King Charles III has announced progress in his battle with cancer as he advised the British public to seek early diagnosis and treatments in a TV message on Friday.
A month before his cancer battle enters its third year, he said he was at a turning point. "Thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the New Year," he said. "This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years."
The king suspended his official duties after the January 2024 diagnosis, before gradually resuming them in April of the same year. At that time his doctors gave an update on his health, saying they were “encouraged” by his recovery.
King Charles has been undergoing treatment ever since, but has stepped up his activities over the past year. These have included royal visits around Britain as well as trips to Canada in May and to the Vatican in October.
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King Charles III with Imad Eddin Al Arnab at his restaurant, Imad's Syrian Kitchen in London. Getty Images -
King Charles with Syrian filmmaker Waad Al Kateab at Imad's Syrian Kitchen. Getty Images -
King Charles speaks with Mr Al Arnab at Imad's Syrian Kitchen. PA -
King Charles and Queen Camilla also visited the Indian restaurant Darjeeling Express, where they helped pack donation boxes of rice. AFP -
King Charles and Queen Camilla at Darjeeling Express. PA -
Queen Camilla at Darjeeling Express. Getty Images
The “personal message” filmed for the Stand Up To Cancer TV campaign was broadcast to raise funds for research into the devastating disease.
The monarch underlined statistics that nine million people in the UK are not up to date with the cancer screenings. Yet early diagnosis of bowel cancer is the difference between nine in 10 living for five years, compared to one in 10 when the diagnosis comes at a late stage. "Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives," he said.
In a written message issued to coincide with a Buckingham Palace reception for cancer campaigners in April this year, King Charles acknowledged that every diagnosis of the disease is “daunting and at times frightening”.
He said there were more than 1,000 new cancer cases diagnosed every day in the UK, or about 390,000 a year.
“But as one among those statistics myself, I can vouch for the fact that it can also be an experience that brings into sharp focus the very best of humanity,” he said.
The king's frankness about his illness is a marked departure from the reign of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose health was for decades a closely-guarded secret.
Buckingham Palace said before the broadcast of the video message, that the king emphasises “the importance of cancer screening programmes in enabling early diagnosis” and reflects “on his own recovery journey”.
Charles recorded the message during the last week of November at Clarence House, his London residence.
Fund-raising events and celebrity challenges have been taking place in the UK. Stand Up To Cancer, which brings together British celebrities in a national, televised fund-raising drive, says to date it has raised more than £113 million ($151 million).
The funds support research into more than 20 different types of cancer, including brain tumours, minimising surgery and designing methods to lessen the often brutal side effects of chemotherapy.
King Charles's cancer was detected during treatment for a benign prostate condition for which he had surgery. He has not revealed the type of cancer, although the palace said it was not related to his prostate issues.
Only six weeks after Charles announced his diagnosis, his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she also had cancer and had begun chemotherapy. The mother of three young children has also never discussed what kind of cancer she was suffering from.
She is now in remission, after what her husband, heir to the throne Prince William, admitted had been a “brutal” year and the “hardest” of his life.
