King Charles is Changing How We Talk About Royal Health
How the King's cancer diagnosis compares to the Palace's past handling of royal illness.
If King Charles III’s royal ancestors could see him, they might well be appalled at his choice to announce his cancer diagnosis to the public.
On Monday afternoon, Buckingham Palace released a statement revealing that he has been diagnosed with “a form of cancer,” following a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. Charles opted to share this health news with the masses, it was noted, “to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”
Likewise, when Charles’ prostate procedure was announced, there was an emphasis placed on the fact that he was sharing his diagnosis in the hope that other men would be emboldened to undergo screening for similar conditions.
We also received details meant to reassure; King Charles began “a schedule of regular treatments” on Monday and remains “wholly positive about his treatment.”
This is a bold departure from the way that the British Monarchy has historically approached the touchy subject of a health crisis: by keeping it entirely under wraps. Typically, the Palace considers the Family’s medical issues to be a matter of private—rather than public—concern.
Case in point: A 2008 statement regarding the health of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, read in part: “Buckingham Palace has always maintained that Members of the Royal Family have a right to privacy, particularly in relation to their personal health. For this reason, we have always refused to confirm or deny the persistent rumors that circulate about their health.” This statement, interestingly, went on to deny rumors that the Duke was suffering from prostate cancer. But this was, on the whole, a departure from precedent.
January’s double whammy of announcements about the health of the King and Catherine, Princess of Wales packed a similar punch; the very existence of such announcements was the most shocking part of reading them.
You see, the Palace’s goal when dealing with any crisis is to maintain a sense of calm. After all, stability and continuity are the bedrock of the 1000-year-old institution.
Name the last time you heard—in real time—that a royal had been diagnosed with cancer. You can’t, can you?
Why? Simply put, the British Monarchy is an institution built on the people who occupy its central roles. Everything done at the Palace is in the interest of helping the Monarchy perpetuate itself. To maintain the public’s support, the institution must be seen as strong and vibrant. And it follows that the key players in the Monarchy, then, should also be seen as strong and vibrant.
Royal Houses around the world and across time have gone to great lengths to give the public exactly that impression—even if it was nothing more than an illusion.
The King’s health
Charles himself has never released details of any chronic medical condition to the public; he was hit with a few polo-related injuries in the 1990s and 2000s, famously waving to photographers with one arm in a sling on one such occasion.
Charles also had COVID-19 twice (once in 2020 and again in 2022), but officials said that he merely suffered mild symptoms in each case. Many governments around the world were forthcoming about their key players contracting COVID, back when isolation periods were appropriately lengthy.
Aside from those two instances of health issues, though, we’re in the dark about any long-term concerns the King may have previously faced. (No, I don’t know definitively why his fingers look like that.)
And this week’s “shock” announcement of a cancer diagnosis flies in the face of centuries of Palace strategy.
We won’t have to look far for you to see what I mean. The death of Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022 came as a shock to many—despite the monarch’s advanced age and the reduction in her public appearances. The official cause of her death was listed as “old age,” but in the year after her passing, sources quickly began to report that she suffered from a form of bone marrow cancer. The Palace has yet to confirm or deny this rumor.
One this is for certain: Queen Elizabeth II was loath to display any indication that she was weakening.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Fascinator to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.