Family dramas and health problems mark the first year of Charles III’s reign

King Charles III returned to public duties last Tuesday after a three-month absence due to the monarch’s cancer diagnosis, which will celebrate tomorrow, Monday, one year since his coronation. It was the king’s first formal public engagement since February 6, when Buckingham Palace announced it would take a break to focus on treating an unspecified type of cancer.

Symbolically, the visit was to the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center, in London, where Charles and Queen Camilla met with patients and staff at the cancer treatment center. The monarch shared the impact of the diagnosis with a patient: “It’s always a bit shocking when they tell us”.

The King is expected to return to more public events before a state visit by Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife, Empress Masako, in June. But it is unclear how many of the traditional royal summer events, such as the military parade in June to mark the king’s birthday and the horse races at Royal Ascot, he will participate in while medical treatment continues.

Buckingham Palace said last week that doctors were “very encouraged” by the King’s progress but that the schedule would be adjusted as necessary to protect the recovery. During his absence, Charles III suspended public activities, but continued the constitutional duties of a constitutional monarch, which include signing laws, regular meetings with the Prime Minister, and approving certain appointments.

Nine months after the coronation, in May 2023, the announcement of the illness constituted, in itself, a small revolution, breaking the secrecy that had surrounded the health of members of the royal family until then. In addition to providing an opportunity to get closer to the subjects by embracing their vulnerability as a mortal, the decision to share the news raised awareness of the benefits of early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other health problems.

England’s National Health Service revealed that the number of people seeking advice about prostate problems increased 11-fold in the weeks following Carlos’ announcement that he was being treated. The King, who had always been very active, was apparently impatient to resume his public activities. But the cancer, from which he has not been cured, will continue to cast a shadow over a reign for which Charles III, aged 75, waited his entire life.

The year 2024 has been particularly difficult for the British monarchy. In addition to the King, the Princess of Wales, Catherine, also suffers from cancer, detected after abdominal surgery in January. The 42-year-old princess, considered the “star” of the royal family, only confirmed she was suffering from the disease on March 22, after weeks of speculation.

In an emotional video, Kate confided that she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy, but did not specify the nature of her cancer and, since then, Kensington Palace, which manages her communications and those of her husband, Prince William, heir to the throne , there was no further news.

Sarah Ferguson, 64, ex-wife of Prince Andrew, the King’s brother, had already revealed on January 21 that she was suffering from malignant melanoma, a skin cancer.

Before the health problems in the royal family, the first months of Charles III’s reign had already been disturbed by other family dramas. Last year, son Harry, who left the royal family to settle in California with his wife Meghan, wrote a very critical autobiography, “The Substitute”, creating tensions.

The King’s younger brother, Prince Andrew, remains unable to play any official role and can no longer use his title of Royal Highness due to a woman’s accusation of sexual assault when she was 17 years old. The case ended in a financial settlement, which avoided an embarrassing trial, but left André tarnished and the royal family exposed.

Crowned on May 6, 2023, Charles III has strived to give a more modern image to a monarchy that he wants to be more adapted to the times, a challenge for a very dynamic but elderly king, less popular than his mother, the who lack the brilliance and historical dimension. Some of his first visits were marked by anti-monarchical demonstrations, unimaginable in the time of Isabel II.

Known for his passions for the environment, sustainable development, alternative medicine, rural life and religion, for years the crises in his private life overshadowed the actions of this rich man, with a low voice, always impeccably dressed. His divorce from Princess Diana in 1996 made headlines around the world, amplified by his ex-wife’s death in a car accident in Paris a year later.

He had to wait almost a decade before marrying the love of his life, Camila, in 2005, in a civil ceremony at Windsor City Hall, without his mother present. Ironically, the 76-year-old Queen, who was also crowned on May 6, has in recent months become a bulwark of the monarchy.

Successive health problems reduced the number of active members of the royal family by almost half, and Camila began to be on the front line, with numerous commitments every week. The surprise abdication of Queen Margaret II of Denmark earlier this year generated some speculation about whether this would be possible in the United Kingdom given Charles III’s age, and now health. Other European monarchs have abdicated in the last decade: King Juan Carlos of Spain in 2014, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert II of Belgium, both in 2013. But the daughter-in-law’s current situation makes it unlikely that she will decide to pass on the testimony to the son William.

With Lusa