When Buckingham Palace announced that the King had cancer on February 5, the statement was released with a previously unseen image of Charles from his state visit to France.
Standing alone in the doorway, the King looked towards the camera with an uncertain expression on his face and his hands clasped behind his back.
“People tell me that being diagnosed with a cancer is like suddenly finding yourself in an unknown land, with no map, no compass, no sign posts and no knowledge of the language,” he once said during a Macmillan Cancer Relief event in 1999.
Now, less than three months after his own diagnosis, the palace presents a radically different picture.
Announcing a return to public duties, the King is pictured arm-in-arm with the Queen on a sunlit stroll through the gardens at Buckingham Palace. The messaging is clear: he’s (nearly) out of the woods.
A palace spokesman was keen to stress that while the signs were encouraging, the King’s cancer treatment nevertheless continues. They added that it was “too early” to say how long that would be the case.
Yet his medical team is “sufficiently pleased” to allow courtiers to start putting plans in place for future engagements.
For Charles it will be a relief. For months he has been forced to remain behind the scenes, much to his frustration.
Speaking to Sky News Australia last month, the King’s nephew Peter Phillips, son of the Princess Royal, said: “I think ultimately he’s hugely frustrated. He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do.”
• What next for Charles? His return will be ‘carefully calibrated’
Phillips acknowledged, however, that the King was also “very pragmatic… but at the same time he is always pushing his staff and everybody — his doctors and nurses — to be able to say “actually can I do this, can I do that?”
“The overriding message would be that he’s obviously very keen to get back to a form of normality and is probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than probably he would want it to.”
The King’s determination to carry on with his constitutional duties along with other aspects of his work was seen when he stayed behind for his treatment while the Queen, who had been undertaking solo duties in his absence, flew abroad for a sunshine holiday.
He, too, had been planning some “down time” but the nature of his treatment forced him to return to London every week to continue treatment as an outpatient. It is understood that the medical team come to him, which reduces the need for him to go into hospital.
Rather than taking it easy, he filled the week with meetings with foreign dignitaries and other engagements.
His hobbies, such as walking and gardening, have kept him in a positive frame of mind.
During his treatment, the King has spent time at Sandringham in Norfolk, which has been a private retreat to generations of British monarchs since 1862. He is understood to have enjoyed time overseeing the progress of a “health garden” on the West Lawn, a project he started before his diagnosis.
No small endeavour, it features around 5,000 healing yew tree hedging plants as part of an eco-diverse topiary garden including 4,280 herbaceous perennial plants and bulbs specifically chosen for their health benefits, such as echinacea, lavender, delphinium and phlox.
It has all helped to lift the spirits of the King who spent a lifetime as heir apparent only to be struck down by ill health after being on the throne for a little over a year.
A palace source said that the King was “immensely cheered”, not only by the thousands of get well cards and messages flooding in but also by the positive impact that his own diagnosis has had on cancer charities who have reported an uplift in the number of people using their websites to search for symptoms and to donate.
To alleviate the frustration of being away from public duties, the King has been pleased to continue with his constitutional duties, his daily meetings with his private secretary, attending to his red boxes of governmental papers and his weekly audiences with the prime minister.
When in London, the King has told his aides that, where possible, he wants to travel in the State Bentley where possible so that he could remain “visible”.
His desire to be visible — or “to be seen to be believed” as his late mother apparently once said — has required his team to come up with more creative ways to do this outside public engagements. The King filmed a video where he was seen looking through some of the 7,000 get well cards and recorded a video address which was shown in Westminster Abbey during the annual Commonwealth Day service, which he was unable to attend.
When not in the capital, the King has spent time in Sandringham, at Birkhall in Balmoral, at Windsor Castle, and Highgrove.
The first positive sign came on Easter Sunday when the King not only attended the Easter Mattins service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor but spent time shaking hands and chatting to members of the public afterwards.
Yet his progress is all the more remarkable given that it is less than three months since his diagnosis was made public.
On February 5 Buckingham Palace announced that the King had had cancer diagnosed. A statement said: “During the King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer.
“His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties. Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.
“The King is grateful to his medical team for their swift intervention, which was made possible thanks to his recent hospital procedure. He remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.
“His Majesty has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”
On Tuesday, when he visits a cancer treatment centre with the Queen, it will likely be one of the most significant engagements of his reign to date and the first official public engagement of the year so far.
Palace aides are keen to point out that Charles has had an affiliation with cancer charities long before he was diagnosed with the disease.
Three years before his own experience, the King, then Prince of Wales, wrote as patron of Macmillan cancer support: “These are truly daunting circumstances. However a charity set up to tackle cancer is not easily daunted and, as we have seen throughout this year, right across our country the formidable will and compassion of the British people have outshone every darkness.”
Next week, he is expected to build on this message.
As he enters the summer months, the King hopes to take part in as many engagements as possible, albeit with careful planning so as not to imperil his continued recovery.
A palace source said: “The King’s treatment and progress have now reached such a stage that the threshold of risk has reduced to such an extent that he can now take part in public duties both inside and out.”
Doctors will be consulted along the way, however, to choreograph his movements and ensure that every aspect of an engagement — the transit, the accommodation, the number of people he can greet — is assessed before confirming his involvement.
On May 6, the King and Queen will mark the first anniversary of their coronation. Typically, the anniversary of a coronation is not celebrated — the late Queen was not known to mark hers in any meaningful way.
For the King, however, who is still overcoming the worst health news of his life while in the early stages of his reign, there is surely something to celebrate.
A palace statement read: “As the first anniversary of the Coronation approaches, Their Majesties remain deeply grateful for the many kindnesses and good wishes they have received from around the world throughout the joys and challenges of the past year.”