Kate in hospital after surgery as King to get prostate treatment
The Duchess of Cambridge is currently in the process of recovering in the hospital following a surgical procedure, while King Charles III is scheduled for a medical intervention next week.
Catherine will be taking a step back from her royal responsibilities for several months after undergoing surgery for an unspecified abdominal condition, which is confirmed to be non-cancerous.
The surgery took place in a private hospital in central London on Tuesday, and she is expected to remain in recovery for up to two weeks, staying out of the public eye until after Easter.
Although the procedure was planned and successful, the seriousness of her condition is evident from the extended recovery period. The palace emphasized the need to respect the princess’s medical privacy and noted her desire to maintain normalcy for her children.
Concurrently, Prince Charles will also temporarily reduce his royal duties in the coming weeks to support his wife and tend to their three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Shortly after the announcement about the Duchess, Buckingham Palace released a separate statement indicating that King Charles III is set to undergo a “corrective procedure” for an enlarged prostate next week. This common, non-cancerous condition is typical in older men, and the King, who celebrated his 75th birthday in November, will need a brief period of recuperation, leading to the postponement of his engagements.
The simultaneous disclosure of these unexpected health updates within a short timeframe is noteworthy, considering that details about the health of senior royals are typically kept confidential and shared with the public only under specific circumstances.
His treatment is not a sufficient disruption to trigger any of the constitutional mechanisms for when the head of state is seriously ill.
In such circumstances, “counselors of state” can act as stand-ins for the monarch and carry out duties such as signing official documents – but Buckingham Palace has said that will not be necessary.
The King is staying at his private home near Balmoral with the Queen, and royal sources said he was in “good form” and in “good spirits”.
The timing of the announcement about the King so soon after the news about the princess is thought to have been unavoidable due to the monarch’s scheduled engagements on Thursday and Friday.
He had been due to meet with foreign dignitaries and Cabinet members in Scotland, so the news had to be made public as those meetings were canceled on the doctor’s advice.
Medical issues for the royals have been kept very private in the past – and the announcements about the King and the Princess of Wales might seem to show a greater degree of openness.
It is understood the King wants his own experience of getting prostate treatment to help raise awareness and to encourage others to have checks.
For the princess, although there are no explicit details about the surgery, there is much more information from the palace than in previous years, with a reassurance her illness is not cancer-related, that it was not an emergency operation, and a clear sense of how long the recuperation will take.
But much of this frankness might also have been necessary to get ahead of the news narrative, as questions would inevitably have arisen if the King and the princess began to cancel planned events.
There had been talk of overseas trips for Kate and William in the spring and there would have been pressure to confirm this.
Now the health issues have been revealed, the royals will hope for some more understanding about why the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales are temporarily not carrying out public duties.
