King Charles is embarking on his most notable trip since taking the throne right now as he tours Australia and Samoa for what is his very first visit to the Commonwealth since inheriting the crown in 2022. Unfortunately, the tour has come at an inopportune moment in the king’s personal life, as he has had to temporarily suspend his cancer treatment in order to make it.
The palace has been determined to keep as much about the monarch’s illness under wraps — exactly what type of cancer he’s been diagnosed with has never been revealed — but we do know he requires weekly treatment, so the king’s staff have had to be extremely careful in planning this overseas trip. After much deliberation, it was determined to remove New Zealand from the itinerary so Charles and Queen Camilla could complete the tour and get back to Blighty within just nine days.
Even so, the trip remains a huge drain on Charles’ energy, and a surprise vanishing act has resulted in fresh concerns for his health.
“The sands of time encourage brevity”: King Charles disappears from lunch thrown in his honor after just 10 minutes
The king attended a lunch with the Australian parliament this weekend, but in an alarming move, he fled the event after only 10 minutes. Charles had just enough time to briefly address the members of parliament, as well as present them with a gift dripping with irony.
The British monarch — who resides over the 14 realms that make up the Commonwealth, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa — gifted the parliament with an hourglass and joked that he wouldn’t make a long speech as he was running out of “the sands of time.”
“With the sands of time encouraging brevity, it just remains for me to say what a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as sovereign and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long,” the king gushed. “So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for making me feel so very welcome. Thank you.”
The king was swiftly removed from the lunch, with the assembled guests quickly distracted from his disappearing act by the immediate arrival of the first course — for the intrigued foodies out there, the menu offered chargrilled asparagus with olive dust, marinated octopus with squid ink wafer, barramundi, and duck confit.
Some may be concerned that the king vanished from this lunch at which he was the main attraction, but this was not necessarily a spur-of-the-moment decision and was likely something his handlers had meticulously planned out ahead of time. As per BBC News, the palace has invested a lot of thought into “balancing the programme” of the tour in order to “preserve the king’s energies.”
Because of this, his nine-day timetable includes no evening engagements, no state dinners, and no trips scheduled late in the day. The first six days of the tour will be spent in Australia, with the remaining three in Samoa. As soon as Charles returns, he is all set to resume his cancer treatment. As per what the spokesperson told BBC, “his health is on a positive trajectory.” Even so, that hasn’t stopped uncorroborated rumors from claiming the opposite.
