By Sarah Mills
LONDON (Reuters) -King Charles and his daughter-in-law Kate’s public battles with cancer have had a huge impact on fellow sufferers, encouraging them to be open about the difficulties of coping with the illness, a leading cancer support charity says.
The news that both the 76-year-old monarch and Kate, 43, wife of his elder son and heir Prince William, were both undergoing treatment for the disease in early 2024 shocked Britain, but their response has been praised by medical professionals and those who help people with the condition.
While both have returned to official duties, Charles is still receiving treatment and Kate’s workload remains closely controlled despite her now being in remission.
Laura Lee, the chief executive of Maggie’s which runs support centres based next to hospitals, said the two royals’ open discussions of their own personal issues in coping with the illness had had a profound impact.
“For the king, talking as a man and talking about living with an ongoing treatment of cancer, that has helped men talk about cancer,” she told Reuters. “We saw last year a 12% increase of men coming into Maggie’s Centres directly as a result of the king being open about his cancer diagnosis.”
“I think what Princess Kate has brought to it is a different experience, now she’s talking about having finished her treatment but still having to live with the ongoing impacts of that treatment.”
Earlier this month, shortly after she pulled out of an engagement, Kate said she had put on a “brave face” during her cancer treatment, describing the experience as being like a “rollercoaster”.
“I felt exactly the same as she did,” Tracey Bradshaw, 56, who is being monitored after being treated for bladder cancer in 2021, told Reuters at a Maggie’s Centre in west London.
“It’s … the aftermath when the appointments start to trail off … you don’t see that lovely clinical nurse specialist that you absolutely adore or you haven’t got that sort of regular trips to … whatever clinic you go to and I really identified with that.”
(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton)
