King Charles shares rare insight into 'managing' cancer 'side effects' amid ongoing treatment

Since sharing the worrying news that he was undergoing treatment for cancer in January 2024, King Charles has divulged few details on his illness.

However, the monarch made an unexpected comment on his treatment during a public engagement in Northern Ireland. The King spoke to people who are living with cancer, asking whether they were managing to "survive the side effects alright?" before adding sympathetically: "You just have to push on, don't you?"

King Charles also visited a laboratory at Ulster University, learning about a new technique for a highly "targeted drug delivery system", in which medicine is loaded into microbubbles to send to the precise site of cancer within the body.

© POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Using ultrasound, the bubbles are burst to deliver the drug to try to eradicate the cancer. The technique, which is about to begin clinical trials on humans, is designed to minimise the side effects of chemotherapy, using just 10 - 20 per cent of the dose currently required.

The King, who has seen unpleasant side effects including a loss of taste during treatment, proclaimed the research "amazing".

In the research centre, the King was introduced to scientists, researchers and PHD students working on stimulus-responsive therapeutic systems for cancer.

Clearly passionate about minimising cancer treatment side effects, upon hearing about the reduction in side effects, he clenched his fists for emphasis and exclaimed, "Yeah!"
"Well done," he said, as he left.

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King Charles' cancer side effects

A loss of taste is the main side effect the royal has mentioned since undergoing his treatment, rarely commenting on his experience with the disease.

© Getty Images

While his comments are rare, Buckingham Palace sources told Sky News in December last year that "his treatment has been moving in a positive direction and as a managed condition the treatment cycle will continue into next year".

The palace has still not disclosed the type of cancer Charles has, with a palace source revealing to The Times that this is a conscious choice in order for the King to reach out to the widest number of people who are experiencing the disease, rather than narrow the focus onto a particular form of cancer.

Despite his ongoing treatment, the royal only took a short break from royal duties, returning to work in April last year.