Charles thanks well-wishers for their support after diagnosis
KING Charles III issued a statement yesterday giving his heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support he has received since his cancer diagnosis.
The UK monarch has not been seen since Monday when he left Kensington Palace in London for his Sandringham estate in Norfolk following a brief meeting with his younger son Prince Harry.
Prayers and support from around the world have followed the announcement that he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
Hand-signed ‘Charles R’ and topped with the bold red letterhead of Sandringham House, yesterday’s note read: ‘I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days.
‘As all those affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement.
‘It is equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a light on the work of all those organisations which support cancer patients and their families across the UK and wider world. My lifelong admiration for their tireless care and dedication is all the greater as a result of my own personal experience.’
Today, the 75-year-old king will continue resting at the Norfolk estate where he has been based since leaving hospital last week after prostate surgery.
He is expected to attend the morning Sunday service at St Mary Magdalene Church, where he was pictured last week with wife Camilla, 76, a day before his cancer diagnosis was announced.
Friends of the ‘workaholic’ monarch say he will likely be pursuing two of his favourite hobbies, walking and watercolour painting, while doing what clearly doesn’t come naturally – taking it easy.
A friend noted: ‘Boredom will be one of the hardest things for him.’
Another added that Charles is likely to spend some of his time enjoying one of his more idiosyncratic passions: listening to his beloved records of the singer Leonard Cohen, specifically the poetic song Take This Waltz.
It is understood he will return to London for a couple of days at the start of this week for a medical appointment and it has been reported that he is well
‘Such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort’
enough to hold face-to-face meetings during the visit.
When resting in Norfolk, insiders say it is possible he might decamp to Wood Farm, the five-bedroom house on the Sandringham Estate where there would be fewer people around ‘making a fuss’.
It was a favourite bolthole of his mother, the late Queen, and was where Prince Philip spent much of his retirement.
On Thursday, Camilla, who has been by her husband’s side since his diagnosis, said he was ‘very touched’ by messages of support he has received from around the world, which is ‘very cheering’.