King Charles will resume the royal routine of making regular overseas trips next year, as he adapts to living with cancer.
The monarch will fly abroad during the northern spring and autumn, the traditional periods for official foreign royal trips, provided doctors sanction the travel.
The development comes after he wrapped up his tour of Australia and Samoa with the Queen Camilla, which he was “determined” to carry out and was a “perfect tonic” for the head of state, a senior Buckingham Palace official said.
“We’re now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour program for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” the palace official said.
An update about the state of the king's health or his treatment has not been given, but the news that Charles will take on more overseas trips suggests his cancer is being managed successfully.
Charles “genuinely loved” the tour and “genuinely thrived” on the Australian and Samoan program, as it lifted “his spirits, his mood and his recovery,” the spokesman said.
“In that sense, the tour, despite its demands, has been the perfect tonic”.
He said the monarch takes great strength from the queen being there, not least because she “keeps it real”.
Australia was a significant visit for Charles as it was his first to the country as king and in Samoa, he opened a major Commonwealth summit.
“I think it’s great testament to the king's devotion to service and duty that he was prepared to come this far and he was incredibly happy and very, very determined to do so.”
The king has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer since February and initially postponed all public-facing duties before returning to events with the public in late April.
— AAP