The visit, scheduled from Oct. 18 to Oct. 26, is the first royal tour the King has undertaken since being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year
will take two doctors along with him on his upcoming trip to Australia and Samoa with wife .
The King, 75, and Queen, 77, kick off their Oceania visit on Friday, Oct. 18; the royal tour will wrap up on Saturday, Oct. 26. Joining the royal entourage will be two doctors, the reported, as news emerged earlier this week that the King will “pause” cancer treatments while abroad.
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The royal tour — which marks the first visit of King Charles’ reign to a Commonwealth realm — will include “a number of concessions to prevent him from being overworked,” according to the Times, and the monarch “will be monitored closely during the visit.” A palace source speaking to the Times said that the decision to pause his cancer treatment, which will resume when he returns to the U.K., “followed doctors’ advice.”
King Charles was diagnosed with cancer following a procedure to treat a benign enlarged prostate in January. On Feb. 5, Buckingham Palace announced that the King would begin treatment for cancer, which he was diagnosed with following the procedure. The palace clarified that Charles’ cancer is not prostate cancer, though it did not specify what type or stage of cancer the King had been diagnosed with. The King’s announcement in February of his diagnosis came about six weeks ahead of ’s own March 22 announcement that she, too, had been diagnosed with cancer; she announced in that she had completed chemotherapy, and on Oct. 10 made a surprise return to royal engagements alongside husband .
In April, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles was “greatly encouraged” by the news from his doctors that he could resume public-facing duties while his treatment continued. A palace spokesman said in the spring that it was “too early to say” how long the King’s treatment would continue, but added that his doctors were “sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far.” The King officially resumed front-facing duty on April 30 by visiting the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre and has had a jam-packed diary since.
As he and Camilla prepare to undertake the two-stop royal tour next week, “I’m sure that the medical team has been consulted and will look after the King and make sure that he doesn’t overwork, as we know he has a propensity to do,” historian and author Hugo Vickers told the Times. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be undertaking the trip unless he was fit enough to do it.”
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Though the trip already includes a stop in two countries, a third stop to New Zealand was planned but then cut in light of the King’s health. Speaking to the New Zealand women’s rugby team during a reception at Buckingham Palace, Charles said, “I’m extremely sorry I can’t come to New Zealand in later October — it’s on doctors’ orders. But I hope there will be another excuse [to visit] before too long. In the meantime, give my love to New Zealand.”
While in Australia, “the itinerary has been designed with the King’s health in mind,” the Times reported. “The King and Queen will have a rest day, and there will be no evening engagements.”
While there, the King will meet with in melanoma treatment, the palace said.
“The King, who has this year been receiving treatment for cancer, will meet Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, both Australians of the Year, and will hear about the work they do to help those affected by melanoma, one of Australia’s most common cancers,” the palace outlined.
Long and Scolyer are and co-medical directors of the Melanoma Institute Australia, and won the award together for their work to save lives from skin cancer.
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In Samoa, Charles will participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGHM) 2024, as he is the head of the Commonwealth association of 56 nations. The summit is held every two years, and while in Samoa the King and Queen will arrive in the evening and attend a state dinner. The palace said that “will focus on themes designed to celebrate the best of Australia and Samoa, as well as reflecting aspects of the King and Queen’s work.”
Though the King will not attend in Azerbaijan in November taking place just weeks after his royal tour of Australia and Samoa (as he did in 2023), it was announced that the King and Queen will of the year at Buckingham Palace in December. Following a state visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan in June, King Charles and Queen Camilla will host the Amir of Qatar and his first wife and consort on December 3 and December 4, Buckingham Palace announced on Oct. 11.
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