King Charles III’s Openness About Cancer Has Helped Him Connect With People In Year After Coronation

LONDON — King Charles III’s decision to be candid about his cancer condition has helped the new monarch connect with the British people and strengthened the monarchy in the year since his glittering coronation at Westminster Abbey.

Charles has utilized his sickness to highlight the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, demonstrating leadership during personal pain. In the process, people have come to regard him as a more real-life character who faces the same issues as them rather than just an archetype of money and luxury.

“Ultimately, the great leveler is health,” said Anna Whitelock, a professor of monarchical history at City University in London. “The royal family, like many other families, is dealing with a cancer diagnosis. “And I believe that has taken the energy out of major challenges to the king.”

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King Charles III’s Openness About Cancer Has Helped Him Connect With People In Year After Coronation

Questions remain. Can a 1,000-year-old inherited monarchy represent modern Britain? How will the institution respond to criticism about its ties to imperialism and slavery? Should an elected head of state replace the monarchy?

However, for the time being, such difficulties have been largely left aside as the 75-year-old king receives treatment for an unnamed type of cancer.

Of all the issues experts predicted the royal family would encounter in the year following Charles’ coronation, the events of the previous five months have taken Britain by surprise.

Charles was first treated for an enlarged prostate, after which he revealed his cancer diagnosis. The news that Kate, the Princess of Wales and Prince William’s wife, also had cancer followed this.

Both withdrew from public service to focus on their health. William followed suit to support his wife and the couple’s three small children.

The septuagenarian monarch was unwell, and so was the much younger future queen. Her husband needs to help out. Suddenly, the royal family appeared much more vulnerable and human.

With three senior royals out of the picture, the Windsors were stretched thin as they attempted to keep up with the never-ending whirlwind of ceremonial appearances, awards presentations, and ribbon cuttings that comprise modern royal life.

Queen Camilla stepped into the breach.

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King Charles III’s Openness About Cancer Has Helped Him Connect With People In Year After Coronation

Camilla was once regarded as a scourge of the House of Windsor due to her role in the dissolution of Charles’ marriage to the late Princess Diana, but she has since emerged as one of the monarchy’s most famous ambassadors. The queen’s increased appearance schedule helped keep the royal family in the public eye.

Wherever she traveled, royal fans sent get-well cards and encouragement to Charles and Kate.

Whitelock explained that, in many ways, the story of Charles’ first year since his coronation is about Camilla’s ascension and how effective she has been in portraying the monarch.

“The crowds reaching out to her have been quite remarkable,” she remarked. “So I think this first year has very much been the reign of Charles and Camilla in a way that we would never have imagined.”

They worked together to produce a year of stability for the monarchy despite some opponents’ expectations that Queen Elizabeth II’s death would usher in a period of change.

That does not imply Charles is without problems; many come from inside his family.

The king’s relationship with his younger son was strained even before Prince Harry and his wife Meghan abandoned royal duties and relocated to California in 2020. But the publication early last year of Harry’s bombshell memoir, “Spare,” worsened the rift with revelations about the royal family’s unconscious racism and sweetheart agreements with the tabloid press.

Then there’s Charles’ brother, Prince Andrew, whose ties to the late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein continue to generate problems for the king. Last month, Netflix released a full-length film on the disastrous 2019 interview in which Andrew attempted to justify his relationship with Epstein.

However, over the last year, Charles has pushed to increase transparency about the monarchy’s operations, spoken out on environmental issues, and promoted interfaith dialogue, according to George Gross, a royal historian at King’s College London.

The king then decided to make his health difficulties public to illustrate the benefits of early intervention in a country where cancer survival rates are lower than in many other wealthy nations.

“He’s overcome difficulties. It’s incorrect to imply he’s taken advantage of it, since it’s a terrible situation to be in, and anyone with a cancer diagnosis will be really frightened,” Gross added. “But it has been this way that, as a head of state, he’s been able to do good with a very simple message, and I think that’s an extraordinary thing.”

Charles emphasized his message last week when he began his return to public life with a visit to a cancer facility.

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King Charles III’s Openness About Cancer Has Helped Him Connect With People In Year After Coronation

While touring the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in central London, the king sat with Lesley Woodbridge, a 63-year-old cancer patient, and held her hand as chemotherapy medications slowly flowed into her arm.

“It’s always a bit of a shock, isn’t it, when they tell you?” He said, “I’ve got to have my treatment this afternoon as well.”

It’s the kind of personal connection that Britons don’t anticipate from the royals, who are famed for their reserved demeanor rather than their heart.

According to Michelle Mitchell, the charity’s CEO, after the king’s announcement of his illness, Cancer Research UK saw a 33% spike in website views as individuals looked for information about cancer symptoms.

That might have saved lives. And it brought people closer to the king.Mitchell noted how personal the king’s visit to the oncology clinic was.

She added that patients gladly shared their cancer stories with Charles and Camilla, and the royal couple answered with personal information about their own journey.

“I observed not just empathy, but true compassion,” Mitchell stated. “And overall, the atmosphere of the day was one of hope — but hope, I think, framed with the importance of research bringing greater progress.”

SOURCE – (AP)