King Charles ‘raring to go’ on tour of Australia this year & tells aides to ramp up plans as cancer treatment goes well

A source said: “The King is raring to go and keen to get on with the job.”

His hope for an autumn state visit to Australia comes as he is “over the moon” at a successful start to cancer treatment.

Charles is said to be “supercharging” plans for the two-week trip which will also take in New Zealand and Samoa.

But the October tour alongside Queen Camilla would be pared back and include “significant down-time” to ensure he has the energy to carry out duties, say insiders.

Buckingham Palace sources said the monarch is feeling “positive”, and medics “optimistic”, after he was able to go on a walkabout at Easter Sunday.

The Palace said “nothing is ruled in or out” and they remain “cautious”.

But the insiders told The Sun he is “keen to get on with the job” and “hit the ground running”, knowing his reign has been set back by his diagnosis.

Charles and Camilla are likely to begin their traditional post-Easter break shortly. But the King wants to be at the Trooping the Colour in June, and the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France a week earlier.

Gruelling journey

He has told aides to ramp up the Australia plans and aides will make site visits within weeks.

 A trip Down Under is considered the biggest and most important foreign trip for a British monarch. The late Queen visited 16 times, the first in 1954 and last in 2011.

She remains the only serving monarch to set foot in Australia.

Charles — who tried to play a didgeridoo at an aboriginal art exhibition in Birmingham in 1992 — was Prince of Wales when he and Camilla toured Oz in 2018.

The gruelling journey includes 20,000 miles and 21-hour flights just to get there.

He knows he can’t hang around and is feeling extremely positive after tests meant he could attend the Easter Sunday service and spend time meeting the public, which he has missed

Palace Insider

Charles and Camilla would also visit New Zealand and Samoa to lead the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. But extending the trip to Fiji is to be ruled out.

Charles is known to take around six or seven engagements each day on a foreign tour. An insider said: “The King is raring to go after a significant amount of time off due to his cancer diagnosis.

“He knows he can’t hang around and is feeling extremely positive after tests meant he could attend the Easter Sunday service and spend time meeting the public, which he has missed.

“Although his doctors are keeping an eye on his health, he’s itching to take the reins and get back to his public role as Head of State.

“He’s over the moon with the way treatment has gone and supercharging plans for Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.

“He wants to follow his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s mantra, that he needs to be seen to be believed.”

In another sign his treatment is going well, Charles will spend his 19th wedding anniversary 500 miles from London doctors at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate in Scotland.

Harry’s restricted access

Charles revealed on January 16 that he needed treatment for an enlarged prostate. While in hospital doctors discovered cancer and he later had treatment.

No date was set for his return to work but he continued to carry out constitutional duties such as meeting PM Rishi Sunak and reading government red boxes.

But he had to keep audiences to a minimum during treatment, including restricting Prince Harry’s face-to-face meeting to half an hour.

Nothing is ruled in and nothing ruled out, planning for all possibilities in a spirit of positivity and optimism but no way a guarantee at this stage

Palace Insider

Last week he was well enough to host a Buckingham Palace reception with interfaith leaders. Then he led the family at Easter, emerging from St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle to shake hands with around 60 well-wishers.

A palace source said then that the reappearance “was a significant step”. They admitted: “The King has responded to treatment very encouragingly and his doctors were thus able to adjust their guidance slightly on what His Majesty is now able to undertake.”

His aide was clear to point out his “treatment continues” and “caution is the watchword”, but Charles would resume public-facing duties in the spring and summer.

They said all plans are subject to medical guidance. But they added: “There is great hope and optimism from doctors and the patient.

“The road ahead is looking positive.” Last night palace sources would not confirm the King attending the D-Day anniversary or Trooping the Colour in June, or the trip Down Under in October.

The Palace insisted treatment continued but that the direction or recovery remained positive.

Charles — who tried to play the didgeridoo at an aboriginal art exhibition in Birmingham in 1992 — was Prince of Wales when he and Camilla toured Oz in 2018

In another sign his treatment is going well, Charles will spend his 19th wedding anniversary 500 miles from London doctors at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate in ScotlandCredit: Simon Price

They said: “Nothing is ruled in and nothing ruled out, planning for all possibilities in a spirit of positivity and optimism but no way a guarantee at this stage”

They added: “Doctors are optimistic, the patient is positive and treatment is sophisticated.”

It was understood that the Australia tour will ultimately depend on his health nearer October.