King ‘doing very well’, says Queen as she opens cancer centre

The Queen gave an update on the King’s health as she returned to work after the summer break, saying “he’s doing very well”.
Charles, 75, was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer earlier this year. The King resumed public-facing duties in April but continues to receive weekly treatment.
The latest information about Charles’s health came as Camilla opened the Dyson Cancer Centre in Bath, Somerset, which will treat more than 500,000 patients a year in the southwest.
Funded with government money and large donations from the James Dyson Foundation and Medlock Charitable Trust, with contributions from the public, the £50 million facility has a 22-bed inpatient ward and brings together the majority of the cancer services of the Royal United Hospitals. It includes research laboratories; oncology, chemotherapy and radiotherapy facilities; a pharmacy and nuclear medicine and physics teams.
During a tour of the building, the Queen met Suzie Moon, a charity worker from the Macmillan wellbeing hub, who mentioned the King’s treatment and asked: “Is he OK?” The Queen replied: “Yes, he’s doing very well.”
Camilla also spoke to Paul Holdway, a 55-year-old nurse and patient undergoing a stem cell transplant to treat his blood cancer. When she asked “How are you feeling?” Holdway replied: “I am feeling very tired.” In response, the Queen appeared to refer to her husband when she joked: “Men won’t admit it.”
Camilla spoke to patients receiving chemotherapy, including Sandra Tyler and Jill Hitchman. One woman was undergoing treatment while wearing a cold cap, which reduces blood flow to the scalp and therefore hair loss caused by the medication. Another patient wore a purple T-shirt that read: “This is my cancer-fighting shirt.”
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Buckingham Palace announced earlier this year that the King had been diagnosed with cancer following treatment for an enlarged prostate, although the two conditions are understood to be unrelated.
The Princess of Wales is away from public duties while she too receives preventative chemotherapy after announcing that cancer had been found when she was hospitalised for abdominal surgery.
Charles will undertake his first visit as King to an overseas commonwealth country when he visits Australia with the Queen in October.
In April the palace said that the King’s medical team were “very encouraged” by his continued recovery, adding that doctors were “sufficiently pleased” with his progress.