King Charles surprised royal watchers last month when it was revealed he would pause his cancer treatment in order to go on his tour of Australia and Somalia.
Doctors approved the brief pause in his treatment, but they did impose limitations on how long of a break the royal could take, with King Charles revealing their rules during an international sustainability conference at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.
Speaking to the High Commissioner of Fiji, the monarch said: "I felt so bad we couldn't get to Fiji (on the royal tour), the doctors wouldn't let me."
He and Queen Camilla had originally planned to go to New Zealand too, but this was also cut out of the itinerary with his health in mind.
The King's doctors aren't the only ones putting rules in place for the 75-year-old – his wife is laying down the law too, according to a new book about the monarch by Robert Hardman.
In his new title Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, the author writes: "Despite cancer treatment, the King has been determined to stay active, self-disciplined and positive. In private, however, the King's illness had forced a few changes to the routine, not least when it came to lunch," with Queen Camilla encouraging her husband to begin eating food at lunchtime.
King Charles' lunch aversion
King Charles has famously never eaten lunch, with Hardman explaining: "Lunch was seen as something with a small but significant risk of either illness or an embarrassing photograph. It was just easier to avoid it," adding that if the midday meal was unavoidable, then silver service (where guests serve themselves from the plate set before them) was preferred since it enabled the King to take the smallest of portions without causing offence."
However, since undergoing treatment for cancer, the royal has started eating lunch, with both Camilla and his doctors urging him to have something between early morning and late afternoon.
"The Queen had views on [lunch] and he wants to keep her happy," wrote Rober Hardman, continuing: "Lunch made a comeback, though 'I wouldn’t say it is most people's idea of lunch,' cautioned one member of his staff. 'There isn't much of it.'"
While he might not love lunch, we're happy the King is following doctors' (and Camilla's!) orders to ensure he's feeling healthy.