King Charles appeared to handle the travel to Canada pretty well this week. His color looked good, he didn’t have that ashen pallor he’s had often in the past fifteen months, and he managed to cram a dozen events into a 24-hour blitz in Ottawa. This was his first trip to Canada and North America as king. Now, I sort of believe that the brevity of the trip had multiple purposes – Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney didn’t want Charles and Camilla to linger, and neither did Charles’s aides and courtiers. Everything was stage-managed so that Charles would look and seem healthy for 24 hours. Well, interestingly enough, an unnamed palace aide (likely Buckingham Palace’s communications secretary) gave an interview to the Telegraph. This is the palace directly dictating the talking points of Charles’s trip and his health.
On Charles’s cancer: The senior royal aide said the King is dealing “incredibly well” with his undisclosed cancer, adding: “The thing you learn about this illness is that you just manage it and that’s what he does. Medical science has made incredible advances and I genuinely see no difference in him.As long as you just do what the doctors say, just live your life as normal as possible… that’s exactly what he is doing.”
Charles’s speech in Canada’s Parliament: The senior royal aide described the King’s speech, written by the Canadian government, as “thought-provoking, not provocative”, and it set out the agenda of prime minister Mark Carney’s new administration, outlining measures widely seen as combating US president Donald Trump.
Charles’s first trip to Canada as king: A senior royal aide said: “It is a reset of that relationship, and for Their Majesties to see so many people turn out and to be so thrilled to see them was fantastic.”
The aide on the Carolean age: “Almost three years on, everyone has a clear impression of what that is and the role that he will play – one that is both traditional for the monarchy and distinct to His Majesty. Leveraging on the long relationships he has built over the years, he has enhanced his role as a global statesman on so many issues, wielding soft power to the benefit of all the realms and commonwealth nations at a time of great international challenge. He has dealt with his illness in a very human way, and the way he’s engaging with the public at a very human level. I think we now have a clear idea of what the Carolean age looks like and what it stands for – now and hopefully for many years to come.”
It’s useful to look beyond Charles’s appearance and the palace’s talking points about his cancer and health. It’s important to look at how his staff behave, and how Charles’s family behave as well. Charles’s sons are BOTH acting like he doesn’t have much time left. Charles’s aides speak around Charles’s actual medical situation, treatments and what doctors are really saying to him. It’s possible that Charles’s prognosis is actually positive and that he will live for many more years. But that’s not the way people around Charles are acting.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
😂
The Carolean age is a vindictive, petty one, easily forgotten.
And when all is said and done, Diana won.
I mean yeah. At the end of the day, a lot of people are just going to see the Carolean age as one of a very petty man who may have done some good things but overall was a terrible husband to Diana and a cold as ice father. Pretending that he will have a legacy much beyond that seems fantastical.
Why can’t people leave the past behind, we’ve all made mistakes, No person is perfect, be happy with what you have and share the love you’ve been given
Sure. But I’m talking about the legacy of his Carolean age and who he is a as person and king as shown through his actions. Maybe Charles will be lucky and that will be the way in which he is remembered. In a very, oh well, we all just make mistakes sometimes way. As opposed to being remembered for evicting his grandchildren from a safe space in the Uk in which he could have visited them. I’d imagine his hagiographers will work hard to make that so.
@Yve — this isn’t some Hallmark moment of love and forgiveness and fairy dust. The past IS the present with the royal family and they are responsible for the generational toxicity afflicting the family. Their “deal with the devil” relationship with the tabloids is public knowledge. Their infighting and jealousy is public knowledge. Their outright crimes (Andrew) and underhanded money-gathering are common knowledge. The manner in which Meghan and Harry were horribly mistreated, RPO protection pulled and their home taken from them was despicable. The way Diana was mistreated was appalling. You can’t just wave a magic wand and make vapid comments like “leave the past behind, we’ve all made mistakes, No person is perfect, be happy with what you have and share the love you’ve been given”. They are all arrogant, self-obsessed, spoiled, out of touch, temperamental and selfish people. They may have a shiny surface but scratch that surface and they’re tarnished through and through.
@Yve So perhaps Charles should “share the love” with his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren? Or at the least share the security and housing of which he has plenty.
Charles has the best doctors and care. He has no worries about insurance and what it will cover . It’s not just him managing it. No long waits to get on to see a doctor or long waits to get a room in hospital
Wish there was a way to upvote this comment!!
I think it’s obvious and fair to say that whatever he has, the only treatment is maintenance and it is not possible for him to go into remission or otherwise become cancer-free.
This is my interpretation as well, given the language about living with cancer. Stage 4 is sometimes treated like a chronic illness or disease as there is no cure at this point in time.
Yep, sounds like chronic leukaemia to me.
It could be any type of metastasizing cancer, not just leukemia. I have bladder cancer and will never be cancer-free, it can only be managed. It could be an aggressive type prostate cancer that likewise can be managed but not forced into remission. I doubt he’d be traveling with leukemia anyway, the fatigue, weight loss and chance of serious infection are just too high. Note he wasn’t wearing a mask and was shaking hands with dozens of people, that’s anathema to a leukemia sufferer.
i think the truth lies some where in the middle, the only ones who know the prognosis is Charles and his doctor, I think the sons are assuming the worst, as a trauma response from their mums unexpected passing the courtiers are being optimistic because they hate change. and dont want to see the writing on the wall. what is their usual battle cry: Blindsided ! that they will be
IME cancer is the long goodbye, so those courtiers better transition to the coming change.
Just a quick question-
Do the courtiers stay when the king passes away or do they have to look for new employment? Does Peggy get to bring in a new batch and clean house? Obviously, personal secretaries will change but how about the lesser group?
William will clean house. Maybe a keep a few? I think Charles cleaned house too bc there were reports of many of the former BP staff being let go. I’m curious as to who William will have in charge of the jewels. Angela Kelley very famously was for the Queen. If Charles or Camilla has a dedicated staff person in charge of the jewels, I don’t think we know the name of the person.
I’m curious to see what William and Kate do with Camilla once Charles is gone. I’m picturing the hyenas in the Lion King at the end when they turn on Scar.
Camilla isn’t interested in a public role after this and Charles has likely set up her well enough that William can’t touch her.
William is not going to give Kate the same level of control as Charles has given Camilla.
The spokesman is tacitly acknowledging that the cancer is not curable. He is managing the cancer which is what you do with a terminal diagnosis. Could be months, could be years, but he will not recover from it.
Yes, that reads as palliative care. But I’ve seen quite a range in terms of how long some of my patients live after beginning palliative treatment. Some pass on in just weeks, others have been going for years. Also – improved color does not necessarily mean someone is on the upswing. His sons are right to brace for the inevitable, although we typically encourage them to live life to the best of their ability.
I keep being baffled that instead of proclaiming what he’ll do when he’s king huevo isnt seen with his cancer stricken father more often
Or actually doing the transition work of stepping up, taking over arduous foreign tours from the ailing monarch and providing stability and continuity. Last year FK was indeed blindsided by his dad’s cancer diagnosis and took time off supposedly to devote himself to his wife and kids. This year he’s been briefing about” becoming” impactful when he is King.Did the troops based in Estonia get that fridge? Will FK continue to show up empty handed at food banks? Or is his definition of ‘impactful” not going to manifest into practical items to help? More like unmeasurable empathy, a sympathetic tilt of the head rather than spending money to help his tenants sort of thing? Telling us he’s going to be impactful in the unfixed future whilst continuously to horde his wealth, ignoring his tenants and charities in the process?
“Work” or “Stepping up”, I know you must be joking
As far as being seen together, my guess is that Huevo hates Charles as much as or more than he hates his brother, but for different reasons. He just refrains from calling up the Daily Beast to announce it.
When KW inherits what will be stepmother’s title. Will it be the Queen Stepmother?
Evil queen stepmother? Throw all the Disney tropes at her please!
I think it will be queen dowager or dowager queen.
I’m assuming it’s stage 4 and he is treating with either immunotherapy or targeted therapy. It’s hard to know how long those treatments will work. Many people get years and years. Some don’t.
This. I knew an elderly person who was diagnosed at stage 4 with cancer that had already metastasized into their liver. They were able to afford cutting edge treatments and lived for six more years and only in the last year did the situation become difficult and painful. But then I attended a dinner for a cancer charity and the speaker described how they only had three weeks from their young, healthy-seeming spouse’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer to their death.
Their statements are worded in a way that makes sense. I don’t think there’s any point in putting out a statement that points to doom and gloom, especially since he himself might have to read it. He needs to stay positive since cancer is a depressing illness. Everyone knows someone who has or had cancer and how devastating it can be, and putting out depressing statements likely aren’t good for his mental health —- if he has to actually see them (I’m talking on a personal level for him rather than how it relates to the state and nationhood.)
We all know the trajectory of this kind of illness — saying what the end result will be seems kind of pointless in this instance.
There’s no explanation as to why Charles is still doing weekly treatments 15 months on.
They’ve never said he’s in remission so I don’t see why they’d have to say the reason why he’s still getting the treatments. Hasn’t the reason already been given acknowledging he’s getting the treatments? — that he has cancer and it’s not gone away yet.
Wouldn’t the explanation already be self-explanatory when the word remission doesn’t seem to have come up yet? What explanation could be provided when everyone knows it’s the remission that allows you to be off treatment?
I have biweekly treatments almost a year after my cancer diagnosis and will continue to get them as long as I’m putting a haze on a mirror. It’s the only way of controlling it, it cannot be cured or go into remission.
‘…putting a haze on a mirror…’ My goodness, @Jaded, you do have a way with words! 💓
May you haze, for a long time.
“The thing you learn about this illness is that you just manage it and that’s what he does”
I found the wording on that interesting. Almost as if it’s uncurable, or he’s terminal, so they’re just managing it.
It was important for KC to visit Canada and also to meet Zelenskyy on a Sunday at very short notice. FO are already complaining the Junior is saying no to foreign travel on their behalf.76 year old having maintenance chemo is working steadily whilst his heir is again on holiday working on his tan. Okay KC is doing his duty whilst he is able but how is it feasible for Junior to be so self indulgent when he should be taking on more responsibility in preparation for kingship?
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Pretty sure Chuck doesn’t have long to live.. Prince Harry and Peggy both have made comments that make it seem like he is terminal and they would have the back door contacts to know the truth.