King Charles has been cleared by his medical team to return to public duties, Buckingham Palace has announced, relieving the burden on Prince William – experts claim he feels ‘torn’ between his royal duties and family.
With both Princess Kate and King Charles being treated for cancer, and unable to undertake public royal engagements for a time, Queen Camilla and Prince William were left as the two most senior working royals to help steer the ship in the monarch’s absence.
However, in a major update on the King’s health Buckingham Palace has announced that Charles will be able to return to public duties – although going forward his schedule will be managed carefully and it won’t be a full return at this stage.
The King’s “doctors are sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far” a palace spokesperson said, allowing him to return to some duties, but as he continues his cancer treatment, engagements will be carefully managed and “remain subject to doctors’ advice”.
While Kate will remain off-duty for the time being, the positive progress in his father’s condition will mean that some of the burden on Prince William will be relieved. An expert claimed that the Prince of Wales has felt “torn” in recent weeks between his royal duties and his family responsibilities.
The expert, royal commentator Duncan Larcombe, explained to the Daily Beast: “William has made it pretty clear that if push comes to shove, he will prioritize his wife and kids over royal duties. He is torn at the moment because he obviously has responsibilities to his family but also to his work as a royal.”
Sources speaking to the publication explained that while Charles was forced to remain off-duty the public saw something of a “dry run at being King” in William’s approach. The insiders claimed that this included William’s desire to do more hybrid online engagements, something that Larcombe added would be a way for William to balance his conflicting commitments: “Doing more stuff online is clearly one way of balancing those demands.”
Now King Charles’ health has progressed in such a way he is able to conduct in-person engagements again, some of this burden will be lifted from Prince William, but Charles isn’t set to return to a full-time schedule just yet, a palace spokesperson said. However, Charles is due to host the Emperor and Empress of Japan in a state visit to the UK in June and is reported to be “raring to go” on a Commonwealth tour to Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa later in the year.
However, despite the fact it won’t be a full return to normality for the monarch, William will still likely be able to turn his focus more fully to his wife Kate as she continues her own cancer treatment and their three children. Amid the health challenges the Royal Family has experienced in the last few months, William is said by expert Jennie Bond, to have found an “unlikely ally” in his stepmother Queen Camilla, whom he is reported to have had a strained relationship with in the past.
