In February last year, shortly after the King was told he had cancer, he sat down with senior aides to share the troubling news.
Understandably, they were shocked. ‘Oh, that’s a right bugger’, one burst out, before inwardly panicking, fearing this might have caused offence.
Instead, His Majesty’s lips twitched, before he broke into laughter. ‘Yes, it is a bit of a bugger, isn’t it,’ he chuckled.
It was an instinctive – and decidedly un-regal – reaction, but one that characterises Charles’s response to his diagnosis.
Coming just 18 months after the death of his adored mother, Queen Elizabeth, after 70 largely stable years on the throne, this was the last thing either he or his country needed. Indeed – and this is quite extraordinary when you think about it – some feel cancer has been the making of Charles.
The diagnosis has humanised him in the eyes of many, enabling people to look past the more introspective tendencies he showed as Prince of Wales and see the true measure of the man.
Apart from the first few weeks of his treatment, when doctors insisted he take a step back from public engagements to minimise the risk of secondary infections, Charles has lived a very public illness.
Not only has he been more open about his condition than any British monarch in history, he has insisted on working throughout. The King has undertaken close to 600 public engagements in the past 22 months despite undergoing weekly medical treatment.
In February last year, shortly after Charles (pictured) was told he had cancer, he sat down with senior aides to share the troubling news – jocularly referring to his diagnosis as ‘a bit of a bugger’
Queen Camilla has been by Charles’s side every step of the way throughout his diagnosis and treatment. Pictured: The King departs with Queen Camilla after receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate at The London Clinic on January 29, 2024 – it was during this treatment that the King’s cancer was identified
The Princess of Wales embraces King Charles III as they attend Katharine, Duchess of Kent’s Requiem Mass service at Westminster Cathedral on September 16, 2025 in London, England
He has travelled to five different nations (including a gruelling two-week trip to Australia and Samoa, for which he courageously paused his treatment), has conducted two State visits overseas and hosted a further four.
One well-placed source tells me the biggest problem for his team throughout has been persuading the King to slow down.
‘I think when he first received his diagnosis and wasn’t clear which way this was going to go, it made him more determined than ever to keep going as fast as possible because there was so much more he wanted to achieve,’ a source tells me.
‘He was only persuaded to take a few weeks away from front-line duties because his doctors convinced him of the danger of contracting a secondary infection in those perilous early days.
‘Even now that he realises it isn’t going to be a race against time, he still wants to change the world.’
That’s not to say the monarch hasn’t experienced his share of low points. ‘Anyone receiving a cancer diagnosis is floored by it and His Majesty was no different,’ says a friend. ‘But even in that bleakest of moments, he dealt with it in a very human way.
‘His instinctive reaction when he was asked how he wanted to handle the news publicly was to be as honest with his people as he possibly could.
‘He was deeply touched when it emerged that, after making his diagnoses public [first, an enlarged prostate, then cancer], the National Health Service saw a huge uptick in people seeking information and help.
Keeping a positive mental attitude has been key to Charles’s recovery, according to many of those around him, writes Rebecca English (the King pictues in April 2024)
The King has insisted on working throughout, undertaking close to 600 public engagements in the past 22 months despite undergoing weekly medical treatment, including a gruelling two-week trip to Australia and Samoa, for which he courageously paused his treatment. Pictured: Charles and Camilla smile during a beach visit on October 25, 2024 in Apia, Samoa
The King has previously been criticised for appointing a pro-homeopathy doctor, Michael Dixon, to lead the Royal Medical Household. But those close to the King are frustrated by the depiction of Dr Dixon as a quack. Pictured: Dr Dixon (left) and the then-Prince of Wales at the opening of the Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health in Devon in 2008
‘The King was keen to ensure that people could take heart from his experience – that it is now possible to live a normal life with cancer. It’s been his mission to de-stigmatise the issue.’
Buckingham Palace has never revealed the exact nature of the King’s cancer diagnosis.
It’s in part because the release of personal medical information would result in his every public word or gesture being analysed by armchair ‘Dr Googles’. The King was also advised that, by being less specific about his condition, his message would reach the widest possible audience.
Officials have also declined to discuss the nature of the treatment he has received, although I am told it has involved a ‘package’ of both conventional medicine and holistic care.
The King has previously been criticised for appointing a pro-homeopathy doctor, Michael Dixon, to lead the Royal Medical Household. But those close to the King are frustrated by the depiction of Dr Dixon as a quack.
They say he has worked in the NHS for half a century and deny that his views are radical. Rather, they say, Dr Dixon believes complementary treatments can prove beneficial to patients alongside conventional treatments, provided they are safe and evidence-based.
‘Full credit to Michael, he’s masterminded this,’ remarks one source of ‘Operation Delphinium’, the codename given to the team handling the King’s diagnosis.
‘Michael has known which experts to connect with, and who should lead. He has focused on finding a balance, ensuring that alongside the conventional treatments His Majesty has received, there has been holistic care, which many cancer patients now find helpful.’
The King is particularly keen to raise awareness among the nine million people each year in the UK who miss cancer screenings available to them, a statistic which he said ‘troubles me deeply’. Pictured: Charles’s broadcast to the nation on Friday for Channel 4’s ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ night
The King, I am told, has been fortunate to escape some of the very worst side-effects of the treatments he has undergone.
Yet they have taken their toll. I’ve seen him look extremely tired, with bloodshot eyes and a waxy pallor. (He has looked all the paler because, as with many cancer patients, the King’s skin appears to have become more sensitive to the sun and he wears thick sunscreen). The King’s hair has also thinned slightly and he has discussed the use of cold caps – devices to minimise hair loss during chemotherapy – with cancer patients.
Yet, at other times, you would have been hard pushed to guess there was anything was wrong with the man. When I accompanied him to an Advent Service at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday, he fairly skipped out of the Great West Door, beaming with delight.
Keeping a positive mental attitude has been key to his recovery, according to many of those around him.
‘No-one within his circle has heard him utter a word of self-pity,’ says one insider.
‘Not long ago the ‘C word’ was a really scary thing, with a very binary outcome. Nowadays, thousands and thousands of people lead full and rewarding lives with cancer – and the King was determined from the start to be one of that number. He simply got on with it.’
The King’s big passion is walking and, no matter how busy he has been or how awful he is feeling, he has tried to get out in the fresh air for a short daily stroll.
To keep his strength up, he has also started breaking his longstanding personal rule of not eating at lunchtime. Charles now has a small ‘nibble’ at something – a light sandwich, some fruit, or perhaps half an avocado. He is also now fully vegetarian two days a week.
His wife, Queen Camilla, has been by his side every step of the way, the importance of which cannot be underestimated.
The Queen has had her ‘down’ moments too, of course. Naturally, she’s been frightened of losing the man she loves.
But she’s been a living definition of the British stiff upper lip. When she visited a centre for cancer care just days after being told of his diagnosis, she breathed a word to no one.
Camilla has also made him laugh, providing those proper, belly-aching giggles that have bonded them through thick and thin since they met all those years ago. Other family members have, in contrast, made the King’s cancer journey more stressful than it should have been.
The ongoing travails of his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and estranged son, Prince Harry, have been an unwelcome distraction. Despite claims there has been a thaw in relations, and even that the King is desperate for Harry to return to the UK, the truth is that father and son are far from reconciled.
When I raise this with my sources, the message is clear: ‘Stress is not good for people even in robust good health and it’s certainly – and very particularly – not good for people who are facing a serious health challenge. It’s not been helpful, if I am honest.’
My sources say that no-one within the Palace is being ‘over-optimistic or naive’ about the way things are moving. Treatment for cancer is a complex journey and officials are being deliberately cautious in their approach.
But, in the words of one well-placed source, short of the King officially being in remission, ‘it’s just about the best Christmas present anyone could have asked for’.
Which begs me to ask the $64,000 question: Does this mean he might finally be tempted to put his feet up and relax over the festive season? ‘If anyone thinks this will be celebrated with a lightening of the load, they severely misunderstand the nature of the man,’ snorts a friend.
During a lifetime of public service, Charles’s work and legacy has been defined by what courtiers call the ‘four Cs’: Climate, Culture, Community and Commonwealth.
Now they can add a fifth: Cancer. How remarkable that this final ‘C’ might one day be seen as the most inspirational of them all.
Source: Dailly Mail