Queen Camilla Says King Charles \201cWon’t Slow Down and Won’t Do What He’s Told\201d As He Continues to Battle Cancer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 10 June 2024

Once a workaholic, always a workaholic, it seems—King Charles has long been known for his fast and furious style of working and for his relentless work ethic, which his wife, Queen Camilla, had long accepted. But now, of course, the game has changed, as the King was diagnosed with a still-not-publicly-disclosed type and stage of cancer following a routine prostate procedure on January 26; he announced his diagnosis to the public on February 5, the same day he began receiving treatment for cancer.

Queen Camilla at the Chelsea Flower Show — The King and Queen, seen here at the Chelsea Flower Show last month, just returned from the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day in what is an extremely busy month for them.

As such, the King continued to work as he received treatment, but mostly from home; on April 30, he returned to public engagements and, despite the royal family canceling a number of engagements in the leadup to the general election in the U.K. on July 4, Charles’ month of June is still incredibly overwhelming. Trooping the Colour (his annual birthday parade) is this weekend, followed by Royal Ascot, the annual Garter service, and a state visit by the Emperor and Empress of Japan, all by the end of the month. It’s a pace few could keep up with, and, if Camilla has her way, he’ll finally slow down (though, Your Majesty, respectfully—I wouldn’t hold your breath).

Per The Sun, the Queen was speaking with author Lee Child during the second annual Queen’s Reading Room Literary Festival at Hampton Court Palace when she gave a health update on her husband of 18 years, telling Child that Charles is “doing fine, except he won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told.”

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To this, Child, who wrote the Jack Reacher series, said that he “sounds to me like a typical husband.”

King Charles — The couple at a Buckingham Palace garden party last month, the first of the season.

This isn’t the first time of late that Camilla has publicly (and very much jokingly) admonished her husband’s apparent inability to take a breather and take it easy. Per The Mirror, the Queen told guests at a garden party last month that, in regards to Charles’ health, he would be “getting better” if he “behaved himself”—and that Camilla “shared her frustration her husband was working so hard so soon [after his return to public duty on April 30], after packing five engagements into one week.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.