Back in March and April, King Charles was severely limiting his schedule because of his cancer and cancer treatments. That shifted in May and June – suddenly, he was much more visible and he went to France for the D-Day commemoration, he was hosting garden parties and attending Ascot. He still looked deathly ill, but it felt like it was a good sign that he was out and about so much. In April, the Daily Beast reported that there were some quiet conversations happening in royal circles, people theorizing that Charles is much sicker than anyone knows and that he doesn’t want to reveal his actual diagnosis. Of course, none of that is being reported in the British media. One journalist told the Daily Beast: “Even if you had it copper-bottomed that he had bladder cancer, you couldn’t run it.” From that moment on, I’ve believed that Charles does have bladder cancer and he’s been receiving a very specialized treatment for it. That’s just my theory, I don’t have any insider knowledge. I suspect that the Daily Mail has insider knowledge, but right now they’re just publishing whatever Buckingham Palace wants them to publish. Speaking of, here are some highlights from the Mail’s “Inside King Charles’ cancer battle” piece:

The sun is shining: In a sign of hope – as well as an insight into the trials Charles has been through over the past months – it was reported today that a source close to the monarch said: ‘The sun wasn’t shining in February, but it is shining now’.

He won’t reveal what kind of cancer he has: The King was diagnosed with cancer after first attending hospital in January to receive treatment for an enlarged prostate. While he has been open about his prostate problem, it is unlikely he will reveal what type of cancer he has, The Sun reports today, citing a source. This is as he aims to ‘reach out and embrace as many people as he can impacted by cancer,’ they claimed. ‘The more specific you are the fewer people you are able to engage and support.’

No hair loss: It has been widely noted that he has not suffered any hair loss from his treatment, which was said to have been a natural concern for the King. Thankfully, he has also not experience any debilitating side effects from the treatment, details of which have not been disclosed. A source told The Sun of his treatment that it is ‘not pioneering in any way as it’s available for any cancer patient. The treatments are highly evolved and sophisticated in ways previous treatments were not,’ they added.

Diminished immune response: Rather than his ill health stopping him from carrying out his public duties, it has been claimed the decision to postpone his public facing role was made as a ‘precautionary measure’ because of the King’s diminished immune response to other diseases. During his 103 days away from public duties, Covid-style tiers were in place and he was restricted to the amount of people he could be with. He was planned to have weekly treatment in London and factor in vital periods of rest time at Sandringham, Highgrove and Windsor.

Harry’s visit in February: This was reportedly thrown into chaos early on in his treatment when his son, Prince Harry, announced he would fly in from Los Angeles to see his father. The King delayed his helicopter flight to Sandringham, and Harry was given just 30 minutes of his company at Clarence House, due to plans which were put in place to avoid the King contacting a secondary infection.

Charles has to rest a lot & eat lunch: One source explained: ‘Rest and recovery has to be taken as seriously a priority as duty, public duty, so we build in rest periods and try to limit the number of hours a day that are public-facing duties.’ The King is also said to have been forced to eat at least a light snack at lunchtimes after skipping the meal his whole life.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ve mentioned before that we’ve always these “State of Kate” pieces every four-to-six months about the Princess of Wales and what she’s up to (being keen, eventually). This is in the same vein – six months after Charles’s diagnosis, what is the state of the king? From what I’ve heard of the treatments for bladder cancer, they can really localize it, which is another reason why I believe that Charles has bladder cancer. At this point, I do sort of hope that he talks about it more, but I also agree that he probably will not. As for the Harry stuff… once again, contradictory information coming out of palace briefings, months after the fact. Back in February, we heard that Charles only gave Harry thirty minutes because of Camilla, or because Charles was still mad about blah blah. Now the short meeting was about infections? Sure.

A few things don’t add up though – if there’s such an emphasis on the king’s immune system, why was he unmasked and around huge crowds at Ascot, Normandy, state dinners, Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle, etc? And the stuff about his treatment – “not pioneering in any way as it’s available for any cancer patient. The treatments are highly evolved and sophisticated in ways previous treatments were not.” What??

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.