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King Charles' cancer diagnosis seems to cause a hushed alarm not just among the public but even within the royal walls.
Buckingham Palace has maintained that the King has exhibited promising indications of health a year after being diagnosed in February. Meanwhile, speculations indicate that Prince William is also preparing for his destiny duty.
While it is often assumed that the monarch's health has set off a series of events in the royal household, the truth is very different.
"The people I've spoken with have said that the succession planning, as they call it, began even before Charles' diagnosis," royal author Tom Quinn told Harper's Bazaar. "I mean, he's the oldest Prince of Wales to become king in history, so succession planning had begun before Charles came to the throne simply because of the age issue."
Charles had little formal preparation for becoming a ruler. "It's always a role where you learn by example," royal author Robert Hardman explained.
As a result, William isn't necessarily being trained for the top position, but "they're preparing William by giving him more of the sort of work that Charles would do," Quinn says, adding, "Obviously, the cancer diagnosis has made everything more urgent."
Meanwhile, Christopher Andersen, author of several royal histories including 2022's The King: The Life of Charles III, stated, "The palace is putting on a good front, but the situation, in reality, is still very fluid." When it comes to the king, he says, "It's still touch-and-go."
Despite reassurances from the Palace, fears over his health have persisted.
As Charles concluded his four-day royal visit to Italy with wife Queen Camilla, he planted a tree.
He chuckled with sorrow: "Well, I do hope that I shall live long enough to see a little bit of growth in the tree."
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