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Privacy NoticeBack in May 2022, Queen Elizabeth II said, “I have lived long enough to know things never remain quite the same for very long. Events and situations change with startling speed.” Those words – taken from the BBC documentary, Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, less than four months before her death – now seem startlingly prophetic. Not even she, underpinned by 96 years of rich life experience and wisdom, could have foreseen the monumental changes that have unfolded since she passed away on 8 September that year. While there have been further family dramas and scandals, it is the worrying cancer diagnoses of King Charles and The Princess of Wales that would have rocked the late monarch the most, according to a leading expert.
Queen Elizabeth passed away on 8 September, 2022
(Image: 2022 Getty Images)
“It was a double whammy of bad news affecting two of those closest to her, so it would have upset her terribly had she still been alive,” royal commentator Duncan Larcombe tells us. “But I think she would have been extremely proud of how they’ve both handled things. The Queen always had that ‘keep calm and carry on’ work ethic, and we’ve really seen that continue with the King. He has kept going, and you get the impression he’s been doing as much as he physically can. I wonder if his doctors might privately be a bit annoyed that he hasn’t rested as much as he could have.” Echoing Duncan, royal biographer Andrew Morton added: “It’s been very difficult for the Royal Family just to keep going, because so many of them have been seriously ill – and are seriously ill. King Charles has not been a particularly lucky monarch so far.”
King Charles has had a difficult start to his reign
(Image: Getty Images)
Prior to his hospitalisation in January – initially to treat an enlarged prostate – King Charles and Queen Camilla had thrown themselves into their royal engagements with gusto. They made several overseas trips, the first being a state visit to Germany in March 2023, during which Charles became the first British monarch to address the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. Trips to Romania, Kenya and Dubai – where the King attended COP28 – followed, while back at home, the King hosted a number of high-profile state visitors, including US President, Joe Biden. Sadly, this successful streak was brought to a sudden end at the start of the year by a number of serious obstacles – proving early on that 2024 would be another Annus Horribilis for the Royal Family.
The Royal Family have been dealt many difficult scenarios this year
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Away from serious health scares, there have, of course, been other challenges in the last 12 months that have shaken the Firm to its core. Be it the sad death of Lady Gabriella Kingston’s husband, Thomas Kingston, Princess Anne’s hospitalisation after she was injured by a horse or Sarah, Duchess of York’s skin cancer diagnosis which came less than a year after she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer. With so much to contend with behind the scenes, it’s no surprise that King Charles and his beleaguered clan are feeling the late Queen’s absence more strongly than ever. “I think they all miss her guiding hand,” says Andrew, author of The Queen: 1926-2022. “With the Queen as head of state and head of the family, they’d all bedded down quite nicely into their roles, and now everything’s been jolted around. All the illness which has assailed so many of the senior royals has knocked the whole edifice back on its heels.”
Queen Elizabeth II steered her family for seven decades
(Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
The idea of the late Queen’s dismay at leaving behind a stable dynasty which has since come up against several difficult barriers is mirrored by former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond. “If you think back to that picture of the Queen, Charles, William and George taken a few years ago, you remember how solid the future of the monarchy looked, with three future Kings all alive and well. After the many ups and downs of her reign, the Queen must have felt that her legacy was secure and the future was looking pretty rosy,” Jennie says. “So it would have been a great shock for Elizabeth to witness the difficulties of the past few months, and she would obviously have been deeply upset by her son and her granddaughter-in-law suffering from cancer.
The Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth shared a deep bond
(Image: 2012 Getty Images)
“I think William, in particular, would have found his grandmother’s presence reassuring and she would have given him wise counsel. I suspect she would have told him to do exactly what he is doing: putting his family first until things improve.” Despite Queen Elizabeth’s incredible legacy, change was inevitable. With royal roles re-jigged upon the accession of King Charles, the family dynamic has evolved and even senior members now exhibit a more relaxed, open approach to life in the spotlight. Nothing exemplified this shift more than the King and Kate’s decision to make their cancer diagnoses public knowledge, a move that would likely have been anathema to the late Queen.
The Princess of Wales has taken after Queen Elizabeth II in many ways
(Image: 2021 Getty Images)
“There’s no question that the person who most wanted medical things to be kept private was the Queen,” says Andrew. “As soon as the Queen died, you didn’t need to be clairvoyant to know that on the death certificate it would just say ‘old age’, as it had with Prince Philip. Even in death they weren’t going to give much away.” Writing in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, Gyles Brandreth says he believes the Queen was in fact suffering from “a form of myeloma – bone marrow cancer – which would explain her tiredness and weight loss, and those ‘mobility issues’ we were often told about during the last year or so of her life.” While it might not have been the former monarch’s desired way of doing things, Andrew believes that the Princess Wales’ decision to speak out was a wise move.
The Princess of Wales made a brave appearance to reveal her cancer diagnosis
“The fact that Kate made a very touching piece to camera at Kensington Palace was a very different approach and a genuine step change in the way the royal family deals with illness,” he says. “And given the public fascination with what was wrong with Kate and the hysteria surrounding it, I think it was a very shrewd move, as it burst that balloon of conjecture.” And, even though it is an approach the late monarch would never have taken herself, Duncan believes the Queen would have admired Kate’s composed display of resilience. “I think she would have been tremendously proud of how she’s dealt with it, especially with such a brave video,” the expert quips. “We all worry about our kids and how they’re growing up, but when one of your jobs as a mother is to bring up a future king, the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
The couple appeared in a video to congratulate Team GB’s athletes this summer
(Image: The Prince and Princess of Wales/Instagram)
In the time that has followed, Kate has made a handful of appearances – including a triumphant return to Wimbledon alongside her daughter Princess Charlotte, nine, a light-hearted appearance in a video to congratulate Team GB’s athletes following the Olympics and the heart-warming moment she joined the rest of the family on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the King’s Birthday Parade in June. And, although he may have looked slightly more weary than usual, the King still cut an imposing figure in full ceremonial uniform of the Irish Guards, for what was his biggest engagement since being diagnosed.
The Princess of Wales made a much-anticipated appearance at Trooping the Colour in June
(Image: Getty Images)
Much like Charles, being part of Trooping the Colour was no doubt a key target during Kate’s gradual recovery, and as Jennie told us at the time, “I think she’ll feel that this is another milestone on a difficult and lengthy journey – and that must give her a sense of achievement. She’s not out of the woods, but she is clearly on the right path.” It seems Charles was also personally buoyed up by having the Princess with him on such an important day. “He was obviously thrilled to have Catherine alongside him. It’s probably the best birthday present of all,” Jennie added. “It is also a signal that the monarchy is strong – something which is especially important, as it’s been a tough few months. But they are getting through it, side by side.” During the Queen’s moving Lockdown broadcast of 2020, she famously promised that “better days will return” and that certainly seemed to be the case as both the King and his daughter-in-law will hopefully continue to go from strength to strength.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterMore OnQueen Elizabeth IIRoyal FamilyPrince PhilipPrincess CharlotteKing Charles IIIPrince WilliamKate MiddletonQueen CamillaWilliam and KateCharles and Camilla
