Carlos III faces cancer after a year of reign and seven decades of waiting to assume the crown

After seven decades in the shadow of his legendary mother, the king Charles IIIwho has been diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer, is now facing the disease, just a year and a half after assuming the British crown.

Charles III always observed from the second line the reign of Isabel IIwaiting to demonstrate his ability as a monarch once his time came.

LOOK: King Charles III diagnosed with cancer, Buckingham Palace announces

Thats why he diagnosis known today represents a severe setback for the monarchwith a reign that had barely taken off and that until now has been carried out with solvency and sobriety.

No matter how proverbial the longevity of Windsor (his parents almost reached the century), the 73 years of Carlos When he ascended the throne, on September 8, 2022, they led some to speak of a transitional reign, after which the crown will pass to his first-born son, William.

His popularity, always in question, did not predict a place in the pantheon of royalty either.although so far its citizen approval has remained at acceptable levels, according to surveys.

On January 26, he underwent surgery for a benign prostate enlargement after openly acknowledging his condition, in order to raise awareness among citizens about undergoing controls.

Now, he faces with the same directness (uncommon in the normally secretive Buckingham Palace) the diagnosis of cancerof which, despite everything, we only know that It’s not about the prostate.

In the statement in which he revealed the illness, Buckingham highlighted that Carlos “has chosen to share his diagnosis to avoid speculation and in the hope that it can help public understanding towards all those in the world who are affected by cancer.”

A life marked by three women

The life of Charles Philip Arthur George of Windsor has been defined by three women: her mother Isabelhis ex-wife Diana of Wales and his wife, the queen Camila.

Yeah Isabel bequeathed him a consolidated monarchy in the turbulent times of the postwar period and the end of the empire, the failed marriage with The late Diana of Wales largely determined Charles’s public image in the United Kingdom and beyond.

CamilaMeanwhile, she has gone from being responsible for ending the fairy tale between Charles and Diana to being accepted as the great love of the monarch’s life, after an operation to soften her figure, in which Buckingham Palace has not been involved. spared resources.

Born on November 14, 1948, Charles has gone down in history as the heir who waited the longest to become monarch of the United Kingdom. and part of the former colonies that form the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth).

He dedicated that long wait to philanthropyspirituality and his commitment to the environment, although they were the separation from Diana, in 1992, and the marriage with Camilain 2005, which attracted more headlines from the always eager British press.

Indelible are his images walking alongside his sons, William and Harrybehind Diana’s coffin Welsh when she died in a traffic accident in Paris in 1997. The contrast could not be greater with those broadcast 16 years earlier on television around the world, when both were married in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, in one of the weddings. of the century.

Despite a character that sometimes seems arrogant and haughty, In recent years, the king has made efforts to get closer to the citizen and thus modernize an institution that has always distinguished itself by maintaining its distance.

Unlike his mother, if he stood out for something Carlos as Prince of Wales It was for defending in a much more uninhibited way the environmental and humanitarian causes in which it participates through more than 20 NGOs and foundations.

As sovereign he has been more discreet, although there has been no shortage of leaks from those around him that reflect his displeasure with the immigration and environmental policies of the current British conservative government.

A childhood of study and shyness

Charles III spent a childhood marked by his shyness and the coldness of relationships in the palace.with a strict father and a distant mother.

At the age of nine he became the first heir to the throne to attend school, rather than being educated by private tutors in Buckingham, and spent a traumatic time at the Scottish boarding school of Gordonstoun, where, according to some biographers, he suffered bullying. of his classmates.

With student stays in Melbourne (Australia) or Wales, Carlos entered the University of Cambridge to study Archeology and Anthropology, after which he began training as a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and also served in the Royal Navy. .

Formally invested as Prince of Wales on 1 July 1969his big day came nine months ago, on May 6, 2023, when in a grand ceremony broadcast around the world he was officially crowned at Westminster Abbey.