King Charles has been urged to step back from royal duties after the cancer-stricken monarch was hospitalized for temporary side effects from his weekly treatment session.
While Buckingham Palace called the health scare a mere “bump in the road,” the ordeal still prompted Charles, 76, to cancel all of his royal engagements slated for the following day.
Now, royal authors and commentators are encouraging the ailing monarch to hit the brakes on his duties — something Queen Camilla previously admitted her husband simply refuses to do.
“The trouble is, he’s been so conditioned to work that I don’t think he functions unless he’s working,” royal author Ingrid Seward told Newsweek.
“When he’s not working he’s probably a bit all over the place, I know I’m like that. He’s always working and it’s just not his nature to take an afternoon nap, which I’m sure Camilla is trying to make him do.”
Seward, author of royal book “My Mother and I,” added that the only viable approach is letting the king continue with the more exciting aspects of his official engagements, and scrap those that are dull in nature.
“Cancer treatment makes you very, very tired,” she told the outlet. “The trouble is it’s his duty as Monarch to do these stifling boring handshakes with incoming and outgoing ambassadors.”
“How boring must that be, and I would think that’s very exhausting but the only way he could slow down is if someone took over some of his official roles as monarch,” she went on.
“If someone could take some of that away from him I think his life would be easier.”
On Tuesday, the monarch defiantly returned to public duties — marking his first official engagement since his hospitalization at the London Clinic.
Charles appeared in good spirits as he stepped out to attend an investiture ceremony held at Windsor Castle.
The king’s return to work signals that his overall health is on the mend, Seward added.
“He’s always been driven and he’s strong,” she said. “This cancer has weakened him but I think he’s fine.”
As Charles continues to make a gradual return to public-facing duties, the palace said he is scheduled to make up for the “unspecified appointments” he missed last week.
He will attend several events celebrating the 50th anniversary of independence for Papua New Guinea, as well as a public engagement honoring an aviation charity event.
He is expected to conclude his week with his weekly audience with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Charles and his medical team are now drafting up a health-conscious schedule to ensure that he and Queen Camilla are able to go ahead with their visit to Italy next week.
The duo were also set to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican. However, they were forced to pump the brakes on their meeting with His Holiness following his lengthy hospitalization last month.
The royal couple’s trip will coincide with their 20th wedding anniversary, which falls on April 9.
