King Charles has cancer

[CormorantStrikesBack]

Just announced on the bbc, doesn’t say what sort yet. Hope he’s going to be ok.

I forgot about that

Also if it wasn't serious they wouldn't have bothered letting anyone know. There's been a whole program about it tonight

Wouldn't think so , just turning up to support his old dad .

BBC News is still talking about Charles

He has been coasting for a very long time, so I can imagine this has put a rocket up his arse. He couldn't even be bothered to learn Welsh until he became Prince of Wales. It was hardly a surprise that he would be given that title.

This is exactly the problem though.
If the RF had been upfront with the press and told us the diagnosis at least it would have stopped all the chatter (or at least greatly reduced it) that is going to be dissected by the whole world and his dog into infinity...

Suggesting that a long standing poster isn’t a real person is hardly respectful.

And basically calling someone a troll/fake goes against the rules and always gets deleted

Can everyone just not use this to have a dig at H and M, please? It just pollutes everything. As plenty of people have said, it's not surprising that Harry is visiting his father on this occasion, and that he can travel alone and so quickly due to his wealth and domestic support.

Relatively elderly men often do get cancer as we all know. He is fortunate to be in a position to access excellent healthcare.

Given the awful state of the NHS and the cost of living crisis and so on, I well understand people feeling despair at how their loved ones with cancer or awaiting diagnoses might be suffering.

Given the (at least) £50 million recently spent on the coronation and the impossibility of calculating the exact value the RF bring to the UK as well as the messiness over their relationship with the press since at least Diana both used and was used by the media, it's also not inconceivable people are relatively indifferent to it as an institution. There's no real scientific calculation that can 'prove' that the RF is worth the cost and hassle, it's a matter of personal taste and politics.

Hear hear. I don't know these people (we are not allowed to know them, so people make up stuff in their heads about them - how Kate and William must be struggling to manage with the kids and her op etc, when it's obvious nannies/staff are taking care of all that - they are not a normal family operating in a normal way) - but what I really hate is how we in the UK are so starry-eyed about these very average people that we're not just happy but EAGER to tug our forelocks and gush about how special they are.

Most nations got rid of their monarchies a long time ago.

There's that...and there's also the fact the British monarchy is, to all intents and purposes, the only monarchy that matters. There are various reasons for this, one being the Anglo centric world we live in, another being the historical importance of the British monarchy in global terms.

So long as the brand that is the monarchy provides the things you listed in your opening paragraph, it will remain.

No it doesn’t. Even if the cancer is under control, it would be normal to visit at such a time.

I hope KC is getting good treatment and recovers; we could do with at least one thing that represents a bit of stability and continuity at times like these.

I agree we’ve all rather assumed that we’re going to get a lot of very long reigns, though! In reality, most reigns are likely to be 30 years or so - the length of a generation.

The Queen was only on the throne for so long because she was part of that “transition” generation - she came to the throne young because her father died relatively young, owing to the fact that those were times when things like cancer could not be treated so easily and rich people still smoked a lot and did not have such healthy lifestyles. But the queen herself was the first generation of people who, if they were relatively privileged, starting living to very great ages as a matter of course.

She was also of a generation where it was normal for women to have their first child at around 21, which again was a major factor behind KC not becoming king until such an advanced age; we won’t see that in the future, since upper class women like everyone else are mostly having their first child in their late 20s or even their 30s.

I still don’t understand why William can’t do a 30 second piece to camera thanking everyone for their well wishes and passing on a message from the Princess of Wales.

His silence - and that of the Middletons - is truly mystifying and the OTT coverage of a man who can walk, talk, wave and who has already started treatment for his cancer has just highlighted the weirdness of it.

I’d kind of assumed that every senior royal got checked out for early signs of any type of tumour at least yearly as a matter of course.

Explain.

Ok well let’s not kick a man when’s down ie. Debate the monarchy.

I hope he can treat this and hopefully the silver lining is that this can bring the family back together. Life is short after all.

"BBC are talking about the counsellors of State who are meant to step up if the king is unwell and it’s the 4 adults next in line , which sadly includes Harry and Andrew!"
They added Anne and Edward as CoS, so unlikely Andrew or Harry would be used.
In other words, no one wants Andrew or Harry.
In another life, Harry could have been a useful member of the RF, but I think he has burnt all his bridges, and clearly would not want to do any royal duties. Omid Scbie's book and the Netflix doc clearly implied he had found Freedom, by leaving, so unlikely he'd want to be enslaved again. Andrew would probably want to step up, but again, no one would want him anyway.

Hmmnnn it happens regularly on MN,just because no one else has asked ,now makes me the bad person ! Ok nothing wrong with questioning and being honest about my opinion on a poster .

I disagree people should be able to debate the monarchy any time they please . That's called a free country .

Familiarise yourself with site rules or you’ll end up with a ban.

No doubt William is dealing with his own issues . He must be upset and worried about both his wife and his father. Why is there a need to publicly declare grief when everyone must know how he’s feeling? Charles’ siblings are not making any statement either! In fact Andrew was pictured out riding grinning away today.

The line about how "we'd have to replace the royal family" is getting old.

They perform no function other than to some extent a tourist attraction and we'd get more visitors if we could rent out rooms in the palaces and so on.

They are from a time when dominating through brutality was fine. So it's a little like the US keeping a few cotton plantations and slave owners for nostalgia.

Their ancestors got their power and wealth through brutal oppression and murder and decent working people are actually grateful that they are willing to take their earnings from them to maintain their lifestyle.

I won't celebrate that an old man is sick, but I might think about those whose treatment will be dropped to make way for someone who matters.

If the Queen had died in the first couple of decades of her reign, before 1966, would Princess Margaret have been Regent? That's a really weird thought actually. Can't even begin to imagine it.

Of course they can. It's not illegal to be a republican either, and I don't think William or even Charles is as attractive a proposition as the Queen was. I imagine the current form of British monarchy and the Commonwealth itself will disappear within the next decade or so.

The Palace have explained that there is no need for the counsellors of state because Charles will be continuing with his non public facing duties. Camilla will carry on with all her usual duties, William will be returning to work slightly earlier than expected and unlike previous rumours on this thread Edward has not cancelled his upcoming engagements, they are all listed on for the next fortnight on the Royal family website ---- you might have to scroll past Anne's long list of engagements to spot anyone's elses though.

I hope that Harry coming over is a sign that father and son can repair their relationship.

Cancer isn't always detectable in the early stages, there's no magic cancer scanner that the rich have access to that we don't and some people don't want to go through regular invasive scans.

He doesn't need to publicly declare something, but on the one hand the royalists here are saying Charles is a deeply significant world figure and head of state - if he's that important, and hereditary monarchy so close to your hearts, then it would seem appropriate for the next in line - to all intents and purposes the deputy king - to make a statement