Cancer in Kate: Other British royals were also affected

Sandringham in February 1952: King George VI, grandfather of the current King Charles, is found lifeless in his bed in the morning. He died in his sleep at just 56 years old. As we know today: from the consequences of lung cancer. But the palace’s official press release only says that the monarch succumbed to the effects of a coronary thrombosis and makes no mention of cancer.

Cancer among the royals was long considered a state secret

This alleged cause of death was not questioned – at least not publicly. It was common knowledge at the time that George had been a chain smoker since he was 16 and had suffered from a chronic cough for years. His constitution had never been particularly good. But detailed medical information about his condition was never released to the public and was considered a state secret.

This was a tradition for many centuries because the monarch’s poor health would have made his country potentially vulnerable. At least as long as it was still customary for kings and emperors to personally lead their armies into battle. The body of the sovereign had to appear inviolable, this was the fiction that had to be maintained under all circumstances.

A year before his death, George VI. had to undergo an operation in which his left lung was removed – very discreetly in a specially set up operating room in Buckingham Palace. Actually because of a carcinoma, but officially only because of “structural changes” in the organ, according to the heavily euphemistic language.

Afterwards it was generally said that the royal patient had recovered. The terrible diagnosis that he was terminally ill was also withheld from him so as not to take away his courage to live. Only his doctors, his wife Elizabeth (later known as Queen Mum), and a few high-ranking members of the government in Great Britain knew what was really going on with him. At first George seemed to recover well from the procedure, but he only slowly regained his strength and had to be represented more and more often by his heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth. Until, surprising the world, he died a few months later.

King Charles III surprised with new openness

The information policy of the British court will look completely different in 2024. The press release from Buckingham Palace says, among other things: “The King thanks his medical team for the rapid intervention that was possible thanks to his recent treatment in hospital. His Majesty has decided to communicate his diagnosis openly in order to prevent speculation and in “Hopefully this will increase public understanding of everyone affected by cancer around the world.”

This openness represents a significant departure from the way the royal family has handled previous cancer diagnoses. Previous Windsor generations would never have dreamed of being so open about a serious illness, especially not one as threatening as cancer.

Because it’s not just George VI’s illness. was kept secret. In later years, his widow, Queen Elizabeth, also treated her colon cancer as a private matter. It was only revealed in a posthumous biography of the Queen Mum in 2009 that, among other things, a tumor had been removed from her colon in the 1960s. A breast cancer operation in 1984 was also disguised to the public as a routine check-up in the hospital.

And even with the late Queen Elizabeth II there was a suspicion of cancer that was not communicated, probably neither within the family nor officially. In September 2022, her cause of death was only given as “old age”. But according to a biography published shortly afterwards by the renowned author and Prince Philip confidant Gyles Brandreth, the Queen had actually been suffering from a rare form of bone cancer for many months.

The world’s longest-reigning monarch also decided to keep fears about her health largely to herself and not unsettle the British – out of concern for the monarchy.

The world hopes for Charles and Kate

King Charles’ decision to speak openly about his diagnosis and his treatment may also have something to do with medical advances. Modern treatment options for cancer, especially in the early stages, have enormously improved the chances of recovery; such a diagnosis no longer has to be a death sentence.

The palace statement said the king was approaching his treatment in a positive mood and looked forward to returning to his public duties as soon as possible.

Through his honest, approachable approach to his cancer, King Charles underlines what millions of patients around the world prove every year: that dealing with such a diagnosis is not a sign of weakness, but of strength.

The news of Princess Kate’s cancer diagnosis shows that it was still a very individual and personal decision: the king’s daughter-in-law initially kept the illness to herself and only wanted to learn to live with it privately in the family. Now she has also dared to go public.

The huge wave of well-wishes from people all over the world that have poured in since the news broke in London will hopefully help her get through the next few challenging weeks all the better.