King Charles and William make first public comments since cancer diagnosis – latest

A cancer charity has seen a “King Charles effect” with a surge in visits to its website.

Macmillan Cancer Support said Charles’s openness about his cancer diagnosis meant its information and support pages saw 48,304 hits on Monday, when the news broke.

This represents a 42 per cent increase on the same day last year and is the highest daily figure since at least March 2020.

Charles has been patron of Macmillan for more than 20 years, having taken up the role in 1997.

The charity’s chief executive, Gemma Peters, said: “Our thoughts remain with His Majesty The King and his family during what must be a very difficult time.

“We hope that, by sharing his diagnosis so publicly and at such an early stage, the King will encourage others to come forward and speak to their GP if they are worried about any signs or symptoms.”

The Princess Royal has acknowledged words of support for the King and Princess of Wales as she celebrated the 35th anniversary of a pony club.

Anne nodded and smiled as she was told, “We wish you and your family well at this time” by Sister Mary Joy Langdon, founder and chief executive of the Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre in west London that hosted the royal visit.

The King’s sister is the latest member of the royal family to receive the support of the public in person after the Prince of Wales acknowledged on Wednesday evening well-wishers who have sent messages for Charles and Kate.

Charles is staying at Sandringham following his first bout of cancer treatment after the announcement of his diagnosis on Monday, while Kate is convalescing at home in Windsor after planned major abdominal surgery.

James Hick, chief executive officer of the British Horse Society which supports the west London pony club, told Anne: “On behalf of all of us here I would also like to pass on our sincere thoughts to His Majesty the King at this time, and to your family.”

Prince Edward will be returning to royal duties this week, as his brother Charles battles cancer.

The Prince of Wales, the Queen and other working royals are expected to step up their royal duties while the King undergoes treatment, following the shock announcement of his illness on Monday.

Edward’s last public engagement was an overseas trip that finished on 26 January. The Duke of Edinburgh and his wife Sophie, both 59, are part of Charles’s slimmed-down working monarchy, introduced after his mother passed away last year.

The latest stage of phone-hacking claims featuring the publisher of the Daily Mirror and the Duke of Sussex is set to take place at the High Court.

In December, a judge ruled that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) titles in the late 1990s and was practised “even to some extent” during the Leveson Inquiry into press standards in 2011.

Mr Justice Fancourt also concluded that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN, awarding him £140,600 in damages.

The duke, 39, said his partially successful case against MGN was “a great day for truth, as well as accountability” and called on the police to investigate the publisher of the Daily and Sunday Mirror and The People.

At a hearing last month, the High Court in London heard the group of people who sued the publisher are currently seeking payment of £1,976,660 from MGN towards the legal costs of bringing “generic” allegations to court.

Mr Justice Fancourt is now set to give his ruling on the costs on Friday.

Prince William and Harry currently face an unenviable situation. Their father, King Charles, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this week; now they must embark on the emotionally draining process of supporting a parent through illness. This scenario is difficult enough – it’s often the first time that roles are reversed, when you must take care of the person who’s always taken care of you. But what happens when this painful moment is made even more challenging by fraught sibling relationships?

This week, we’ve seen this uncomfortable dynamic play out in real time. Harry travelled back to the UK on Tuesday, making a 26-hour flying visit which included a 45-minute reunion with his father. He didn’t, however, meet with his older brother and his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales (who is currently recovering from abdominal surgery). A rapprochement, it seems, is sadly off the table for now. Indeed, not much appears to have changed between the brothers since the release of Harry’s autobiography Spare dug an even greater gulf between them, making public details of their frosty relationship (like a now-infamous incident when Wills allegedly knocked his younger sibling backwards into a dog bowl).

Weekly audiences between the King and Rishi Sunak are expected to resume in person in two weeks following Charles’ cancer diagnosis, it is understood.

Downing Street and Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of confirming details of a call between the two on Wednesday, in an attempt to show the King was carrying on with his duties.

The Prime Minister was due to wish Charles well in the brief phone conversation before formal face-to-face audiences are set to start again on February 21.

The King flew to his Norfolk residence, Sandringham, on Tuesday following a reunion with his son the Duke of Sussex at a meeting in London.

Asked if Mr Sunak would travel to Sandringham for his discussion with the King, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We don’t in general and we are not going to get into the habit of commenting on the PM’s conversations with the King.

“But we have agreed with the Palace in this specific instance to confirm that they will be speaking on the phone later.”