King Charles arrives to visit the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in London on April 30, 2024.Photo:HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
King Charleswill take two doctors along with him on his upcoming trip to Australia and Samoa with wifeQueen Camilla.
The King, 75, and Queen, 77, kick off their Oceania visit on Friday, Oct. 18; the royal tour will wrap up on Saturday, Oct. 26. Joining the royal entourage will be two doctors, theTimesreported, as news emerged earlier this week that the King will “pause” cancer treatments while abroad.
King Charles and Queen Camilla clapping during a visit to Les Cotils on an official visit to Guernsey on July 16, 2024 in L’Hyvreuse, Guernsey.Chris Jackson/Getty
Chris Jackson/Getty
The royal tour — which marks the first visit of King Charles’ reign to a Commonwealth realm — will include “a number of concessions to prevent him from being overworked,” according to theTimes, and the monarch “will be monitored closely during the visit.” A palace source speaking to theTimessaid that the decision to pause his cancer treatment, which will resume when he returns to the U.K., “followed doctors’ advice.”
King Charles was diagnosed with cancer following a procedure to treat a benign enlarged prostate in January. On Feb. 5, Buckingham Palace announced that the King would begin treatment for cancer, which he was diagnosed with following the procedure. The palace clarified that Charles’ cancer is not prostate cancer, though it did not specify what type or stage of cancer the King had been diagnosed with. The King’s announcement in February of his diagnosis came about six weeks ahead ofKate Middleton’s own March 22 announcement that she, too, had been diagnosed with cancer; she announced inan emotional Sept. 9 video messagethat she had completed chemotherapy, and on Oct. 10 made a surprise return to royal engagements alongside husbandPrince William.
As he and Camilla prepare to undertake the two-stop royal tour next week, “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,” historian and author Hugo Vickers told theTimes. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be undertaking the trip unless he was fit enough to do it.”
While in Australia, “the itinerary has been designed with the King’s health in mind,” theTimesreported. “The King and Queen will have a rest day, and there will be no evening engagements.”
While there, the King will meet withtwo pioneering medical expertsin melanoma treatment, the palace said.
Long and Scolyer areboth professors at the University of Sydneyand co-medical directors of the Melanoma Institute Australia, and won the award together for their work to save lives from skin cancer.
Euan Cherry/Getty
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In Samoa, Charles will participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGHM) 2024, as he is the head of the Commonwealth association of 56 nations. The summit is held every two years, and while in Samoa the King and Queen will arrive in the evening and attend a state dinner. The palace said thatthe couple’s engagements in both nations“will focus on themes designed to celebrate the best of Australia and Samoa, as well as reflecting aspects of the King and Queen’s work.”
source: people.com