Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
Next week, King Charles III will set off on a royal tour of Australia, which earlier this year many doubted would ever happen.
In February, when the king was diagnosed with cancer, and made the unprecedented decision to announce his condition to the world, prompting his son, Prince Harry, to fly home from California at a moment’s notice and civil servants to update their funeral planning, there were few who really believed that, just eight months later, he would be able to fly around the world, undertake a series of public royal engagements, and go on to preside over his first gathering of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) as head of the Commonwealth, in Samoa.
Although an add-on trip to New Zealand was canceled over the summer, and the king’s advisers have said the nature of his engagements has been “modified,” there is little doubt that when Charles climbs the steps of the British Airways jet taking him to the Antipodes in time for the tour to kick off on Friday, it will represent a great triumph of hope, duty—and medical science.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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