By disclosing his cancer, Charles breaks centuries of royal tradition. But he shares only so much
CTV
In British history, the secrecy of the monarch's health has always reigned supreme. Buckingham Palace's disclosure that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer shattered that longstanding tradition.
In British history, the secrecy of the monarch's health has always reigned supreme. Buckingham Palace's disclosure that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer shattered that longstanding tradition.
On the heels of the shock and well-wishing that followed the official statement Monday came the surprise that the palace had announced anything at all. Indeed, the unprecedented missive was sparse on details: Charles, 75, had begun treatment for a cancer it did not name after being diagnosed during a recent corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. The King is stepping back from public duties but carrying on state business during his treatment, which he'll receive as an outpatient, the palace said.
“The King has cancer,” the Times of London declared in a terse banner headline Tuesday. It was unlike any other in British history.
Never complain, never explain, as Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was known to say. Charles has withheld details of his illness and treatment, and in that way is carrying on her approach. But in beaming a sliver of light from inside the palace walls and his own life, the King has broken with his mother and royal tradition.
The world still does not know the cause of Elizabeth's death in 2022 at the age of 96. In the final years of her life, the public was told only that the queen was suffering from “mobility issues.” Her death certificate listed the cause simply as “old age.”
The British public wasn't told that Charles' grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56, and some historians have claimed that the King himself wasn't told he was terminally ill.
Given that Charles rules in a media-saturated age, “I do think it's incumbent on him to reveal more than he's revealed,” said Sally Bedell Smith, author of “Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.”
