Carlos III celebrates this Monday the first anniversary of his coronation. This year has been very busy for him, including a cancer diagnosis. The King returned to his public duties this week.
King Charles III returned to his public duties last Tuesday after being absent for three months due to a cancer diagnosis. The monarch celebrates on Monday, May 6, one year since his coronation, although he ascended to the throne on September 8, 2022 when Queen Elizabeth II died. The sovereign’s reign has been very eventful, as he attempts to create a reign in his image he also has to deal with family issues, including Kate’s departure for health reasons, and the news that Harry and Meghan are starring across the pond. .
It was the king’s first formal public engagement since February 6, when Buckingham Palace announced he would be taking a break to focus on treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
Symbolically, the visit was to the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center in London, where Charles and Queen Camilla met with patients and staff at the cancer treatment center. The monarch shared the impact of the diagnosis with a patient: “It’s always a little shocking when they tell us.”
King Charles III visits a cancer treatment center in his first public participation after the diagnosis
The King is expected to return to more public events before the state visit of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, in June.
But it is unclear how many of the traditional summer royal events, such as the military parade in June to mark the King’s birthday and the horse races at Royal Ascot, he will take part in while medical treatment continues.
Buckingham Palace said last week that doctors were “very encouraged” by the King’s progress but that the timeline would be adjusted as necessary to protect the recovery.
During his absence, Charles III suspended public activities, but continued with the constitutional functions of a constitutional monarch, which included signing laws, regular meetings with the Prime Minister, and approving certain appointments.
Nine months after the coronation, in May 2023, the announcement of the disease constituted, in itself, a small revolution, breaking the secrecy that until then had surrounded the health of the members of the royal family.
On the way to the coronation of Charles III
In addition to providing an opportunity to reach out to the subjects by accepting their vulnerability as mortals, the decision to share the news raised awareness about the benefits of early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other health problems.
England’s National Health Service revealed that the number of people seeking advice about prostate problems increased 11-fold in the weeks after Charles announced he was being treated.
The King, who had always been very active, was apparently eager to resume his public activities. But the cancer, from which he has not been cured, will continue to overshadow a reign that Charles III, 75, expected from him all his life.
The year 2024 has been especially difficult for the British monarchy.
In addition to the king, the Princess of Wales, Catherine, also suffers from cancer, detected after abdominal surgery in January. The 42-year-old princess, considered the “star” of the royal family, did not confirm that she had the disease until March 22, after weeks of speculation.
In an emotional video, Kate confided that she was receiving preventive chemotherapy, but did not specify the nature of her cancer and since then, Kensington Palace, which manages her communications and those of her husband, Prince William, heir to the throne, was present . there is no more news.
Kate Middleton announces that she has cancer and is receiving chemotherapy
Sarah Ferguson, 64, ex-wife of Prince Andrew, the king’s brother, had already revealed on January 21 that she was suffering from malignant melanoma, a skin cancer.
Before the health problems in the royal family, the first months of Charles III’s reign had already been disturbed by other family dramas.
Last year, his son Harry, who left the royal family to settle in California with his wife Meghan, wrote a highly critical autobiography, “In the Shadow,” sparking tensions.
The king’s younger brother, Prince Andrew, remains unable to perform any official role and can no longer use his Royal Highness title due to the allegation of sexual assault of a woman when he was 17 years old. The case ended in a financial settlement, which avoided an embarrassing trial, but left André tarnished and the royal family exposed.
Crowned on May 6, 2023, Charles III has made an effort to give a more modern image to a monarchy that wants to adapt more to the times, a challenge for a very dynamic but elderly king, less popular than his mother, who lacks the brilliance and the historical dimension.
Photo gallery. A full abbey, crowds in the streets and the greeting of the kings. 48 images of the coronation of Charles III
Some of his first visits were marked by anti-monarchy demonstrations, unimaginable in the times of Elizabeth II.
Known for his passions for the environment, sustainable development, alternative medicine, rural life and religion, for years the crises in his private life overshadowed the actions of this rich, soft-spoken, always impeccably dressed man.
His divorce from Princess Diana in 1996 made headlines around the world, amplified by the death of his ex-wife in a car accident in Paris a year later. He had to wait almost a decade before marrying the love of her life, Camila, in 2005, in a civil ceremony at Windsor Town Hall, without her mother present.
Ironically, the 76-year-old queen, who was also crowned on May 6, has become a bulwark of the monarchy in recent months. Successive health problems reduced the number of active members of the royal family by almost half and Camila began to be on the front line, with numerous commitments every week.
The “nation’s new grandmother” and the “hardest worker” in the family. How Camila and Ana became the protagonists of the royal house
The surprise abdication of Queen Margaret II of Denmark earlier this year sparked some speculation about whether this would be possible in the UK given the age and now health of Charles III.
Other European monarchs have abdicated in the last decade: King Juan Carlos of Spain in 2014, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert II of Belgium, both in 2013. But the daughter-in-law’s current situation makes it unlikely that she will decide to pass on the testimony to son William.
Margaret II abdicated the throne. Frederik X is the new king of Denmark
Source: Observadora
