You look tired, Your Maj. Time for a rest

WHEN our beloved Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022, many of us feared the succession would be difficult.

She’d been a cherished monarch who had guided us for more than 70 years, while her son Charles had often been a truculent and opinionated Prince of Wales.

But how successful our new King has proved. He steered the nation through that initial painful period, and has grown into a thoughtful and dutiful sovereign, emphasising again in this week’s Maundy Thursday audio broadcast that he is here ‘not to be served, but to serve’.

So determined is the King to carry on at all costs, he even plans to appear at the Easter Service tomorrow at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on the most venerated day in the Christian calendar.

And yet, looking at the portrait released to accompany his audio message this week, I will admit I thought he looked tired — very tired.

The audio was recorded earlier this month at Buckingham Palace, making me wonder why he was unable to deliver the entire message on video — on the day itself. If nothing else, it would have reassured us.

Then again, what man wouldn’t look tired after going into hospital for a simple prostate operation only to learn — and then have to bravely reveal to the nation — that he had cancer?

Impressively, the King has insisted on working during his treatment. It’s left me thinking: we don’t need you to be a superhero, Charles. We just want you well again.

In the two years since the Queen died, you have held us all together. With Queen Camilla by your side, we feel the Firm is secure — even after Kate, your ‘beloved daughter-in-law’, revealed last week that she has cancer, too.

That’s a hell of a lot for any man, King or commoner, to cope with.

So I just gently say to the King: Thank you for your Easter message, but the greatest gift you can give us is to look after yourself.

As someone who was a sceptic — yet who has come to admire you — may I respectfully suggest you don’t need to feel you have to release messages or new photographs or appear in public.

All we want is for you to get better. Take as long as you need. We will be waiting.

Time for a rest, Your Maj.