THE KING will make his first public appearance at a royal event on Sunday since his cancer diagnosis.
“Robust” Charles will lead a trimmed-down list of royals at the “sacred” Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.
The 75-year-old stepped back from public appearances in early February when he announced that he would undergo treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.
He has continued to carry out his state duties, including regular meetings with the Prime Minister and reviewing and signing government documents.
And this Sunday’s service will mark the first time Charles has returned to the public eye in nearly two months.
But royal author Robert Jobson claimed he will be haunted by the “ghosts of Easter’s past”.
Royals set to attend
Buckingham Palace confirmed the King and Queen will attend the Easter Sunday service.
Charles and Camilla will be joined at the service by other senior royals.
But the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children will miss the event as Kate, 42, is undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be in attendance as they continue to live in California since stepping down as senior royals in 2020.
Royal biographer Jobson said: “The estrangement of Prince Harry and Meghan adds another layer of complexity amid all the unresolved tensions within the family.
“All eyes therefore will be on the King and how he copes with this public outing as he faces his own cancer diagnosis with courage and conviction.”
Prince Andrew and his daughters are expected, but it is unclear if his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will be there.
The Princess Royal and her family will attend, as well as the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Edward and Sophie.
‘Easter lite’
The King has agreed changes to the Royal Family’s traditional Easter diary to protect his health.
Charles and Queen Camilla will walk to and from the chapel entering through the Galilee Porch.
He will be able to wave and greet a small crowd from a distance if the weather is appropriate.
However in an approach called “Easter Lite” he will not attend a post-service reception or host a private family lunch.
The service will see fewer royals than usual to “shield the King from infection risk”.
Sources describe the plans as “turning the dial” toward the King’s return.
This includes a gradual increase in hosting guests for engagements at Buckingham Palace as summer approaches.
Step by step Easter Sunday schedule
The 75-year-old monarch will attend the traditional Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle.
Here is a step by step schedule of how Easter Sunday will play out:
- Charles and Queen Camilla will walk to St George’s Chapel.
- Entering through the Galilee Porch, they will wave and greet a small crowd.
- The King and Queen will take their seats away from the rest of the congregation.
- He is expected to be seen leaving the church with the Queen.
- Charles will then not attend a post-service reception or host a private family lunch.
The Royal Family also aims to come together to support Britain’s veterans at the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June, according to The Telegraph.
The King and Queen will take an Easter break after the church service.
Ghosts of Easters past
Jobson, author of Our King: Charles III – The Man and the Monarch Revealed, said Charles faces an Easter shadowed “by the spectre of anniversaries of loss”.
He told The Sun: “For the King, these Easter anniversaries are a time of personal sadness and reflection.
“His late father Prince Philip, and his beloved grandmother, the Queen Mother, will hang heavy over the day, the ghosts of Easters past.
“We are nearing the third anniversary of Prince Philip’s death, and 22 years ago today the Queen Mother passed away, just weeks after Margot, her daughter Princess Margaret, aged 71, on February 9.
“There is, too, the lingering absence of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s beloved mother, who died aged 96 in September 2022, and always held Easter so close to her heart.
“This year then, Easter for Charles and the Royal Family will not merely be a religious observance but a profound moment of reflection, commemorating those no longer with us.
“His Majesty and the Royal Family face the serious challenges, both short term and long term, that lie within and ahead of them.
“The biggest being convincing the younger generation they are relevant.”
Jobson continued: “Prince Philip’s final days were spent at Windsor, in the rooms Charles occupies at the castle, after the longest hospital stay he had ever endured during his remarkable and long life.
“Philip died aged 99 on April 9, 2021, and his funeral, held at the same chapel the royals will attend on Sunday, on April 17 was a tableau of mourning under the shadow of the pandemic.
“Who can forget the image of the late Queen, masked and dressed in black, a solitary figure of grief, separated from loved ones due to government social-distancing regulations?
“How Charles would love to seek his blunt but pragmatic advice now he is King, or that of his canny and beloved grandmother, the Queen Mother, a beacon of magic during the King’s childhood.
In the solitude of loss, the King will pay a silent homage to his father, mother and grandmother who are all at rest in St George’s Chapel.
Robert Jobson
“She of course succumbed to the weariness of ‘extreme old age’ after months of battling a persistent cold.
“Her death certificate, a testament to a life that stretched over 101 years and 238 days, marked her as the longest-lived member of the British Royal Family.
“In the solitude of loss, the King will pay a silent homage to his father, mother and grandmother who are all at rest in St George’s Chapel, when he worships tomorrow.
“His armour worn but unbowed, Charles faces his own battlefields this Easter.”
Seating plan
The King will sit apart from the rest of the Royal Family at this year’s service.
The arrangement has been signed off by his medical team to help protect his health.
Charles and Camilla will be seated slightly away from his other relatives in an “acceptable environment at this stage of his illness”.
The Telegraph said the seating plan signified “gentle steps” towards a full return to royal duties in the summer.
Why Charles bravely shared his cancer diagnosis
KING Charles has bravely broken with royal protocol by sharing his cancer diagnosis.
Senior royals have in past been tight-lipped about their health battles.
The last top royal diagnosed with cancer was Charles’s grandfather George VI.
Heavy smoker George had his left lung removed for “structural abnormalities” in September 1951, months before he died.
The “abnormalities” were actually a life-threatening carcinoma, but the public never learned about George’s cancer ordeal.
Buckingham Palace said Charles wanted to share his cancer diagnosis to boost “public understanding” for cancer patients worldwide.