King Charles, despite appearing in good spirits during the first day of his Canada tour, is unable to stop the murmurs about his health as one key detail has left many royal experts concerned.
The monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, landed in Ottawa on Monday following a nearly six-hour flight. Even though he appears in good health given his cancer diagnosis, which was announced in February 2024, Charles continues to receive weekly cancer treatments.
Moreover, the Palace has reassured the public from time to time that the King is making good progress and has once mentioned that he is on the “better side” of his cancer journey.
Although, some experts are not convinced as the point out a key detail from Canadian tour has raised concerns about his health.
Royal commentator Daniela Elser noted that the king would have hit his “usual regal high notes, planting a tree here, meeting a Prime Minister there, but this is far from a bog-standard tour for several reasons, starting with how startlingly short it is”.
Previously, The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes reported that the brevity of Charles’s tour is “yet another reminder of just how seriously the king’s doctors are taking his ongoing health crisis”. He shared that the entire trip is merely 20-hour long which is “not normal” for any royal tour.
Elser noted that Charles and Camilla – during their trips in 2017 and 2022, had spent at least three days in the country but this time around their timetable can be described as more of a “whistlestop” if they didn’t actually bother to disembark and touch the tarmac.
Moreover, this particular trip holds crucial significance given the timing of it. According to Daily Mail’s Rebecca English, the King would be “well-placed to negotiate the current political tensions” after US President Trump’s remarks about making Canada its 51st state.
Elser stated in her piece for News.com.au, “This 20-hour sprint is an undeniable reminder of the reality of things – that despite the Palace’s best efforts to put on their business-as-usual face, Charles is a 76-year-old man about to enter his 16th month of cancer treatment.”