It’s been a month since King Charles started undergoing treatment for cancer. And if his non-stop work schedule and diary commitments are anything to go by, it appears his treatment is going as planned.
Despite being advised to cancel public-facing engagements for the time being, Charles has made a point of not slowing down and of keeping his jam-packed days as full as ever.
The workaholic monarch, who would often stay up late working into the night pre his diagnosis, has been quietly carrying on with his head of state duties behind palace walls.
On Wednesday, Charles, 75, received incoming Algerian ambassador Nourredine Yazid and the ambassador for Mauritania, Samba Mamadou Ba. The diplomatic audiences were the King’s first this year, and the first since his diagnosis.
Charles, wearing a smart morning suit, was pictured smiling broadly and greeting his guests in the palace’s grand 1844 Room.
He also sent a message of condolence to Tanzania over the death of the country’s former president, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, expressing his deepest sympathies and calling Mr Mwinyi a “true friend of the United Kingdom” and “a leading figure in Tanzania’s economic and political development”.
“I can only offer you my deepest sympathy at his passing,” his message read in part, with the conclusion: “My special thoughts and prayers are with former President Mwinyi’s family and the Tanzanian people at this time.”
Charles’ audiences and statement come after he also held an in-person pre-Budget audience with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. The audience is traditionally a private one, but, keen to demonstrate he’s still running the show, the King was photographed shaking hands with Mr Hunt and speaking to him in the Private Audience Room of the royal residence.
The hard-working sovereign has also kept up his weekly audiences with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and continues to review his red boxes daily, while also planning to attend Privy Council meetings – more signs that Charles’ treatment plan is going well.
The fact that he has also been well enough to travel around the country, going from his doctor appointments in London to his country home in Norfolk, is another positive sign.
The monarch’s cancer was discovered after he underwent a procedure on his enlarged prostate in January. While Buckingham Palace did not confirm the type of cancer, they did say it was not prostate cancer.
A source previously told HELLO!: “His overriding sense will be one of frustration that he will be letting people down because he’ll have to cancel a series of planned engagements.
“He will be doing everything he can to take the treatment programme seriously; to get back to full fitness as soon as possible in order to minimize the amount of disruption his personal situation causes to his role as head of nation and state.”
