King Charles, who is being treated for cancer, is to return to public duties, with doctors pleased and “very encouraged” by his progress and “positive” about his continued recovery, Buckingham Palace has said.
Charles, who announced in early February he had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer, will continue treatment while resuming some public-facing engagements, though he will not undertake a full summer programme.
His first engagement will be to visit a cancer treatment centre on Tuesday accompanied by Queen Camilla, though it is not a centre directly involved in his medical care. There he will meet medical specialists and patients as patron of Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.
He will also host a state visit by the emperor and empress of Japan in June.
A palace spokesperson said Charles was “greatly encouraged to be resuming some public-facing duties and very grateful to his medical team for their continued care and expertise”.
King Charles’ health conditions are progressively deteriorating, leading Buckingham Palace officials to keep a regularly updated plan for his impending funeral — preparations for which started the day after Queen Elizabeth was buried, insiders said.
The 75-year-old monarch has remained largely out of the limelight since announcing his cancer prognosis in February to hide his declining condition, with multiple sources telling The Daily Beast the situation is “not good.”
“Of course he is determined to beat it and they are throwing everything at it. Everyone is staying optimistic, but he is really very unwell. More than they are letting on,” a source described as an old friend of the royal family told the outlet.
King Charles has never revealed what cancer he has been diagnosed with but admitted that it wasn’t prostate cancer, which is one of the most treatable forms of the disease.
Behind the scenes, however, King Charles’ aides are regularly reviewing copies of a several-hundred-page document outlining his royal funeral plans, dubbed “Operation Menai Bridge.”