It was a particularly poignant visit for the King this week as he arrived at a new cancer centre at a hospital in Yorkshire on Tuesday (26 May). Having been diagnosed with cancer himself in 2024, King Charles was uniquely able to relate to the patients he met at the centre, some of whom had been involved with the design of the new space.
On Tuesday, King Charles visited the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Cancer Centre at York Hospital, where he met patients and staff. One of the patients who had a chance to meet His Majesty was Lou Rhodes, who spoke to BBC about their connection. ‘He gets it – he understands, being a patient,’ she said. ‘He’s got cancer, I’ve got cancer, and straightaway he sort of looked in my eyes, so you’ve got that bond.’ Lou also described the King as ‘lovely – so personable, so friendly’ and said they’d connected ‘right away’.
While at the hospital, the King also planted a rose in a new garden, which has been designed as a ‘calm space created for visitors to enjoy nature during their time at the centre’, according to the Royal Family’s social media.
King Charles has a been patron of Macmillan Cancer Support since 1997, a position that’s become increasingly personal in recent years. Not only is he facing his own health battle, but his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, was also diagnosed with cancer the same year he was. Thankfully, in January 2025, the Princess announced she was in remission, while in December King Charles had his own good news. In a special address with Stand Up To Cancer, he said that, ‘Thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to “doctors’ orders”, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year.’
He also said that he knows from his ‘own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming’ but that ‘early detection is the key that can transform treatment journeys’. He added that he had been ‘profoundly moved by what I can only call the “community of care” that surrounds every cancer patient – the specialists, the nurses, researchers and volunteers who work tirelessly to save and improve lives’.
While in York, the King also visited a Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) conservation site working to protect red squirrels – a favourite animal of His Majesty. While there, he met ‘scientists and researchers working on a new oral contraceptive project designed to slow the growth of grey squirrel populations, which threaten both red squirrels and Britain’s native broadleaf woodlands’, said the Royal Family.
According to the BBC, the King was thanked for championing red squirrels for so many years. He was also presented with a framed photograph of one of the native woodland creatures, which he described as ‘fantastic’.
