Stoic King Charles returns to public duties with emotional confession

The world stopped spinning for a second when it was revealed that, nearly 18 months after ascending the British throne, King Charles III had been diagnosed with cancer.

However, just two short weeks since the news officially broke and two months since his last engagement, the stoic King returned to public duties on Wednesday, February 21 with an emotional confession to British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

In his meeting with the Prime Minister, the Monarch was reportedly in good spirits, acknowledging the gap since their last encounter and confessing that the huge amount of public support following his cancer scare had moved him to tears.

From the outset of the meeting, Sunak reportedly said, “Good evening Your Majesty, very nice to see you.”

Charles responded, “Bit of a gap.”

Sunak replied, “A bit, but wonderful to see you looking so well.”

Looking dapper and content in a navy pin-striped suit, the King made light of his double health scare with the Prime Minister responding, “Well, we are all behind you, the country is behind you.”

Charles confessed, “I’ve had so many wonderful messages and cards. Reduced me to tears most of the time.”

Sunak sympathised with the King but also said that his diagnosis had put cancer research and charity work firmly in the spotlight.

“I can imagine, as I said, everyone is behind you, and it’s been nice to see the spotlight that it’s shone on the work the charities do in this area,” he responded.

The King said: “I hear there’s been a lot more interest on those main wonderful cancer charities many of which I’ve been patron for years.”

Sunak added: “They’ve done incredible work up and down the country, nice to be recognised.”

 

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The news that King Charles had been diagnosed with a form of cancer came after the Monarch spent three nights in the hospital recently for a corrective procedure related to a benign enlarged prostate, where a separate concerning issue was identified.

Sending shockwaves around the world, the news also precipitated a brief visit from his estranged son, Prince Harry, who flew from the US to be at his father’s side.

The visit sparked hopes of repairing the family rift that formed after the Prince and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped away from royal duties four years ago.

The brevity of the Prince’s visit, just 30-minutes, did spark anger amongst the royal ranks with many seeing it as a PR stunt rather than a genuine show of concern.