Here are more photos of King Charles at Friday evening’s Royal Variety show. He was supposed to attend with Queen Camilla, but she pulled out at the last minute, citing a lingering chest infection. Some people have theorized that she has covid, but honestly, she’s had covid before and she had no issue with admitting it? But maybe they don’t want to say that this time, who knows. In any case, Charles looked like he was in pretty poor health at the Royal Variety show – his pallor is definitely off, and in certain light, you can see his pink-rimmed eyes and general clammy vibe. Well, we heard before that Charles apparently loved his little mini-tour of Australia and Samoa, and he’s hellbent on traveling more in 2025. Apparently, he’s not prioritizing visits to British realms (Canada, New Zealand, Belize), but he’s hellbent on visiting India, Pakistan and Bangladesh next year. Oh lord.

King Charles is reportedly planning a trip to the Indian subcontinent in what would be a major boost to the monarch’s health as he continues his recovery from cancer. His plans to visit India, Pakistan and Bangladesh had to be abandoned after the Queen’s death in September 2022. However, Number 10 is understood to be keen in Charles and Camilla reorganising the trip as Britain looks to establish important economic links in post-Brexit times.

A source told the Mirror said: ‘It’s hugely encouraging to be able to make such plans for the King and Queen given the year the monarch has had, but it’s very much full steam ahead. A tour of the Indian subcontinent is in the offing, which will be of huge political and cultural significance for Britain on the world stage. The King and Queen are the perfect ambassadors at such a time.’

The go-ahead has reportedly been given to Foreign Office officials to begin talks with potential host nations for royal visits. It is said that proposals for tours of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have started to be drafted. Following the cancellation of the trip in 2022, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have expressed his desire to host the King and Queen Camilla.

There are concerns however about the trip due to Modi’s closeness with Russian president Vladimir Putin. After the pair met met at the BRICS summit of world leaders last month, Putin acknowledged Russia’s ‘strategic partnership’ with India on Tuesday. Earlier this year, the pair hugged when they met as Putin hosted Mr Modi at his Novo-Ogaryovo palace outside Moscow. However, Modi has insisted that India supports ‘dialogue and diplomacy for restoration of peace and stability as soon as possible.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, Modi is playing all sides – he has normal relations with Putin and Russia, and he also has good relationships with the US, UK, France and EU. I doubt there will be any diplomatic concerns when it comes to that. The real concern is whether Charles and Camilla actually have the energy to do any of this. Camilla is still mad that she had to do the Australian tour. She doesn’t want to travel whatsoever. And Charles is delusional if he really believes that he’ll have the energy and capacity to do what sounds like a two or three-week multi-country tour. That being said, it’s been years since anyone in that family has done a tour of India or Pakistan. It definitely is on the agenda, but no one wants to send William and Kate, I guess.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.