Britain has been dealing with a new openness about the health of its royalty following the announcement of King Charles’ cancer diagnosis.
There had already been some surprise at the details being given when it was announced that Britain’s King was going into hospital for an operation on an enlarged prostate.
But it was acknowledged that there was a public health benefit to the transparency – google searches for ‘prostate check’ went up 242% worldwide.
However things took a different turn when it was announced that “a type of cancer” had been discovered during the treatment.
There is no doubt that this has come as a shock to the many fans of royalty.
It sparked headlines around world and exhaustive 24-hour TV news coverage which was more reminiscent of royal deaths.
There has been a lot of discussion about how an illness for a member of the royal family would have been hidden from the general public in the past.
Now royal subjects are having to contemplate the infirmity of their monarch within 18 months of the death of the previous one, Queen Elizabeth II.
Though the late Queen was born in a different era, there was the same old-fashioned reluctance to reveal medical details which was maintained right up to the moment of her death.
For instance, when Charles had to take over the state opening of parliament in May 2022 the Queen’s absence was said to be the result of undefined “mobility issues”.
Even after her death four months later, the nature of her illness was not revealed. Her death certificate gave the cause of her demise as “old age”.
Over 70 years earlier crowds had gathered outside Buckingham Palace where her father King George VI was undergoing an operation.
The public was told that he had “part” of his lung removed due to “structural changes”.
Doctors and palace staff had suppressed the news that he had cancer and that the whole left lung had been removed.
There was speculation that it was cancer as Time magazine reported at the time.
But it is said by many sources including some historians that the cancer diagnosis was even kept from the King himself.
At the time there was a stigma attached to cancer because it was largely incurable.
And it was medical practice at the time not to fully inform patients of their condition on the basis that a serious or terminal diagnosis would cause unnecessary stress.
But it is also true that the individual rights of monarchs were considered secondary to their constitutional duty and to what was perceived to be the greater good.
Nothing bears this out more starkly than the death of Queen Elizabeth’s own grandfather King George V in 1936.
When King George was on his death bed, doctors decided to inject him with a mixture of morphine and cocaine to end his life in time for the morning papers.
The Times was told to hold the front page and the King’s death was announced at 11.55pm to allow the newspaper to report it in full.
This was done so that the news of his death would not be first reported by the evening newspapers which were considered a lot more down market.
So there is nothing particularly new about the idea of media manipulation.
Many have questioned why the palace has not revealed what type of cancer the King has though it has briefed journalists that it is not prostate.
However the Daily Mail has reported, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stated, that the cancer has been caught early.
The lack of detail does mean the palace is carrying out a degree of news management.
But this could simply involve a desire to limit media attention for what was to become a ‘wall to wall’ story.
Once a specific type of cancer was revealed there would straight away be oncologists live on television being interviewed about the intricacies of different treatments depending on exactly where in a particular organ it was found.
So there are limits to the new sense of openness.
In any event cancer treatments can be debilitating and King Charles is taking a break from his public duties.
He continues to carry out paperwork and some official duties from his residence at Sandringham.
But the weekly audience with the Prime Minister is now being done by phone and he is not appearing at public events.
There are now logistical problems for the royal family.
There are between 2,300 and 3,000 royal engagements to be carried out every year and there are only a certain amount of ‘working royals’ available.
Both King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales are currently unable to perform public duties. The Princess of Wales is recuperating from abdominal surgery and is not expected to be back in her role until Easter at least.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex who has fallen out with the family and Prince Andrew, Duke of York who faced sex allegations, are both also unavailable.
That leaves Queen Camilla, William, Prince of Wales and Anne, the Princess Royal to take up the workload. Princess Anne is already doing 12 to 14 engagements a week.
The official engagements are often modest affairs such as community events or presenting awards. Or else they are connected to the more than 3,000 charities that have a royal patron.
But these public engagements are seen as being crucial to the continued existence of the royal family.
There are other working royals like Charles’ brother Edward, Duke of Wessex and the late Queen’s first cousins Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra.
However these do not have the same star power as the other royals.
There is even talk that the Duchess of York’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, might be brought in to plug the gaps.
The other problem is the future of the Commonwealth.
King Charles was due to visit Canada in the Spring and Australia next October in the hope of reversing the trend towards republicanism in those countries.
Now there is a question mark over these trips.
There is some debate in Britain as to whether the public are better off knowing or not knowing that their monarch is unwell.
The monarchy is after all supposed to maintain an image of strength and continuity.
But it is not just a perception of infirmity that is a problem. King Charles’ illness is causing real difficulties and they are coming less than a year into his reign.
