King delighted to resume public egagements as doctors pleased with cancer progress

The King will return to royal duties following a positive response to his cancer treatment, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry have the latest

It will be a huge source of comfort to King Charles that he can, finally, get back to doing what he loves: meeting people face to face.

Inside the palace in these past few months, the King has been frustrated that his work as Head of State has been limited to private meetings and audiences with very small groups.

He had just been getting into his stride as Monarch - having secured a smooth transition from the long reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, to the new reign of Charles III.

But it was all knocked off course by a double medical setback at the start of 2024: first his prostate operation and then the announcement of his cancer diagnosis.

While that was undoubtedly a shock to the Royal Family and the country, Buckingham Palace today referred to what it called the “joys and challenges of the past year”.

The “joys” being the first Coronation in 70 years which brought the world’s cameras back to the streets of London to witness the spectacle.

But the “challenges” – to put it mildly – have been the King and the Princess of Wales’ health news: both getting cancer treatment which took them away from public-facing duties – to the immense exasperation of Charles and his closest advisors.

Now palace sources say the King’s doctors “are sufficiently pleased with the progress” of his treatment so far and have given the go-ahead to return to work.

But for a famously workaholic King, he will still be unable to carry out a full programme of summer engagements.

Yes, he can now press go on a State Visit to the UK from the Emperor and Empress of Japan in late June.

And the King and Queen can now go together to public engagements – as they will at a cancer centre next week - and to big set piece royal events.

Remember before Easter, it was Queen Camilla who was doing these visits alone, as she attended events like the Royal Maundy service at Worcester Cathedral and the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey without her husband.

King Charles has been hugely proud of his wife as she stepped in and kept the royal show on the road.

Given where Camilla was in the minds of the public 30 years ago, that transformation has been simply remarkable.

But each engagement the King attends will be rigorously assessed and “adapted where necessary to minimise risks” to Charles’ still fragile health.

And the palace is still unable to confirm the King’s attendance at events such as Royal Ascot, and Trooping the Colour – which is, after all, his own birthday parade.

And it means anyone in Australia or New Zealand planning the potential visit of the King in the Autumn – his first to a realm country where he remains the head of state – will still be proceeding with arrangements without knowing if any of it will actually happen.

“All future plans remain subject to doctors’ advice nearer the time” says a palace source.

For now, it’s a step in the right direction for a King whose reign is still in its infancy.

He is “greatly encouraged”, we are told, to have got to a level of progress that his doctors have authorised a limited return to public-facing work.

For anyone going through cancer treatment, positive steps like these, are an important milestone on the road to recovery.

This is the Royal Rota - our weekly podcast about the royal family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson