King Charles’ hidden frustration during a challenging year for the royal family.

It’s been an incredibly difficult year for the royal family. In February, King Charles announced he had been diagnosed with cancer. And just one month later, came the news that the Princess of Wales also had the disease. Both retreated from public duties to focus on their health for a short time – a huge frustration, according to his nephew.

In March, Peter Phillips shared a rare update on the monarch’s health during an interview on Sky News Australia’s The Royal Report, and he revealed that the king was in “good spirits” – but desperate to get back on his feet. “I think, ultimately, he’s hugely frustrated. He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do,” Peter said. “But he is very pragmatic [and] he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself.”

Peter – the son of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips – added: “I think the overriding message would be that he’s obviously very keen to get back to a form of normality and is probably frustrated that recovery is taking a little longer than probably he would want it to.” Buckingham Palace announced the King’s diagnosis on 5 February, saying in a statement that during Charles’s treatment for an enlarged prostate, doctors discovered “a separate issue of concern”, with “subsequent diagnostic tests” identifying it as “a form of cancer”.

Charles immediately began treatment as an outpatient, and under doctors’ orders, his public engagements were postponed. The King resumed his public duties at the end of April 2024. His first official visit was to a cancer treatment centre with Queen Camilla. He also made a surprise visit to an army barracks in Hampshire, where he joked about being “allowed out of my cage”.

Since then he has attended a number of events, including the Trooping of the Colour ceremony, where Princess Kate made her much anticipated first public appearance after her own cancer diagnosis. He is also set to visit Australia with Queen Camilla in October, before heading to Samoa for a Commonwealth summit. But the couple will not visit New Zealand, after the King’s doctors advised against an extended visit.

Princess Kate, meanwhile, revealed she had completed her own course of chemotherapy treatment on September 9, 2024. She shared the news in a touching video message, saying she is now focusing on staying cancer free and gradually returning to work. Later that same month, she took part in her first official engagement – a private meeting for her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood organisation, which she founded in June 2021.

“The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this afternoon held an Early Years Meeting at Windsor Castle,” read the entry in the Court Circular. The meeting was the first official event that Kate has hosted this year, though she was also listed in the circular when she appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the Trooping the Colour parade in June and in the Wimbledon royal box in July. According to the Times, the purpose of the meeting was to update Kate on the progress that her early years project has made so far this year.