Timeline of health troubles faced by the royal family
The King “required a short period of observation in hospital” after side effects from planned cancer treatment, and has cancelled his engagements in Birmingham tomorrow on medical advice, Buckingham Palace has said.
The King has now returned to Clarence House but has received medical advice to reschedule his planned engagements.
Here is the timeline of the health troubles facing the royal family.
2024
– Tuesday January 16
Kate is secretly admitted to The London Clinic and undergoes abdominal surgery.
She attends the clinic rather than King Edward VII’s Hospital which is usually the go-to establishment for royal medical matters.
– Wednesday January 17
2pm – Kensington Palace announces the princess’s operation and says she will remain in the private hospital for 10-14 days.
She was not expected to return to duties until after Easter, taking up to three months to recover.
The Prince of Wales steps back from his official duties temporarily to care of his wife and children.
The exact nature of Kate’s condition is kept private, but it is not cancerous and Kensington Palace says the planned procedure was successful.
3.25pm – Buckingham Palace announces the King, then 75, is to have treatment for a benign enlarged prostate and will be admitted to hospital in a few days.
A source later says the princess is “doing well”.
– Thursday January 18
The Prince of Wales spends time at his wife’s bedside, driving himself away from the back entrance during the low-key, private visit.
A serious-looking William is seen leaving The London Clinic at about 12.35pm.
The Queen says the King is “fine” and “looking forward to getting back to work” during a visit to the Aberdeen Art Gallery.
– Friday January 19
The King flies back from Scotland with the Queen and heads to his Sandringham estate in Norfolk to rest ahead of the procedure.
– Sunday January 21
It is announced that the King’s former sister-in-law, Sarah, Duchess of York, has malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
It is less than a year since the duchess, 64, was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
– Monday January 22
The Queen tells 86-year-old well-wisher Jessie Jackson that the King is “fine”, and thanks her for asking, while she carries out engagements in Swindon.
Sarah, Duchess of York, meanwhile, describes her shock at having skin cancer but says she is in “good spirits” and “grateful for the many messages of love and support”, in a post on Instagram.
– Tuesday January 23
Kate’s hospital stay passes the one-week mark.
Camilla urges the King to take it easy.
An insider told The Sun: “The Queen has told him he needs to slow down a bit.”
– Thursday January 25
The King carries out behind-the-scenes official duties, meeting academics from Cambridge University at Sandringham House.
He later arrives back in London from Norfolk ready for his treatment.
– Friday January 26
The King, with the Queen at his side, is admitted to the London Clinic for treatment for an enlarged prostate and also visits the Princess of Wales, who is recovering in the same hospital.
– Monday January 29
The King is discharged from hospital and waves at well-wishers.
Kate leaves the clinic the same day to continue her recovery at home.
– Wednesday January 31
Camilla says the King is “getting on, doing his best” as she opened a Maggie’s cancer support centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
– Sunday February 4
The King and Queen attend church in Sandringham, with Charles waving at well-wishers.
– Monday February 5
Kensington Palace confirms the Prince of Wales is returning to official duties this week, beginning with an investiture.
6pm – Buckingham Palace announces the King has a form of cancer, but not prostate cancer, and has started treatment as an outpatient.
He will not carry out public-facing duties, but will carry on with behind the scenes state business and official papers.
– Wednesday February 7
The Prince of Wales speaks about the King’s cancer diagnosis for the first time and thanks the public for their “kind messages of support”.
William’s words of praise, delivered during a fundraising gala dinner, also recognise those who wished the Princess of Wales well as she recovers from planned abdominal surgery.
He tells the guests: “It means a great deal to us all.”
On the same day, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace confirm the King will hold his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over the phone rather than face-to-face.
– Sunday February 11
The King makes his first public appearance since the announcement of his cancer diagnosis when he visits St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk.
Charles, accompanied by the Queen, waves to the public before attending the morning service.
– Monday March 4
The Princess of Wales is photographed for the first time since undergoing abdominal surgery.
Kate is pictured near Windsor Castle on Monday in the passenger seat of a car, according to TMZ.
The news site said she was wearing dark sunglasses in the black Audi which was being driven by her mother, Carole Middleton.
The photo is understood to have been taken by paparazzi.
– Tuesday March 5
The Army removes a claim on its website that the Princess of Wales will review Trooping the Colour in June.
Tickets were being sold on the official website for the June 8 military spectacle, advertising an appearance by Kate, on Tuesday evening.
– Sunday March 10
Questions are raised that the first picture of the Princess of Wales to be released after her abdominal surgery may have been manipulated before it was posted on social media by Kensington Palace.
The photo of Kate and her children, said by the palace to have been taken by the Prince of Wales in Windsor earlier this week, was posted to mark Mother’s Day.
The photograph is later withdrawn by international picture agencies because of concerns that the image had been manipulated.
– Monday March 11
The Princess of Wales publicly takes the blame for the manipulated family photograph released by Kensington Palace as she issued a personal apology for the “confusion”.
Kate said sorry with a statement on social media which read: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.
“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”
– Monday March 18
Footage emerges of the Princess of Wales alongside her husband during a visit to a farm shop in Windsor over the previous weekend.
– Tuesday March 19
An investigation is launched at the London Clinic over claims staff tried to access the Princess of Wales’s private medical records.
On the same day, the King holds a private audience with four Korean War veterans but does not attend a reception held by the Princess Royal and Duchess of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace in which Charles, in a speech read by Anne on his behalf, praised the British veterans’ “valiant service”.
– Thursday March 21
The King holds audiences with new high commissioners from Tanzania and Singapore.
Charles first holds an audience with Tanzania’s top diplomat Mbelwa Kairuki at Buckingham Palace.
He then meets Singapore’s high commissioner to the UK, Ng Teck Hean, and his wife.
– Friday March 22
6pm – In a recorded video message broadcast to the nation, the Princess of Wales announces she is having chemotherapy after tests following her surgery found cancer had been present.
– Thursday March 28
The King addresses a congregation assembled at Worcester Cathedral for Royal Maundy Service through a pre-recorded audio message, though he does not attend in person.
Charles speaks of his “great sadness” in being unable to partake in the service and highlights his gratefulness for “those who extend the hand of friendship” to those in need.
Queen Camilla attends the service in his place.
– Sunday March 31
The King attends an Easter Sunday church service in what marked his most significant public appearance since the announcement by Buckingham Palace in February that he had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer and is undergoing treatment.
Charles joins the Queen and other members of the royal family at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Sunday in a smaller version of the annual gathering.
– Tuesday April 30
The King returns to public duties, meeting patients at University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in central London.
His medical team is said to be “very encouraged” by the progress he has made.
– Tuesday May 14
The first completed portrait of the King since his coronation – by Jonathan Yeo – is unveiled, and depicts the monarch bathed in red with, at Charles’s suggestion, a butterfly at his shoulder, symbolising his metamorphosis from prince to King.
– Friday July 5
Charles plays a central role post-election, inviting Sir Keir Starmer to form a new government as he became the third Prime Minister of Charles’ reign and the first Labour one.
The King sympathises with his new PM, telling him you must be “utterly exhausted and nearly on your knees”.
Meanwhile, the King writes privately to Donald Trump after the former US president survived an assassination attempt.
Charles delivers the second King’s Speech of his reign at the State Opening of Parliament.
– Sunday September 8
The King reached the second anniversary of his accession to the throne and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, with his health “heading in a very positive trajectory”, a royal source said.
The source said Charles had coped with the past year with a “determination to be as public as he was able” to reassure the nation about how much he could still do.
– Friday October 18
The King and Queen Camilla began a landmark tour of Australia.
The six-day trip to Canberra and Sydney was to be Charles’ first to Australia as its head of state, and came as he was continuing to receive treatment for cancer.
Doctors gave Charles permission to briefly halt the weekly cycle in order to fly around the world for his key visit Down Under, followed by a state visit to Samoa in the South Pacific.
– Sunday November 10
The Queen watched the moving Remembrance Sunday service from home while she recuperated from a chest infection.
Camilla observed the two minutes’ silence privately as she followed the proceedings live on television at Raymill, her Wiltshire house, after doctors ordered her to miss the annual ceremony.
– Thursday November 14
The King celebrated his 76th birthday, marking the occasion with a visit to a surplus food festival.
– Tuesday December 3
Charles welcomes the Emir of Qatar to the UK at a state visit at the start of December, with Kate joining them at Horse Guards Parade – another step in her journey back to her public role, and David and Victoria Beckham appearing at the state banquet.
– Tuesday December 3
The Queen told guests at the state visit that her chest infection was a form of pneumonia.
Camilla was suffering from post-viral fatigue and missed the outdoor elements of a Qatari state visit after being urged by her doctors to take more time to recover.
– Wednesday December 25
The King used his Christmas address to pay tribute to the “selfless” doctors and nurses who provided “strength, care and comfort” during cancer treatment for himself and the Princess of Wales.
In his annual message to the nation and Commonwealth, Charles offered his “heartfelt thanks” to the medical teams who supported him and his family “through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness”.
– Monday December 31
The King personally honoured senior staff from his medical team during his treatment for cancer.
Charles’s GP Dr Douglas Glass, otherwise known as the apothecary to the King, and his physician Professor Richard Leach were recognised for their personal service to the monarch and the royal family.
2025
– Tuesday January 14
Kate returns to the Royal Marsden, the hospital where she was treated for cancer, to thank staff for their care, and announces she is in remission.
– Thursday March 27
The King “required a short period of observation in hospital” after experiencing side effects from his cancer treatment.
Charles was due to meet ambassadors in audiences at Buckingham Palace on Thursday afternoon, but these were postponed, as was a trip to Birmingham.
A source described it as a “most minor bump in a road that is very much heading in the right direction”.
The King visited the London Clinic, where he was treated for an enlarged prostate in January 2024, and travelled to and from the hospital by car.
