The Queen has opened up on how “difficult” it was to visit a cancer support charity just after learning her husband had been diagnosed with the disease in a new film released today. Describing the emotional visit to open Maggie’s cancer centre at the Royal Free in North London, Camilla said she was “longing” to tell someone that the King had cancer, but knew “it wasn’t the time”.
She visited the centre, which provides free support to cancer patients as well as their family and friends, on January 31, 2024 – five days before Buckingham Palace announced the King had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer and would start regular treatment. Reflecting on the King’s shock diagnosis with the organisation’s Chief Executive Dame Laura Lee DBE in a film to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary, the Queen said: “It made me realise even more, just how important these places were.
“It had never really come back to roost at home and suddenly your husband is diagnosed and you think goodness; I’ve been talking to all these people, now I’m the one with some relation who’s got to help to look after my poor husband and try to understand it all.”
