•King Charles III
Britain’s King Charles III, who has broken royal taboos to talk openly about battling cancer, will today appear in a “personal message” filmed for a TV campaign raising funds for research into the devastating disease.
Charles, 77, announced in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer the previous month, reports AFP.
In a candid written message during a reception in April at Buckingham Palace for cancer campaigners, the monarch acknowledged that every cancer diagnosis is “daunting and at times frightening”.
He said there were more than 1,000 new cancer cases diagnosed every day in the UK, or some 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 Charles had pre-recorded a video message for the Stand Up To Cancer joint campaign between Cancer Research and Channel 4 to air at 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) today.
The king “will stress the importance of cancer screening programmes in enabling early diagnosis and will reflect on his own recovery journey”, the palace said.
Charles recorded the message during the last week of November at Clarence House, his London residence.
Fundraisers and celebrity challenges have been taking place throughout the week leading up to Friday’s show.
Stand Up To Cancer, which brings together UK celebrities in a national, televised fund-raising drive, says to date it has raised more than £113 million ($151 million).
The funds aid research into more than 20 different types of cancer, including brain tumours, avoiding surgery for those with rectal cancer, and designing methods to lessen the often brutal side effects of chemotherapy.
‘Rebellious hope’
Charles’s cancer was detected in January 2024 during treatment for a benign prostate condition for which he had surgery. He has not revealed what kind of cancer he has been diagnosed with, although the palace said it was not related to his prostate issues.
Just 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 and cancer-free, after what her husband, heir to the throne Prince William, admitted had been a “brutal” year and the “hardest” of his life.
The king suspended his public duties for a few weeks before resuming them in April 2024, with his doctors saying they were “encouraged” by his recovery. He has been undergoing treatment ever since.
He has stepped up his activities over the past year, making many royal visits around Britain as well as trips to Canada and the Vatican.
He was briefly hospitalised in March after experiencing “side effects” from his ongoing cancer treatment.
At the April event, he sought to comfort those receiving a new cancer diagnosis, repeating the words of a late well-known British campaigner, Deborah James, who died from bowel cancer.
“Find a life worth enjoying; take risks; love deeply; have no regrets; and always, always have rebellious hope.”
