On Friday, King Charles III shared the most comprehensive update on his health since he announced a cancer diagnosis in February 2024. In a prerecorded message that aired as part of Stand Up to Cancer’s 2025 broadcast on the UK network Channel 4, he shared the “good news” that his treatments would be less frequent in the new year.
“Thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention, and adherence to doctors’ orders, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year,” the king said. “This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years.”
Though a palace source previously mentioned that the king’s cancer was being treated as a “managed condition,” this is the first time that he has shared a public update on his health status since he was briefly hospitalized for treatment side effects in March 2025. According to Sky News, Charles has been undergoing weekly treatment since his original diagnosis last year.
In the video, which was recorded late last month in Clarence House, the king thanked the professionals who have cared for him since his diagnosis. “I know from my own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming,” he said. “Throughout my own cancer journey, I have been profoundly moved by what I can only call the ‘community of care’ that surrounds every cancer patient—the specialists, the nurses, researchers, and volunteers who work tirelessly to save and improve lives.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson added that the king had “responded exceptionally well to treatment” and decided to share “the positive trajectory of his own continued recovery” in a message encouraging the public to take advantage of cancer screenings. “His doctors advise that ongoing measures will now move into a precautionary phase,” the spokesperson said, per The Mirror. “This position will be continuously monitored and reviewed to protect and prioritize his continued recovery.”
When the palace announced the king’s diagnosis, it declined to specify the type of cancer but confirmed that it was not prostate cancer. In April 2024, he took on a new role as the patron of Cancer Research UK, the nation’s largest independent charity fundraising for medical breakthroughs. In Friday’s video, he said his own progress was a “testimony” to the value of advancing research, adding that he hopes it “may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”
According to friends who spoke to Vanity Fair, the king is in good spirits and good health. One friend added, “He is on wonderful form and looking forward to Christmas.”
