King Charles is resuming public duties following his February cancer diagnosis.
In a statement issued on Friday alongside a new photo of the King with his wife, Queen consort Camilla, Buckingham Palace said Charles “will shortly return to public-facing duties after a period of treatment and recuperation following his recent cancer diagnosis.”
In a further statement obtained by the BBC, the Palace said his medical team is “very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the King’s continued recovery.” However, it is “too early to say” how much longer his treatment will continue.
King Charles will kick off his return to public engagements on Tuesday with a trip to a cancer treatment center alongside Camilla. He will then host the Emperor and Empress of Japan for a state visit in June.
The update comes after a report on Thursday in The Daily Beast that funeral plans for the 75-year-old king had been “dusted off” following his recent health struggles. In February, it was revealed that King Charles III, who ascended to the throne after his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September 2022, had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer. Earlier in the year, Buckingham Palace said that he had undergone a medical exam for an “enlarged prostate.”
King Charles’ diagnosis coincided with speculation surrounding the health of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, after she was admitted to the hospital in January for a “planned abdominal surgery” and took time off from her royal duties to recover. However, by early March, curiosity began to swirl regarding Middleton’s whereabouts and a curious photo posted to the Instagram of Middleton and her husband, Prince William, on Mother’s Day did not help matters. After internet sleuths pointed out that the photo appeared to be doctored, four major news agencies pulled it from their systems and Middleton issued an apology, admitting that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
On March 22, Middleton revealed in a video message that she had been undergoing treatment for cancer. She said that while her condition was originally thought to be non-cancerous, cancer was found in her system following abdominal surgery and she is now in the “early stages” of preventative chemotherapy. She did not disclose the type of cancer.
“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which I am so grateful,” she said in the video.