King Charles cancer diagnosis: Monarch’s frankness a refreshing change for royals
King Charles’ approach to his serious health battles has proven to be a game changer for the royal family.
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When Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles had a “form of cancer” on Monday night local time, wellwishers descended on the royal household in support for the monarch who has reigned for just 17 months after the death of the Queen in 2022.
Peering up at the Royal Standard flying above Buckingham Palace, which is in walking distance from Clarence House where the King is staying while undergoing outpatient treatment, the mood was sombre.
Some had left flowers at the gates, others cards. Tourists took photos of the hundreds of journalists from the US, Australia, Japan and Brazil reporting on the King’s health.
Staunch royalist Penny Rawling, 50, said she had travelled from Beckenham in South East England to lend her support, adding “the royals do a lot for our country”.
“I’m sad and shocked to hear about the King. He lost his mother less than two years ago and he’s worked so hard since, taking over as monarch – and now this. I really pray he gets the treatment he needs and makes a full recovery.”
While the type of cancer King Charles has will remain private (the Palace announced it was a “new form of cancer” and not related to the treatment he had undergone for an enlarged cancer), the monarch allowing his health issues to be made public shows a level of transparency rarely seen from the royal household.
Indeed, the late Queen’s motto was always: “Never complain, never explain,” so the King’s honesty about his situation is a new frontier for the royals.
In its statement, the Palace also revealed that the King had personally called both his sons Prince Harry and Prince William – as well as his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward – and staff to divulge his news.
“It’s good the King has chosen to share his diagnosis because he supports cancer charities and it encourages people to get checked which is why the king has been open about it – but the most important thing is that he gets well,” said royal author and journalist Robert Robson.
“This isn’t just a cold, he has cancer and is undergoing treatment. We should stop saying he is going to continue working when he needs to get well.”
British Labour MP Jess Phillips said the King’s decision to share news of his cancer is to be applauded and the King will now fight the disease in the full public glare.
“He probably felt he had no choice because he would have been seen attending hospital appointments,” she said.
“I respect him for making it public news when he has the worry of fighting a horrible disease and that’s not easy.”
As the King’s cancer diagnosis weighs heavily on his family – he is said to be “frustrated” at the impact this has had on them – the Palace announcement has showed how the British royals have modernised.
“The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure,” the Palace statement said.
“His Majesty 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.”
The King’s frankness represents a glaring departure from how the royals have handled previous cancer diagnoses. Earlier generations would never have considered being so open about any medical condition.
In September 1951 chain smoking George VI had his left lung removed for what was referred to as “structural abnormalities”. It was a carcinoma. Yet the king’s doctors withheld his diagnosis from the public, the medical profession – and the king himself.
Although he appeared to have made a full recovery from the procedure, he died five months later, in February 1952.
Queen Elizabeth, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, handled her cancer quietly. In a biography of the late Queen Mother in 2009, William Shawcross wrote that she had been treated for the disease twice. In 1966 she had a tumour removed from her colon.
Clarence House said only that she had undergone abdominal surgery to remove an obstruction. In 1984, she had another operation, to remove a tumour from her breast. The official line then was that she had been in hospital for “tests”. She recovered from both procedures and lived to the age of 101.
When Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022, the cause of death was noted as “old age”.
But rumours of bone cancer and other ailments had surrounded the Queen, and her staff were said to have known she had gone to Balmoral to die. Publicly, Buckingham Palace said: “She’s going as usual for her annual summer break.”
The King’s decision to be open about his condition and treatment, shows a modern medical environment and while the King is the most senior royal to have come forward about his cancer, he is not the first. In 2002, Princess Michael of Kent revealed that she had been treated for skin cancer saying she felt “very fortunate” because the cancer wasn’t life threatening.
Last year, the Duchess of York announced that she had undergone a mastectomy. Two weeks ago, she revealed that she had also been diagnosed with skin cancer.
“Naturally another cancer diagnosis has been a shock, but I’m in good spirits and grateful for the many messages of love and support,” she said.
The royals choosing to be open about health matters is a show of strength not weakness.
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