King Charles powerfully described living with cancer in 1999 speech | UK News

The official statement from Buckingham Palace that announced the king’s cancer diagnosis yesterday was straightforward and unembellished with emotion.

A ‘separate issue of concern’ had been identified during his recent operation, it said, and ‘subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer’.

While it was refreshingly free from the euphemisms that are often found in royal health updates, it didn’t give any indication of how Charles will approach the news.

But there might be clues in a speech he gave 25 years ago, while still Prince of Wales.

He was addressing Central Hall in Westminster at the launch of Macmillan Cancer Support’s new campaign, named A Voice for Life, in June 1999.

‘People tell me that being diagnosed with a cancer is like suddenly finding yourself in an unknown land, with no map, no compass, no sign posts and no knowledge of the language,’ Charles said.

‘The treatments are complex. Many different health professionals are involved – people can see as many as 50 different doctors. They need help to find their way in this no doubt alien and intimidating world.’

The prince spoke about the need to ‘rewrite the rhetoric of cancer’ and ‘destroy the myths and misconceptions which block understanding and paralyse action’.

King Charles, 75, became a patron of Macmillan Cancer Support in 1997 and has visited many services run by the charity across the UK in the years since.

Macmillan said today: ‘Our thoughts are with His Majesty the King and his family.

‘We are sending our best wishes at what we know must be an incredibly challenging time.’

Charles also supports Marie Curie Cancer Care and a number of breast cancer causes including Walk the Walk, Breast Cancer Haven and Breast Cancer Now.

In the 1999 speech, he listed some of the ‘great deal’ of things he had been taught in conversations with people whose lives are affected by cancer.

‘How it turns life upside down. How it forces people to re-evaluate what is important to them. The new skills and talents they discover. And even sometimes the funny and absurd side of having it,’ he said.

Two themes came through ‘time and time again’ in those conversations, Charles told the guests.

‘One is their struggle to cope with the fear of cancer. Not only their own fear for the future but also the fears of others – relatives, friends and even health professionals.

‘The other is the frustration that many of them feel at not being able to play a full part in decisions about their own treatment and care. Decisions about their own destiny.’

Poignantly, he says he has been ‘profoundly affected by cancer in all sorts of ways’, adding: ‘All of us will be touched by cancer, directly or indirectly, at some time in our lives.’

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