King Charles III used his annual Christmas message on Wednesday to pay tribute to the sacrifices of his carers and the Princess of Wales this year, after she was diagnosed with cancer.
The 76-year-old king said he and his family are “always impressed” by those who give their lives to help others.
“From a personal perspective, I offer a special, heartfelt thank you to the selfless doctors and nurses this year who have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainty and anxieties of illness and helped provide strength, care and comfort to us. what I needed,” he said in a recorded speech.
The broadcast came just hours after the king waved to a crowd of people watching the royal family attend Christmas Day services at Sandringham, a breezy North Sea beach resort that has served as a family retreat for generations. .
The King accompanied Queen Camilla as his eldest son, Prince William, Kate and their three children followed. The king's daughter-in-law, who has gradually returned to public service after completing chemotherapy, hugged a cancer patient after the service.
Charles' two siblings, Anne, Princess Royal, and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, were also in the procession.
Notably absent from St. Mary Magdalene Church was Prince Andrew. The king's brother, 64, has returned to the shadows amid news that a Chinese businessman has been banned from the UK over concerns he developed links with Andrew on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
Andrew, once second in line to the British throne, has become a constant source of fodder for his financial woes and links to questionable characters, including the late American financier and convicted rapist Jeffrey Epstein.
Even after retiring from public service, Andrew has continued to appear at family events and his absence from Sandringham suggests he may be stepping back from the public eye. The king was under pressure to distance himself from Andrew and the royal family to avoid embarrassment to the royal family.
Although Andrew said he never discussed anything serious with the alleged Chinese spy and stopped communicating with the man as soon as concerns arose, the scandal raises questions about his judgment and disrupts the work of the royal family, said Ed Owens, the author. in “After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself?”
“The reason this is a problem for the king is just that the king is trying to rebrand the monarchy right now, focusing on him, but also on William, Catherine, what they're trying to do,” Owens said.
“It has been a very difficult year for the monarchy, especially because of two cancers. And all the good topics that the king was trying to reveal of late, unfortunately, have been buried by the behavior, reckless behavior, of his younger brother, who finds himself in the headlines again.”
The king's Christmas speech is the third since he came to the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, but the first since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February.
The King's holiday message is watched by millions of people in the UK and across the Commonwealth of Nations, and many families time their Christmas lunch around it.
The king's treatment, which is believed to be ongoing, forced him to withdraw from public view for two months. He has eased back into public life in recent months and was in good spirits on a tour of Australia and the South Pacific in October.
A few weeks after Charles began treatment, the Princess of Wales announced she had cancer, sidelining her for most of the year.
In her speech at the annual Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey, which was recorded this month but aired on Tuesday evening, Kate also showed the love and support she has received.
“The story of Christmas encourages us to consider the experiences and feelings of others,” he said. “It also shows our vulnerability and reminds us of the importance of giving and receiving empathy, and how much we need each other despite our differences.”
Charles spoke at Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, which was part of the now-demolished Middlesex Hospital where his first wife, Diana, opened London's first AIDS ward.
The king gave the task force to spread the word to find a place away from the royal house, as well as health communications, a strong social presence and a place of comfort and meditation for those with or without faith.
It is a rare occasion when the monarch's Christmas message can be recorded at a royal location, particularly Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. When his late mother recorded her message outside the royal palace in 2006.
Charles also paid tribute to World War II soldiers who died on the beaches of northern France and the few remaining veterans, many of whom were 100 years old, who attended the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy in June.
He said it was “a great honor” to meet “remarkable veterans of that very special generation who bravely sacrificed for us all” but that was worrying the world this Christmas.
“In past memories, we were able to console ourselves by thinking that these events rarely happen in the present,” he said. “But on this Christmas Day, we cannot think of those whose tragic consequences of conflicts in the Middle East, Central Europe, Africa and elsewhere pose a daily threat to the lives of so many people and their lives.”
On the home front, the king expressed his “deep pride” in the communities that came together after riots erupted in many towns and cities over the summer following a stabbing at a dance class that left three girls dead and several others injured.
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