King ‘doing very well’, Queen says on cancer centre visit
The King is “doing very well”, the Queen said as she opened a new cancer centre on Tuesday.
She hailed the “very special” Dyson Cancer Centre at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, praising it for a welcoming atmosphere that “lifted people’s spirits”.
The visit came seven months after the King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer following surgery for an enlarged prostate.
He is still undergoing weekly treatment, but was cleared by his medical team to return to public duties in late April. The Queen has since made several light-hearted references to the fact that she has advised her workaholic husband to “behave himself” and slow down, but that he does not listen.
In Bath, Suzie Moon of the Macmillan Partnership asked after the King’s health. “He is doing very well,” the Queen replied.
The 77-year-old also spoke to Paul Holdway, a 55-year-old nurse who is undergoing a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer.
She asked him how he was feeling, and he replied: “I am feeling very tired.” In an apparent reference to the King, the Queen jokingly remarked: “Men won’t admit it.”
The Royal United Hospital provides cancer services to more than 500,000 people in the South West, and is one of the largest cancer centres in the region.
The £50 million Dyson Cancer Centre brings the majority of its cancer services, including a research hub, chemotherapy and radiotherapy services, a 22-bed in-patient ward, a dedicated pharmacy and nuclear medicine and physics teams, under one roof.
The Queen toured the centre and met some of its financial backers, as well as the patients and staff.
At a reception in the main atrium, she unveiled a plaque before giving a short, off-the-cuff speech.
“Everybody I’ve met, whether it’s patients, the families or the nurses and the helpers, all seem to be over the moon about it,” she said of the centre. “It’s got a very welcoming atmosphere, and you can see that it actually raises people’s spirits in a very difficult time.
“So congratulations to you all for having this centre in Bath. I think a lot of other cities could do with the same thing. They should have them take a look at this.”
