Queen Camilla revealed she struggled to keep King Charles‘ cancer diagnosis secret in its early stages. She admitted she wanted to let it out while speaking with patients during a visit to London’s Royal Free Hospital. She also said that her husband is coping with the diagnosis by continuing his royal duties.
Queen Camilla’s reflections on King Charles’s cancer journey
Queen Camilla opened up about the monarch’s diagnosis for the first time in the 30th anniversary of Maggie’s cancer charity video. She said that when they learned about King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, officials forbade them from speaking. Because Buckingham Palace had not yet released the official announcement, they had to keep the news to themselves.
The Queen revealed that not speaking up was a “difficult” experience for her during her interactions with cancer patients at a new Maggie’s cancer support center at the Royal Free Hospital in London at the time.
She said to the chief executive of Maggie’s, Dame Laura Lee, “I almost said something, but, you know, I felt that it wasn’t the time to say it.” Lee acknowledged the courage it might have taken for the queen to keep such news to herself, a week before the official announcement. “I was just longing to let it out, but obviously I couldn’t,” Queen Camilla added.
Additionally, she mentioned that when she met the patients, she interacted with them more deeply in light of her husband’s diagnosis. She also tried to be careful not to pry too much into their experiences. “I looked at everybody who was suffering and all the relations and I think it made me realise even more how important these places were,” she elaborated.
“The King’s openness about his diagnosis has undoubtedly helped others to be more open themselves, and to now hear the Queen’s completely understandable and natural response as a wife shines a light on why it is so important that family and friends also get the support they need,” Lee said, lauding the King and Queen’s courage to open up about their difficult period in public.
Originally reported by Shazmeen Navrange on Mandatory.
