King Charles' last phone call to late friend

King Charles is heartbroken over the sad demise of a close friend just weeks after a phone call between them.

Kiingi Tuheitia, who visited the monarch and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace in 2023, breathed his last in New Zealand at the age of 69 on Friday.

The King is said to be in great shock over the passing of the decades-long friend to the royal family, who's recovering in hospital after undergoing heart surgery.

The 75-year-old explained his heartbreak over the loss of his friend in his statement, reveling he had spoken to Tuheitia earlier this month.

The cancer-stricken King is said to be coping with loss of his friend while recalling the moments he talked to him on telephone days before Kiingi's death.

Opening up about his shock, the monarch said: "His death is a particular shock in view of the fact that I had only very recently spoken to Kiingi on the telephone at the beginning of August."