King Charles returning to 'full programme' of work next year as cancer treatment continues

It comes after the King's recent tour of Australia and Samoa, which he was "determined" to carry out and was a "perfect tonic" for the head of state

After an intense royal tour of two countries and a Commonwealth summit, the King is said to be ready to get back to a normal programme of work, despite his ongoing cancer treatment.

The visits to Australia and Samoa were the “perfect tonic” to the King who "genuinely loved" it according to his senior staff.

They described how he has "genuinely thrived" on the programme during the nine-day tour.

After his first visit to Australia as King, and then addressing Commonwealth leaders for the first time as Head of the Commonwealth, Buckingham Palace is confident that the King can withstand a busier schedule next year.

They have told government ministers, who decide which countries they’d like the monarch to visit, that the usual slots for royal tours are back open in 2025.

The King usually embarks on overseas tours in the Spring and the Autumn.

It follows a year when the cancer diagnosis threw everything up in the air.

“We're now working on a pretty normal-looking, full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms,” said a senior member of the King’s team.

It suggests King Charles’ doctors, who have been monitoring his health on this overseas trip, are happy with the way in which his body has responded.

But they will still have to sign off on any future travel plans for the King and Queen.

Despite looking weary during some stages of the tour, he’s been helped by a slightly lighter and shorter programme of engagements.

New Zealand was cancelled, Australia was reduced to just four days and all evening engagements, bar one, were pulled from the itinerary.

It gave the workaholic monarch a chance to catch his breath and royal insiders say he even brought a book to read for pleasure – which is unheard of.

“He normally reads his briefing notes for relaxation”, said one source familiar with the King’s daily schedule, with a wry smile.

“I think it's great testament to the king's devotion to service and duty that he was prepared to come this far and he was incredibly happy and very, very determined to do so", said how another palace aide.

As they reflect on the trip and how it has gone down in countries about as far away from the UK as it is possible to get, senior staff around the King have concluded they could potentially go anywhere with King Charles next year.

Given Samoa was 12 hours in front of UK time, the only country further away would be New Zealand.

The King has also been helped by his wife, acting her support role as queen consort, who is very good at telling her husband when to slow down and very good at telling royal staff when to stop giving him work.

However, after the public engagements on the trip, he has still worked through his State Papers in his red box with his Private Secretary, some of which had been flown out to him.

Meeting people in Sydney, Canberra and in villages across Samoa has lifted the Kings mood and many cancer patients have said how that can help the treatment journey.

A palace source said: “It is hard to overstate the joy that he takes from duty and service and being in public and seeing those crowds engaging with communities across the spectrum. That really does lift the spirits. You can see that."

Although we do not know the type of cancer treatment the King is having, it’s known that he compliments the treatment from doctors by looking after his mind and soul.

“He's a great believer in mind, body and soul, and this combination works very well on a visit like this, because he feels that sense of duty so strongly that to keep his mind and his soul engaged and then the doctor is here to make sure that his body is properly looked after”, said the royal source at the end of the trip.

And it’s why staff have concluded it has been “a very successful visit in these circumstances”.

There have been challenges during the nine days on tour and some difficult issues, but the King is determined they are “not ducked”.

The moments ranged from being shouted at in the Australian parliament by an indigenous senator, to discussions about Australia becoming a republic and a Commonwealth speech in which the King referenced Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.

It is "very easy to run away from some of these issues. But the King isn't one for doing that” and the protest by Senator Lidia Thorpe left him “completely unruffled” we are told, largely because he’s “been around a long time”.

While his staff will not have approved of Senator Thorpe’s time and place, the King does believe "free speech is the cornerstone of democracy, and so everyone is entitled to their views".

Those who organised the tour programme say the King’s visit to an indigenous and First Nations cultural centre, the day after the Canberra protest, was deliberately scheduled for later in the tour programme.

It was scheduled that way so the King, who was described by his staff as “more of a listener than a talker”, could get himself up to date with the sensitive issues before arriving.

King Charles and Queen Camilla left Samoa on Saturday on board a Royal Australian Air Force plane to Singapore from where they are making the rest of the long journey home.

However, being able to complete a tour and meet so many people has lifted "his spirits, his mood and his recovery.”

So despite the demands of traveling half-way round the world as cancer patient, his staff say Australia and Samoa have been “the perfect tonic”.

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