Alarm at the palace, the United Kingdom with bated breath. This time it’s not about controversies, scandals, internal lacerations at the Windsor house or the irreducible conflict with the rebel dukes Harry and Meghan; but of the health conditions of King Charles III and above all of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales who in recent years has become a symbol of style and future for the British monarchy.
The double blow came like a bolt from the blue in the afternoon: first the announcement of the hospital admission, yesterday, of the 42-year-old wife of the heir to the throne William, for an unspecified abdominal surgical operation performed “successfully” but which will force her to stay in hospital for a long time; therefore the advance communication – an unprecedented signal of transparency towards public opinion – of the prostate medical “procedure” that awaits the 75-year-old sovereign himself “next week”.
For Carlo – age aside – the worries appear limited, according to a note from Buckingham Palace. “As is common with thousands of men (over 50) every year, the King – we read – will undergo treatment for his enlarged prostate”. “His Majesty’s condition is benign – the text then states, with a clarification not contained in the statement on the hospitalization of the Princess of Wales – and he will be admitted to hospital next week for a corrective procedure. His public commitments will be postponed for the duration of a short recovery period”. A very different scenario compared to the one full of unknowns that transpires between the lines of the note concerning Catherine (as the court is now accustomed to indicating the future queen consort) and released a few minutes earlier from Kensington Palace: residence of the Princes of Wales and their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis.
“Her Royal Highness – it is written – was admitted to the London Clinic yesterday for a planned abdominal operation. Based on the doctors’ current indications, it is unlikely that she will return to public engagements until after Easter”, continues the text, while evoking the need for a hospital stay of at least “10-14 days”. Times and formulations that exclude the hypothesis of a sudden emergency, but still suggest something delicate. Even more so since they are accompanied by the explicit reference to the illustrious patient’s request for an attitude of absolute confidentiality and by the court’s commitment to make public from now on only “significant” information on the developments in her state of health. The princess, explains the palace, “is grateful for the interest (from the media and from the people). She hopes, however, that the public will understand her desire to ensure as much normality as possible for her children and to ensure that personal medical information remains private “.
As for the approximately 4 months of absence from the scenes indicated in the prognosis, Kate limits herself to “apologizing” for the necessary “postponement of her commitments, trusting that she will be able to recover them as soon as possible”. Commitments among which you had recently mentioned in the press were also a possible visit alongside William to Italy in the first months of 2024.
In the meantime, the media are already crowding outside the prestigious London Clinic, a VIP healthcare facility founded in 1932 and where in the past Prince Consort Philip, Princess Margaret, but also Liz Taylor, the Chilean dictator Pinochet or – in his youth – the future American president John F. Kennedy. A clinic known for its cutting-edge equipment and robotic surgery, considered an excellence (among other things) in cancer treatment. And in which Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated a modern oncology department in 2010, the pride of the Kingdom, in a new wing costing 80 million pounds. A context that suggests to observers, tabloids in mind, anxiety and inevitable questions. Although the Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express are quick to quote in unison unofficial sources say Kate’s diagnosis is not “cancer-related”. Subject to confirmations.
Read the full article on ANSA.it