Queen Camilla's poignant engagement days before King Charles's cancer diagnosis became public

Queen Camilla undertook an incredibly poignant engagement just a few days before King Charles’s diagnosis became public. 

Setting a new royal precedent, King Charles has shared several candid health updates so far this year, including the news that he had been diagnosed with cancer. This had been “identified” during His Majesty’s recent stay in hospital where he received treatment for a “benign prostate enlargement”, but is a “separate issue” and not prostate-related. Although the news was only made public on 5th February, it’s understood that he and the Queen knew days earlier and reports have claimed Queen Camilla was already aware when she undertook a special engagement.

If this is the case, then Her Majesty’s decision to continue with this particular appearance is all the more poignant as she opened Maggie’s Royal Free. This is a new cancer support centre at the Royal Free Hospital and Maggie’s provides care and support to not only those with cancer but their friends and family too.

Queen Camilla has been President of Maggie’s since 2008 and she’s now visited 17 Maggie’s centres throughout the UK. During her recent visit, Her Majesty met volunteers, visitors and members of the architectural team who played a vital role in designing the centre to be a welcoming and safe environment. 

Despite the very poignant nature and timing of Queen Camilla’s visit, Chief Executive of Maggie’s Dame Laura Lee has described her as being “in good and strong spirits”. As per The Standard, she told BBC Breakfast that Queen Camilla helped them to “celebrate” the opening and that it was very much a “day of work” for her.

“She has been in and visited many of our Maggie’s centres and so it was a day of work for her, of coming and helping us celebrate and open the centre,” Dame Laura said. “So, obviously, we know this information about King Charles after that visit, but during it she sat down, as she does in all of our centres, with a group of people affected by cancer, who talked about their own stories, about how they had navigated the challenges of cancer, and how important support was for them.”

Even if Queen Camilla had known of King Charles’s cancer diagnosis at the time, she seems to have thrown herself into this poignant engagement and been positively engaging with all those she met. Dame Laura added that the Queen is “very knowledgeable” about the impact of cancer as well as “very compassionate and empathetic”.

The Maggie’s Chief Executive predicted that Queen Camilla will “undoubtedly be offering” immense support to King Charles. She also suggested that Her Majesty’s thoughts will also be focused on the rest of the Royal Family and on how to support King Charles with his desire to keep working on state business and official paperwork.

Queen Camilla was by the King’s side when he made his final appearance before Buckingham Palace shared a statement revealing his diagnosis. The couple were in Sandringham and attended the Sunday service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene. Their Majesties appeared to be in good spirits and King Charles waved cheerily at the cameras as they walked.

As well as supporting her husband privately, it’s possible Queen Camilla will also be stepping up to attend more public engagements as he has been advised by doctors to “postpone public-facing duties”. It’s not known how long this will be for, though the Palace declared that His Majesty “looks forward” to return to “full public duty” as “soon as possible”.