January, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson, who had already recently undergone breast cancer surgery, announced that she was suffering from “malignant melanoma”, a skin cancer.
If the Duchess of York is no longer an active member of the family, “Fergie” continues to share a manor near Windsor Castle with King Charles’s brother.