King Charles will travel with two doctors, spare supply of blood

London: The King will travel with two full-time royal doctors during his 11-day trip to Australia and Samoa as he pauses his ongoing cancer treatment for the first time since his diagnosis in February.

The 75-year-old monarch’s health will be monitored closely during the visit, Buckingham Palace aides said. The decision to pause his regular treatment and resume it when he returns to Britain followed advice from his personal physicians.

Charles and Camilla will make their first visit to Australia as King and Queen this month. Credit: AP

Charles’ visit to Australia will be the first by a reigning British king, when he and his wife, Queen Camilla, arrive for their landmark tour on October 18. It is the royal couple’s first trip since 2018, when they opened the Commonwealth Games on the Queensland Gold Coast.

In addition to travelling with his own doctors, The Times reported the King would be supported by medical teams in Australia and Samoa. In Australia, the itinerary has been designed with the King’s health in mind: the King and Queen will have a rest day and there will be no evening engagements.

Charles has been receiving cancer care regularly since his diagnosis, even returning to London once a week from Scotland during the summer break for treatment. The type of cancer, discovered during his treatment for an enlarged prostate at the beginning of the year, has not been revealed.

Michael Dixon, head of the royal medical household, who is known for his interest in homeopathy, would not be one of the doctors travelling with the King, the paper reported.

Steps taken to support Charles abroad are reportedly to be the same as previous arrangements put in place for the late Queen. They included travelling with a supply of the monarch’s blood, to ensure an exact match if a transfusion was needed.

At the time the visit was announced, Buckingham Palace said it had been curtailed on medical advice. A visit to New Zealand has been dropped from the itinerary and there hve been other changes to the program.

A palace spokesman said at the time: “We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about the program with the Australian government, about where their majesties can get to.”

Charles also agreed to scrap plans to attend the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan next month after his physicians and Camilla reportedly raised concerns. Despite their fears, the palace was said to be confident this month’s trip, his first to any Commonwealth realm as King, would go well.

Historian and author Hugo Vickers told The Times: “I’m sure that the medical team has been consulted and will look after the King and make sure that he doesn’t overwork, as we know he has a propensity to do. I’m sure he wouldn’t be undertaking the trip unless he was fit enough to do it.”

A palace spokesman in June said it was “too early to say” how long the King’s treatment would continue for but that his doctors were “sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far”.

Ahead of the visit, the King has told anti-monarchist campaigners that he would not stand in the way if Australia wanted to become a republic.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is a matter for the Australian public to decide,” a letter to the Australian Republic Movement by his assistant private secretary said.

The royal couple will arrive on Friday evening and will have a rest day on Saturday, after which they will then spend Sunday and Tuesday in Sydney, and Monday in Canberra. Their itinerary will include a review of the Australian naval fleet in Sydney harbour, attending a community barbecue, supporting environmental projects and meeting two award-winning cancer experts.

In Samoa, the King and Queen will arrive in the evening and attend a state dinner before the biannual Commonwealth heads of government. It will be the first time the event has been hosted by a small Pacific island nation.

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