King determined to honour D-Day sacrifice in France despite cancer

King Charles presents D-Day veteran Jim Miller with a card to mark his 100th birthday at Buckingham Palace, London, on Wednesday May 22 Credit: PA

From the moment King Charles started to plan his cancer treatment with his doctors, he set them one clear ambition: to ensure he’d be fit enough to be on the Normandy coast this week for what is likely to be the last gathering of veterans for a significant D-Day anniversary.Tomorrow, King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel from southern England to Northern France to remember the sacrifice of thousands of men in June 1944.Just as his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, prioritised national moments of remembrance, so too will King Charles this week.He was determined that his cancer treatment, which he is still having, was not going to get in the way of him attending these events in Normandy close to the beaches where British, American, Canadian and other Commonwealth troops landed 80 years ago.

“The goal from the earliest days of his treatment,” said a royal source, was that “if a way could be found for the King to attend” the D-Day commemorations then that was to be “a clear landmark in his diary” for his medical team to aim for.It means that tomorrow, King Charles will make his first overseas trip since being diagnosed with cancer.The King and Queen will travel to the commemorative event being staged by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer.The white memorial is nestled on the coast close to Gold and Juno beaches - two of the five landing points of the D-Day operation.British forces were assigned Gold and Sword Beaches. Canadian troops were tasked with Juno beach. And the US infantry invaded at Omaha and Utah beaches further west.Around 4,400 men who set out to cross the Channel in the early hours of June 6 1944, would be killed by the end of the first day’s fighting.

Veteran Donald Jones returns to Sword Beach in Normandy, France on June 4, 2024, the same spot he landed 80 years prior on D-Day Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Of those, 1,760 were British, 2,500 were American, and 360 Canadian.As head of the Armed forces, King Charles feels it is his duty to lead the nation in honouring that sacrifice.Buckingham Palace insists that the green light for this week’s travel was only given by the King’s medical team after “recalibrating” the plans.That means, Charles and Camilla won’t do all the engagements that might have been envisaged at the start of this year.

So, on Thursday, Prince William will attend the international commemorative ceremony at Omaha beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer alongside 25 Heads of State.Some of the greatest loss of life was suffered on Omaha beach as the German defences were particularly resilient and the high tide had affected the landings. It’s estimated as many as 90 per cent of the first wave of American troops here were killed.Ordinarily, King Charles would have attended this event with other world leaders given his role as the British head of state.But the priority was to get him to France and the number of engagements was therefore reduced in order to guarantee the King’s attendance whilst safeguarding his ongoing cancer treatment.Prince William, will also represent the British Royal Family at the Juno Beach ceremony which is being hosted by the Canadian government.

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