The King will be “greatly encouraged and deeply touched” by the positive reaction to a television broadcast where he talked about his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace has said.
In a recorded message, broadcast on Friday as part of Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign, King Charles said his treatment was being reduced, and urged people to take up offers of cancer screening, saying “early diagnosis quite simply saves lives.”
The King’s type of cancer has not been revealed, and he will continue to receive treatment and monitoring.
The Palace said the King “will be particularly pleased at the way it has helped to shine a light on the benefits of cancer screening programmes.”
“It has long been the King’s view that if some public good can come from sharing elements of his personal diagnosis and treatment journey, then it would be his pleasure and duty to do so.”
“His thoughts and warmest wishes will remain with all those affected by cancer and those who care for them.”
Charity Cancer Research UK says around 100,000 people have visited its new online screening checker since it was launched on 5 December – a majority of which came after the King’s message was broadcast on Friday night.
Photo: PA Media
That tool allows people to check whether they are eligible for NHS and Public Health Agency cancer screenings in their local area.
The King, who revealed his diagnosis in February last year, is not described as being in remission or “cured” but the regularity of his treatment will be significantly reduced in the new year.
In his video message, recorded in Clarence House two weeks ago, he said that he was “troubled” to learn that nine million people around the UK are not up to date with the cancer screening available to them.
“That is at least nine million opportunities for early diagnosis being missed,” he said.
He added: “Too often, I am told, people avoid screening because they imagine it may be frightening, embarrassing or uncomfortable.”
“If and when they do finally take up their invitation, they are glad they took part.”
“A few moments of minor inconvenience are a small price to pay for the reassurance that comes for most people when they are either told either they don’t need further tests or, for some, are given the chance to enable early detection, with the life-saving intervention that can follow.”
Following the broadcast, the King was praised for his candour in talking about his cancer treatment.
Clare Garnsey, the associate medical director of the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said his message was “very powerful“.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Miss Garnsey said she, “like the majority of health professionals who work in the cancer field” was “really thankful” for what the King said.
“I think the message was very powerful about the importance of early diagnosis and how important it is that we all attend for our screening,” she added.
She said it is “really helpful” to healthcare professionals when people in “positions of influence” – such as the King – speak publicly about their experiences with cancer.
These messages highlight that it “can happen to anybody”, she said, and raise awareness of the potential symptoms someone may experience.
Royal biographer and friend of King Charles, Jonathan Dimbleby, said the King’s message demonstrated the “unique role of the sovereign”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the King’s decision to speak openly about his treatment in such “warm, gentle, thoughtful, kind terms” was “quite extraordinary and it has great impact“.
He said the King’s message will give people “great reassurance” to hear of someone who “has a cancer and lives with that cancer“.
“It makes you recognise […] that it’s not a death sentence,” he added.
Dimbleby’s father, broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, died at 52 in 1965.
“When he died, he had been frightened to say, in advance to himself even, that he had cancer,” he said, adding that the word cancer was “hardly usable then“.
He said it took “guts” for the King to share such a personal message publicly, but “the fact that he came out and did that will save lives, and people will be less frightened of saying ‘we must go and get a test’.”
Dimbleby said that when it was announced that the King was having treatment for an enlarged prostate in 2024, there was a considerable surge in searches to the NHS website.
“No-one else could have done this,” he added.
