A royal aide opened up about how Queen Camilla balanced royal duties while supporting King Charles III after his cancer diagnosis in 2024.
“It was exhausting,” the unnamed aide said during an interview with Newsweek for a cover story published on Wednesday, March 12.
“It would have been draining for a woman half her age. But I think if one is to attempt to see a benefit from that period, actually it did give a chance for the media, and the world, to see some of the work that she had always been doing with greater interest and clarity,” the aide continued.
The aide reflected on Camilla’s visit to a London cancer center on January 31, 2024, when she knew her husband had been diagnosed with cancer before it was announced to the public.
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“She had to undertake public duties knowing that the king had been diagnosed with cancer, including a visit to a Maggie’s center in London, and yet not be able to show the slightest flicker of vulnerability when she went there knowing what she knew privately,” the aide said.
The aide added it was “astonishing” to see how Camilla balanced her role as a working royal with “her own private anxieties.”
On February 5, 2024, Buckingham Palace announced the king had been diagnosed with an undisclosed “form of cancer” following a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate.
The following month, Princess Kate Middleton revealed that she had also received a cancer diagnosis after undergoing abdominal surgery.
Though Kate announced in January that she is in remission, the king is thought to still be receiving treatment as he continues his duties.
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Charles kicked off 2025 with a jam-packed schedule, including a visit to Poland in January for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The king and queen also plan to visit Italy in April.
Royal experts and former staff members previously told Us Weekly that the king has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“He’s dedicated to his role,” former palace chef Darren McGrady told Us in January. “And I think the only thing that was holding him back in ‘24 was the cancer and, you know, getting through that.”
“There are very few things I think that would knock back King Charles from doing his duty, which I think he takes really seriously,” he added.
“I think everyone is looking forward to a year of a full schedule and uninterrupted engagements,” royal photographer Samir Hussein told Us. “Certainly the king is eager for that to be the case and it’s very encouraging the amount of jobs he has been able to take on despite his treatment.”
