Queen Camilla gives an update on King Charles’s cancer battle as she returns to royal duties

It would seem that it is not only back to work and back to school for the majority of us, but back to royal duties for Queen Camilla. She met staff and patients at a new £50m cancer centre, the Dyson Cancer Centre at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, 

The newly opened Centre has a 22-bed inpatient ward, research labs, facilities for oncology, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and will treat people from Somerset and Wiltshire. During her visit, Queen Camilla met patients and staff and was presented with flowers from members of the public. 

Sir James Dyson gave a £4m donation from The James Dyson Foundation to the centre and previously described the old cancer department as ‘not-fit-for purpose.’ The rest of the funding for the centre came from the government who funded £40m of the cost. £1m was donated by the Medlock Charitable Trust, the Macmillan Cancer Support charity donated £1.5m and £5m was raised by RUHX, the official charity of the trust. 

Queen Camilla was asked about the King’s health by Suzy Moon of the Macmillan Partnership and she replied: “He is doing very well.”

King Charles is still undergoing weekly treatment for cancer and was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease back in February. King Charles’s cancer was discovered during treatment for an enlarged prostate and Buckingahm Palace said at the time that the King "remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”

In April 2024, it was revealed that King Charles would be returning to public-facing engagements and in a statement, Buckingham Palace said that “doctors are sufficiently pleased with the progress so far that the king is now able to resume a number of public-facing duties”

Read Marina Licht’s celeb and entertainment news alongside the biggest headlines in Friday’s NationalWorld newsletter

The statement also said: “Any public-facing engagements will be announced nearer the time in the usual way, and will remain subject to doctors’ advice, but it will not be a full summer programme. His Majesty will of course continue with all official state business and selected audiences, as he has done throughout his period of treatment.”