“A Bit of a Bugger”: Inside King Charles’s Understated Response to Cancer — and the 22-Month Ordeal That Quietly Changed the Crown
When King Charles III was told he had cancer, there was no dramatic pause.
No visible panic.
No retreat behind palace walls.
Instead, seated with senior aides in February last year, the monarch listened quietly as the news settled — and then responded in a way that stunned the room.
“Oh, that’s a right bugger,” one aide blurted out, instantly fearing he had crossed an unforgivable line.
The King’s lips twitched.
Then he laughed.
“Yes,” Charles replied warmly. “It is a bit of a bugger, isn’t it?”
It was instinctive. Human. Entirely un-regal.
And, as Royal Editor Rebecca English now reveals in her definitive account, it perfectly encapsulated how King Charles would approach the most serious health crisis of his life.
👑 A Diagnosis No One Was Ready For
The news came just 18 months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II — a monarch who had reigned for 70 years with remarkable constancy. Britain was still adjusting to a new King. Charles himself was still settling into the role he had waited a lifetime to inherit.
Cancer was the last thing anyone needed.
Yet in a twist few could have predicted, many close to the Palace now believe the illness has changed Charles — and not for the worse.
For decades, critics painted him as introspective, overly cerebral, even remote. But cancer stripped away that distance. It revealed something quieter, warmer — a man deeply aware of his mortality and determined not to waste a single day.
🩺 The Most Open Monarch Britain Has Ever Seen
Apart from a brief early pause — when doctors insisted he step back to avoid dangerous secondary infections — King Charles has lived his illness in public.
More openly than any British monarch in history.
Rather than retreat, he chose visibility.
In the 22 months since his diagnosis, the King has undertaken nearly 600 public engagements, all while receiving weekly medical treatment. He has hosted State visits, conducted overseas diplomacy, and even paused treatment entirely to complete a gruelling two-week tour of Australia and Samoa.
One palace insider admits the greatest challenge was not protecting the King from scrutiny — but persuading him to slow down.
“When he first didn’t know which way this was going to go,” the source explains,
“it made him more determined than ever to keep going. There was still so much he wanted to achieve.”
💬 Honesty as a Royal Strategy
Charles’s instinct, from the beginning, was transparency.
When asked how the Palace should handle the news publicly, he was unequivocal.
“As honest with my people as possible.”
That decision had unexpected consequences.
After Buckingham Palace first announced his prostate treatment — and later confirmed cancer — the NHS recorded a sharp increase in people seeking cancer screenings and medical advice.
The King was deeply moved.
To him, the illness was no longer just personal. It was purposeful.
“He wanted people to see that it is possible to live a full life with cancer,” one friend explains.
“He was determined to de-stigmatise it.”
🔬 Treatment, Balance — and Controversy
The Palace has never revealed the exact nature of Charles’s cancer, a deliberate decision advised by medical and communications experts.
Specificity, officials feared, would invite constant speculation — every gesture analysed by armchair doctors.
What is known is that his care has involved a carefully balanced programme of conventional treatment alongside holistic support.
That balance reignited long-standing criticism of Dr Michael Dixon, head of the Royal Medical Household, due to his openness to complementary therapies.
Those close to the King are blunt about the backlash.
“Calling Michael a quack is absurd,” one source says.
“He’s worked in the NHS for half a century. He believes — as many doctors now do — that safe, evidence-based holistic care can help patients cope alongside conventional treatment.”
Inside Palace planning documents, the King’s diagnosis was handled under the codename Operation Delphinium — and insiders credit Dr Dixon with orchestrating a plan that prioritised both physical treatment and emotional resilience.
😔 The Toll — and the Mask of Strength
The King has not been untouched by the illness.
Observers have seen him:
-
visibly exhausted
-
pale, with bloodshot eyes
-
increasingly sensitive to sunlight
-
and with subtly thinning hair
He has spoken privately with other patients about cold caps, fatigue, and the strange psychological terrain of long-term treatment.
Yet there are moments when the illness seems invisible.
At a recent Advent Service at Westminster Abbey, Charles all but skipped out of the Great West Door, beaming.
“No one has ever heard him express self-pity,” says an insider.
“Not once.”
🚶 Small Changes, Quiet Discipline
Cancer has altered even the King’s famously rigid routines.
For decades, Charles refused to eat lunch.
Now, on doctors’ advice, he allows himself a small midday “nibble” — fruit, a light sandwich, half an avocado. He has also adopted a stricter vegetarian routine several days a week.
His daily walk remains sacred.
No matter how busy — or how unwell — he insists on fresh air, movement, and routine.
❤️ Camilla: The Unseen Anchor
Throughout it all, Queen Camilla has been constant.
She accompanied him to hospital.
Kept his diagnosis secret when needed.
Made him laugh when fear threatened to creep in.
Those close to the couple say her role cannot be overstated.
“She’s frightened, of course,” one friend says.
“But she’s been the definition of the stiff upper lip — and the source of those deep, belly laughs that have always held them together.”
⚠️ The Stress That Didn’t Help
Not all pressures have been helpful.
Sources admit that ongoing tensions involving Prince Andrew and Prince Harry have weighed heavily.
“Stress is bad for anyone,” one Palace figure says quietly.
“It’s particularly bad when you’re fighting cancer.”
Despite public speculation of reconciliation, relations with Harry remain distant — a reality insiders acknowledge has added strain during an already fragile period.
🎄 A Cautious Christmas — and a New Legacy
No one inside the Palace is declaring victory.
Cancer, they stress, is a long and unpredictable journey.
But short of full remission, one insider describes the King’s current stability as:
“About the best Christmas present anyone could have asked for.”
Will Charles finally rest?
Those who know him laugh at the suggestion.
“If anyone thinks this means he’ll lighten the load,” a friend says,
“they don’t understand the man at all.”
🌍 The Fifth ‘C’ of King Charles
For a lifetime, Charles’s work has revolved around what courtiers call the four Cs:
-
Climate
-
Culture
-
Community
-
Commonwealth
Now, many believe history will add a fifth:
Cancer.
Not as a defeat — but as a defining chapter.
A quiet lesson in duty.
A refusal to retreat.
A reminder that even a King can meet mortality with humour, honesty, and resolve.
And perhaps that, more than anything else, is what has truly changed the Crown.