Queen will step up her work as King cancels public engagements
‘The King is positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty’
THE Queen will continue with a full programme of public duties while the King receives treatment for cancer, Buckingham Palace has said in the wake of his diagnosis.
She will undertake all her usual royal engagements in the coming months as her husband, 75, has rearranged and postponed his own.
It is thought that the King will continue his weekly audiences with the Prime Minister and will undertake his red box paperwork while being treated but will not complete any public duties.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Regrettably, a number of the King’s forthcoming public engagements will have to be rearranged or postponed.
“His Majesty would like to apologise to all those who may be disappointed or inconvenienced as a consequence.”
However, the Queen, 76, has decided to plough on with a full programme of royal engagements – the bread and butter of a royal diary – while preparing to support the King through this period.
It is understood that she and other senior members of the family may undertake some additional duties on behalf of the King if it is required, but that counsellors of state are not expected to step in.
During the monarch’s corrective surgery and recovery for his benign enlarged prostate, the Queen undertook a number of engagements and also visited her husband at the London Clinic on a daily basis.
She provided a stream of updates on the King’s condition during her engagements, telling well-wishers that he was “doing well” and “looking forward to getting back to work” following a period of recuperation.
Palace aides had indicated that he would need several weeks away from public duties to recover from the procedure before news of his cancer diagnosis broke.
The King was said to be “raring” to return to work before the new diagnosis, but it is now understood to be too early to tell when this might be as he undergoes new specialist treatment.
A Palace spokesman said that the monarch “is wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible”.
Last week, the Queen carried out a number of engagements which included hosting a reception of authors at Westminster Castle to celebrate the centenary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, speaking to elderly residents at St John’s Foundation almshouses in Bath and opening Maggie’s Royal Free, a cancer support centre.
On Feb 2, she visited Meadows Community Centre in Arbury, Cambridge, which marked her fourth official engagement in four days.
The King and Queen were last seen in public together on Sunday, when the King waved to onlookers as he walked to church at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. He appeared in good spirits during his first public outing since he was discharged from hospital.
The King had been recuperating at his Norfolk home since last Wednesday, after returning from London by helicopter, but is back in the capital this week as he begins to receive out-patient care for his cancer diagnosis.
The Queen is said to have urged her husband to slow down following his earlier treatment but will have to do the opposite herself to keep the show on the road.