King Charles, currently on a tour of the South Pacific including Australia and Samoa, is planning two major overseas tours next year despite his ongoing cancer fight
Royal doctors have green-lit the King’s return to a full programme of events next year, including two major overseas tours.
Charles, despite his ongoing cancer fight, is fully behind plans for high profile tours in the spring and autumn, with Canada one possible destination.
At times, the King, 75, has looked weary during his nine-day visit to Australia and Samoa with the Queen. It came to a close yesterday with a traditional Ava ceremony. The heavens opened in the Samoan village of Siumu as Charles and Camilla were given pink garland necklaces and seated on beige leather thrones.
Charles was honoured with the chiefly title of To’aiga-O-Tumua, as he and Camilla were presented with sacred Ava in coconut shells with straws. “May God bless this Ava,” said Charles as he lifted the cup and drank.
He also delivered a pointed reference to his illness, saying: “I shall always remain devoted to this part of the world and hope I survive long enough to come back again and see you.”
The King has been having weekly cancer treatment since his diagnosis in February. He reduced his usual duties over the summer to rest ahead of his trip Down Under. A Palace official said: “We’re now working on a pretty normal-looking, full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms.”
Before the tour, the Mirror revealed the King was following a strict new health regime, including “immersing himself in nature” and spending time with loved ones.
Alongside the Queen doing up to 10 engagements a day, the palace source said: “It is also a great measure of the way that the King is dealing with the diagnosis, and he’s a great believer in mind, body and soul. This combination works very well on a visit like this, because he feels that sense of duty so strongly that to keep his mind and his soul engaged.”
During the tour, onlookers remarked how “exhausted” the King looked, as he no doubt battled jet lag and the humid weather in both Australia and Samoa. His condition did appear to improve as he seemed to cope with the time difference and get some down time by reading a “good book” and even swimming with the Queen in Samoa.
Ahead of the tour, the King’s senior aides reached out to representatives of the Australian Republican Movement to assure campaigners that Charles would not stand in the way of nations who, in the future, may choose to cut ties with the monarchy.
Charles undertook engagements with a number of Aboriginal elders and spoke of his respect for their culture throughout the generations.
But in the Australian capital Canberra the King and Queen faced a barrage of insults from Australian Aboriginal senator, Lidia Thorpe. She accused the royals of “genocide” while shouting in a packed Parliament House: “You are not my King”. Palace sources said the monarch had been “completely unruffled” by the incident, which may have been key in the King’s mission to win hearts and minds.
One palace official said Charles had “not ducked” the issues, adding “it is very easy to run away from some of these issues. But the King isn’t one for doing that.” The official said: “He’s been around a long time. As always, kept calm, carried on. He believes free speech is the cornerstone of democracy and so everyone is entitled to their views.”
The reaction won over Australians, who came out in their hundreds to greet the royals throughout the tour, culminating in a crowd of 10,000 outside the Sydney Opera House on their last day in the country.
The palace official said: “It is hard to overstate the joy that the King takes from duty and service, being in public and seeing those crowds. The idea of these tours always is to leave a trace behind, and that was why the King was very keen that those legacy projects should be launched while we were here.
“He has genuinely loved this tour. It has lifted his spirits, his mood and his recovery. In that sense, the tour –despite its demands – has been the perfect tonic.” As they left Samoa, Charles and Camilla posted on social media: “My wife and I would like to thank both nations for the warmest of welcomes and for the countless fond memories we will carry in our hearts for many years to come.
“The many close connections that unite us… through our Commonwealth family have been renewed, and will remain as profound as they are enduring.”
