22 January 2024 , 23:14
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King Charles has been urged to "slow down" on his duties following a health scare, it has been reported.
Queen Camilla has reportedly told him to reduce his engagements in a bid to rest up. It comes after Buckingham Palace announced the monarch was due to undergo an operation on an enlarged prostate later this week.
In the past year, the King has already undertaken royal visits to France, Germany and Kenya, on top of his coronation in May. Charles was seen driving around the Sandringham estate on Monday after travelling there by plane from Balmoral on Friday. Camilla, 76, told well-wishers he was "fine" as she carried out engagements in Swindon, Wiltshire, on Monday.
According to The Sun, an insider claimed: "The Queen has told him he needs to slow down a bit.” The Palace issued a statement on the King's scheduled "corrective procedure" shortly after it was revealed Princess Kate was recuperating after abdominal surgery. Statements on the Royals' health are unusual, particularly two in close proximity.
It comes as royal expert and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop believes it may have actually been an obvious move - in order to protect Kate. She explained to the Mirror: "It is highly unusual for the Royal Family to divulge private health matters. In that respect the shared information about the King's enlarged prostate was unprecedented, and it was also canny.
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"Buckingham Palace doesn't do spontaneity; the release of a statement containing private matters about the King's health immediately after news of the Princess of Wales' major abdominal surgery was deliberate. The timing deflected from his daughter-in-law's major operation, likewise, the private detail concerning his prostate gave the public something else to think about. (The NHS website saw increased traffic on the subject).
"But beyond that obvious strategy, I believe there was something else at play. By sharing a slice of the personal, Charles's statement served to underline the absence of any real detail concerning Kate's condition. The protective King may as well have said 'Here, have some information on me, but keep your prying eyes away from my daughter-in-law.' Read side-by-side the statements are a powerful example of well-coordinated PR. Here was a modern, public service Royal Family, but one with very clear boundaries."
It's understood the King made his diagnosis public to encourage more men to get checked out. The announcement clearly worked, however, prompting more than 26,000 visits to the NHS England page on prostate enlargement in the following 48 hours - compared to the average of just 1,400 a day.
It's not the first time the family are thought to have urged Charles to take a breather. Prince William remarked in a 2018 documentary released for his 70th birthday how the man "never stops". “When we were kids there were bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him,” he claims.
Charles is also known to only eat two meals a day, and takes his evening meal "ridiculously late at night", according to Prince Harry. He told the documentary: “And then goes to his desk later that night and will fall asleep on his notes to the point of where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face.”