Everything we know about King Charles’ cancer treatment one year since diagnosis

It’s been a year since King Charles was diagnosed with cancer on February 5, 2024. Buckingham Palace confirmed the monarch, then 75, was stepping back from public duties while undergoing ‘regular treatments’. He started his return to the day job with a symbolic trip to a cancer treatment centre at the end of April. At the time, the palace said doctors were ‘very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the King’s continued recovery’.

Here’s everything we know one year on from the news of his diagnosis. No. The palace has only confirmed the King does not have prostate cancer, and has not revealed any further details. In a statement, it said: ‘No further details are being shared at this stage, except to confirm that His Majesty does not have prostate cancer.’. Charles’s illness was discovered while he was being treated for benign prostate enlargement at the London Clinic.

It was the same day Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, had abdominal surgery that sparked her own cancer diagnosis. The palace would later say Charles is ‘so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did’ after she announced it in March. He spent three nights at the London clinic private hospital, where doctor’s discovered a ‘separate issue of concern’. Buckingham Palace has confirmed the King does not have prostate cancer.

When the diagnosis was publicly announced, Charles returned from Sandringham to London to start his treatment as an outpatient. This meant he could stay at home instead of in hospital for the duration of hi treatment. Where Charles is being treated, whether it is an NHS or private hospital, and what treatment he has been receiving has not been confirmed. It was reported that Charles paused his treatment while on an 11-day visit to Australia and Samoa in October, according to the Daily Mail.

The palace confirmed his treatment would continue into 2025. During a visit to Walthamstow in December, Sikh faith representative Harvinder Rattan asked ‘how are you’, to which Charles replied: ‘I’m still alive.’. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. An initial statement said Charles was ‘wholly positive’ and would continue to undertake State business and official paperwork, despite taking a break from public engagements.

Five days later, he released a statement saying: ‘I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days. ‘As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement.’. His first visit after the break was to a specialist cancer centre in London at the end of April.

‘It’s always a bit of a shock isn’t it, when they tell you’, he said of his diagnosis during the trip. Asked how he felt undergoing treatment, the king replied: ‘I’m alright, thanks. Not too bad.’. In his Christmas message, Charles said: ‘From a personal point of view, I offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed.

‘I am deeply grateful, too, to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement.’. On World Cancer Day on Tuesday February 4, the Royal Family released a video featuring speakers from various charities and celebrities, including Macmillan Cancer, Maggies Centres, Cancer Research UK, Tom Daly, Victoria Derbyshire, and more shared inspirational messages. They added he is grateful for the medical teams ‘swift intervention’.

However they have confirmed there will be no further updates today, and they will not be providing a ‘running commentary’ of his condition. It was expected that the King’s son Prince William, would take up more public duties in his father’s absence. But William’s wife Kate’s own diagnosis diverted his attention. Announcing an end to her chemotherapy in September, the couple said they wished to spend more time with their family, ‘which so many of us often take for granted’.

Kate announced in January that she is now in remission. However, the King’s health concerns did raise the question of whether Charles might abdicate in favour of William, Prince of Wales. Dr. Bob Morris, an honorary senior research associate at UCL’s Constitution Unit, previously explained that the Regency Act could also come into play amid any monarch’s ill health. While the prospect remains unlikely, it could be triggered if the King became physically incapacitated due to illness, meaning he could no longer speak or move.