Queen Camilla has spoken publicly for the first time about the emotional toll of keeping King Charles’ cancer diagnosis secret.
The Queen, 77, made the admission in a seven-minute film produced jointly by Buckingham Palace and Maggie’s to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary, released on YouTube and Instagram on Wednesday. In the film, Camilla sat down with Dame Laura Lee, chief executive of the UK cancer charity, at Clarence House to discuss her experience visiting a Maggie’s centre just days before the palace made Charles’s condition public.
“I remember coming to see a Maggie’s just after The King being diagnosed,” Camilla said in the conversation shared via Instagram. “Nobody could say anything at the time. That was quite difficult.”
The Queen visited the newly opened Maggie’s centre at the Royal Free Hospital in north-west London on January 31, 2024, just five days before Buckingham Palace announced Charles’s cancer diagnosis on February 5. At the time, the King had already received his diagnosis and begun treatment, but the news had not yet been shared beyond the immediate family and palace officials.
Camilla revealed how close she came to breaking her silence during that visit. “I almost said something, but you know, felt that it wasn’t the time to say,” she told Dame Laura Lee. “I was just longing to let it out, but obviously I couldn’t.”
The Queen explained that her inability to discuss her husband’s condition changed how she interacted with patients at the centre. “I was almost questioning them,” she said, describing how she found herself probing more deeply than usual to learn about cancer experiences. “I didn’t want to pry too deeply,” she continued. “But you know, normally when I went in, I was just talking to them. But I don’t know, I felt it was much more deep.”
Rather than diminishing the experience, Camilla said the emotional difficulty of that day strengthened her conviction about the value of cancer support services. She recalled looking at all the patients at the centre “who were suffering,” and said it made her “realize even more how important” cancer research and treatment is. “I looked at everybody who was suffering and all the relations and I think it made me realise even more how important these places were,” she added.
Camilla also spoke about how Charles himself handled the diagnosis. “Nothing stopped him. He just said: ‘This is my way, I’m going to cope with it,'” she recalled. The Queen has served as President of Maggie’s since 2008 and has visited 18 of the charity’s 27 centres across the UK.
Dame Laura Lee praised the Queen’s willingness to share such a personal moment, describing it as “a huge privilege” to sit down with the charity’s President. She also noted that the King’s candour about his diagnosis had encouraged more people to visit the centres, revealing a 12 per cent increase in male visitors following his public announcement.
In the viral moment that preceded this revelation, Buckingham Palace confirmed in January 2024 that Charles was being treated for benign prostate enlargement. Officials clarified that Charles was not diagnosed with prostate cancer; however, it was during that treatment that his separate cancer was detected. The palace announced on February 5, 2024 that “subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer” and that the King had commenced “a schedule of regular treatments,” during which time he was advised to postpone public-facing duties. The specific type of cancer and form of treatment have remained private. Charles returned to public-facing engagements in April 2024, and in December 2025 he shared in a pre-recorded Channel 4 message that his treatment schedule was being reduced in the new year, calling it “both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care.”
Buckingham Palace reiterated this week that the King’s health continues to move in a “positive direction,” though more than two years later he is still receiving cancer treatment.