King Charles to return to public duties following 'positive' cancer treatment

King Charles is set to return to public royal duties next week after undergoing “positive” cancer treatment.

The king, who has been receiving care as an outpatient since early February, will visit a cancer treatment centre with Queen Camilla on Tuesday to meet medical specialists and patients.

The announcement came as a picture marking the first anniversary of the crowning of the king and queen on May 6 has been released, taken the day after their 19th wedding anniversary on April 10.

Charles and Camilla are shown smiling broadly and walking arm in arm along a path with shrubs and colourful flowers in the background.

Despite the upbeat news, the king still has cancer and will continue to be treated for the undisclosed form of the disease.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla greet people after attending the Easter Matins Service at St George's Chapel, Windsor. Getty Images

However, the announcement will be a boost for the monarchy as it comes to terms with dual health crises affecting the king and Princess of Wales.

They began in January after it was announced the Princess of Wales had undergone planned abdominal surgery and would remain in hospital for 10 to 14 days.

On the same day, it was announced that the king would be admitted to the same hospital for treatment for an enlarged prostate the following week.

Kate, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, King Charles III and Queen Camilla at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. Getty Images

The Palace did not confirm what Kate was being treated for, but said her condition was non-cancerous.

The king’s condition was also said to be benign.

However, tests conducted in hospital found that the king was suffering from an unspecified form of cancer, not related to his prostate.

In March, the Princess of Wales, 42, also revealed she had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. She has not revealed the type.

In a video message to announce the news, Kate spoke directly to others dealing with the disease, telling them: “You are not alone.”

The Princess of Wales records her message announcing that following her abdominal surgery in January "tests after the operation found cancer had been present". PA

“This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” she said in the video statement.

Their illnesses have seen the king and princess step back from royal duties in recent months as they undergo treatment.

The princess had not been seen publicly since Christmas until a video recently surfaced of her with her husband near a farm shop close to their Windsor home.

The king temporarily postponed public duties but continued work behind the scenes on his red boxes – his state business and official papers.

Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Britain's Queen Camilla and Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales attend the 2024 Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in March. Getty Images

Their absence saw other family members step up, with Queen Camilla and Prince William both taking on additional engagements.

The Princess Royal also carried out appearances alongside the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

In the video revealing her diagnosis, the princess, who is one of the most popular members of the royal family, said she was looking forward to returning to her work supporting children in their early years.

It is not yet known when she will return to public duties.

King Charles III through the years – in pictures

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

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In 45 years, I've never seen Americans shift this much on Palestine